You Mad Bro?

Judges Chapter 8

The Ephraimites aren’t happy with Gideon because they were left out of the plot to fight with the Midianites and loot their camps, but God has given them the captains of Midian. That means something unspeakable is going to happen to them. Lucky for us, the Bible doesn’t speak about it.

Gideon is in pursuit of the kings of Midian and stops at Succoth for food and water for his men, but they refuse his request because they have not already captured the kings. Of course, if they had captured the kings, then they wouldn’t be in Succoth asking for food. He gave them a warning:

⁷Gideon replied, “Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will trample your flesh on the thorns of the wilderness and on briers.”

Brettler, Marc; Newsom, Carol; Perkins, Pheme. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version (p. 375). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

That sounds…neighborly? He asked the same of the people of Penuel and they gave him the same answer, so he replied:

⁹So he said to the people of Penuel, “When I come back victorious, I will break down this tower.”

Brettler, Marc; Newsom, Carol; Perkins, Pheme. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version (p. 375). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

Gideon went on his way and caught up with the Midianite army, of which there were fifteen thousand left out of one hundred twenty thousand men. He eventually caught them and then went back Succoth and:

¹⁶So he took the elders of the city and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them he trampled the people of Succoth. ¹⁷He also broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city.

Brettler, Marc; Newsom, Carol; Perkins, Pheme. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version (p. 376). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

So there’s a lot of killing in this chapter, but we’re not done yet. The kings were dispatched by Gideon because his firstborn son was still a boy and scared to do it. The Israelites want him to rule over them, but he refuses saying that God with rule over them. He has the Israelites each throw in a gold earring and he makes what is essentially a chain mail vest out of it and the Israelites worship it (they “prostitute” themselves to it).

Gideon had seventy children with his many wives, but we’re going to be looking next at the son that was born to his concubine. Gideon dies, is buried, and the Israelites go back to their old way of worshiping the Baals.