Ephraim's Complaint and Gideon's Pursuit
1 The men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you treated us this way, that you didn’t call us when you went to fight with Midian?” They rebuked him sharply. 2 He said to them, “What have I now done in comparison with you? Isn’t the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3 God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb! What was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that. 4 Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing. 5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me; for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 6 The princes of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” 7 Gideon said, “Therefore when Yahweh has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” 8 He went up there to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way; and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. 9 He spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.” 10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the children of the east; for there fell one hundred twenty thousand men who drew sword. 11 Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck the army; for the army felt secure. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled and he pursued them. He took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and confused all the army. 13 Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres. 14 He caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him; and he described for him the princes of Succoth, and its elders, seventy-seven men. 15 He came to the men of Succoth, and said, “See Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?’” 16 He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. 17 He broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city. 18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “They were like you. They all resembled the children of a king.” 19 He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.” 20 He said to Jether his firstborn, “Get up and kill them!” But the youth didn’t draw his sword; for he was afraid, because he was yet a youth. 21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You rise and fall on us; for as the man is, so is his strength.” Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels’ necks.
Gideon defuses a tribal quarrel with a compliment and then turns savage on two Israelite towns that refused his men bread.
The men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you treated us this way, that you didn’t call us when you went to fight with Midian?” They rebuked him sharply.
The complaint is about being left out of a victory, from a tribe that arrived in time to take the fords and two princes Judges 7:24–25. It is the confederation's characteristic disorder — no authority to summon anyone, and injured pride afterward.
2 He said to them, “What have I now done in comparison with you? Isn’t the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3 God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb! What was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that.
His answer is a piece of skilled diplomacy: Ephraim's leftovers outrank his own clan's whole harvest. He credits them with the princes and their anger was abated Judges 8:3. The same man handles the next two towns without a trace of it.
Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing.
Three words that carry the chapter: faint, yet pursuing. The battle is won and the work is not finished, and the men who broke the jars are now exhausted and still going.
The princes of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?”
Succoth refuses food, and Penuel does the same Judges 8:8. These are Israelite towns east of the Jordan, and the refusal is calculated: if Gideon fails, Midian will come back and remember who fed his men. It is the neutrality the song had cursed at Meroz Judges 5:23, here expressed as a sneer.
Gideon said, “Therefore when Yahweh has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.”
And Gideon's reply is a promise of torture, made in advance and kept. He returns with the kings, obtains the names of seventy-seven elders from a young man, and with them he taught the men of Succoth Judges 8:14–16 — a grim use of the word. At Penuel he breaks the tower and kills the men of the city Judges 8:17.
The text reports all of this without comment, which is this book's habit and not its approval. What it does supply is a comparison the reader cannot miss: the man who soothed a powerful tribe with flattery destroyed two small towns for an insult. And the campaign has quietly changed character — from the sword of Yahweh and of Gideon Judges 7:20 to a private score being settled.
He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.”
The interrogation of the two kings reveals the motive that has been driving the pursuit: they had killed his brothers at Tabor. So the execution is blood vengeance, and he says so. Then he orders his son to do it — but the youth didn't draw his sword; for he was afraid, because he was yet a youth Judges 8:20, a father trying to make a boy a killer and the boy refusing. Gideon kills them himself and takes the crescents that were on their camels' necks Judges 8:21. The gold he collects here is the material of the next paragraph's disaster.
held with reason What this mark means