Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna
Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently. 2Sa 19:41Job 5:2Jas 4:5-6Jdg 12:1-6Ecc 4:4
But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? Jas 1:19-201Co 13:4-7Gal 5:14-15Jas 3:13-18Jdg 6:11Jdg 6:34Php 2:2-3 God has delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian, into your hand. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he had said this, their anger 1against him subsided. Pro 15:1Jdg 7:24-25Jhn 4:37Php 2:3Pro 16:32Pro 25:11Pro 25:15Psa 115:1
Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit. 2Co 4:16Gal 6:91Sa 14:28-291Sa 30:10Heb 12:1-42Co 4:8-91Sa 14:31-32Jdg 7:25 So Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my troops some bread, for they are exhausted, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” Gen 33:17Psa 60:61Sa 25:182Sa 17:28-293Jn 1:6-8Deu 23:4Gen 14:18
But the leaders of Succoth asked, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your army?” 1Ki 20:11Php 2:211Sa 25:10-112Ki 14:9Gen 25:13Gen 37:25Gen 37:28Jdg 5:23
“Very well,” Gideon replied, “when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness!” Jdg 7:15
From there he went up to Penuel 2and asked the same from them, but the men of Penuel gave the same response as the men of Succoth. 1Ki 12:25Gen 32:30-31 So Gideon told the men of Penuel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower!” 1Ki 22:27-28Jdg 8:17
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army of about fifteen thousand men—all that were left of the armies of the people of the east. A hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had already fallen. Jdg 7:122Ki 3:26Isa 9:4Jdg 20:15Jdg 20:17Jdg 20:2Jdg 20:25Jdg 20:35 And Gideon went up by way of the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, taking them by surprise. Num 32:35Num 32:421Th 5:3Jdg 18:271Sa 15:321Sa 30:16 When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army. Psa 83:11Amo 2:14Job 12:16-21Job 34:19Jos 10:16-18Jos 10:22-25Rev 19:19-21Rev 6:15-16
After this, Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle along the Ascent of Heres. There he captured a young man of Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth. 1Sa 30:11-15Jdg 1:24-25
And Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your weary men?’” Jdg 8:6-7 Then he took the elders of the city, and using the thorns and briers of the wilderness, he disciplined the men of Succoth. Jdg 8:7Pro 10:13Pro 19:29Ezr 2:6Mic 7:4 He also pulled down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. Jdg 8:91Ki 12:25
Next, Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” Jdg 4:6Jud 1:16Psa 12:2Psa 89:12
“Men like you,” they answered, “each one resembling the son of a king.”
“They were my brothers,” Gideon replied, “the sons of my mother! As surely as the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
So he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword; he was fearful because he was still a youth. 1Sa 15:33Jos 10:24Psa 149:9
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels. Psa 83:11Isa 3:18Jdg 8:261Sa 31:31Sa 31:5Jdg 9:54Psa 83:1Rev 9:6
Gideon’s Ephod
Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you and your son and grandson—for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” Jhn 6:151Sa 12:121Sa 8:5Jdg 9:8-15
But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.” Isa 33:221Sa 12:121Sa 10:192Co 1:241Pe 5:31Sa 8:6-7Jdg 10:18Jdg 11:9-11
Then he added, “Let me make a request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.” (For the enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) Gen 25:131Pe 3:3-5Exo 32:3Gen 37:25Gen 37:281Ki 20:111Sa 25:11Exo 12:35
“We will give them gladly,” they replied.
So they spread out a garment, and each man threw an earring from his plunder onto it. The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1,700 shekels, 3 in addition to the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains from the necks of their camels. Est 8:15Jer 10:9Jhn 19:2Jhn 19:5Rev 18:12Rev 18:16Ezk 27:7Rev 17:4
From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household. Psa 106:39Deu 7:16Jdg 17:5Jdg 18:14Jdg 18:17Exo 23:33Jdg 6:241Sa 23:9-10
Forty Years of Peace
In this way Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon, Jdg 5:31Jdg 3:11Isa 10:26Isa 9:4Jdg 3:30Psa 83:9-12 and he—Jerubbaal 4son of Joash—returned home and settled down. 1Sa 12:11Jdg 6:32Jdg 7:1Neh 5:14-15
Gideon had seventy sons of his own, 5 since he had many wives. Jdg 9:2Jdg 9:51Ki 11:3Deu 17:172Ki 10:12Sa 3:2-52Sa 5:13-16Eph 5:31-33 His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. Gen 16:15Gen 20:2Gen 22:24Jdg 9:1-5Jdg 9:18
Gideon’s Death
Later, Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Gen 25:8Gen 15:15Jdg 6:24Job 42:17Job 5:26Jdg 8:27Jos 24:29-30
And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god. Jdg 9:4Jdg 2:19Jdg 9:46Jdg 2:17Jdg 8:272Ch 24:17-18Exo 34:15-16Jer 3:9
The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. Psa 78:42Psa 106:21Psa 78:11Deu 4:9Ecc 12:1Jdg 3:7Jer 2:32Psa 106:18 They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for Israel. Ecc 9:14-15Jdg 9:16-19Jdg 9:5