Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna.When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and terrified the entire army. Jdg 8:12
INTRODUCTION
This is a history of the chosen people during the 400 or 450 years which intervened between the death of Joshua and the time of Eli, Act_13:20. It is not a connected history, but a collection of outstanding incidents, which determined the fortunes of the chosen people, and gave special illustrations of the power of faith in God. The chief lesson of the book is the intimate connection between loyalty or disloyalty to God and the corresponding results in well-being or misery. This is distinctly stated in Jdg_2:11-23.
The judges were extraordinary agents of the divine pity and helpfulness, raised up as the urgency of the people’s need demanded, to deliver Israel from their oppressors, to reform religion, and to administer justice. Their administration was generally local, as Barak among the northern tribes, Samson in the extreme south, and Jephthah across the Jordan in Gilead.
It must not be supposed that Israel perpetrated an unbroken series of apostasies. Though these and their special deliverances occupy the major part of the book, there were evidently long interspaces of fidelity and prosperity. And in the darkest hours, there were probably large numbers who, amid the abominations, sighed and cried for a better day.
There are two appendices, relating events which took place not long after Joshua’s death, and therefore preceding the greater part of the history. We may almost consider the book of Ruth as the third. The touches of human characteristics are very vivid and instinctive, and the book deserves much more attention than it receives from the ordinary reader.
Israel’s Apostasies and Deliverances
INTRODUCTION, Jdg_1:1-36; Jdg_2:1-23; Jdg_3:1-432.
RULE OF THE JUDGES, Judges 3:5-16:31
Following repeated apostasy and oppression, the Israelites were successively delivered:
4. From the Kings of Midian by Gideon, Jdg_6:1-40; Jdg_7:1-25; Jdg_8:1-35
17. What was Gideon’s attitude toward the men of Ephraim?
THE LORD RAISES UP JUDGES
GIDEON DEFEATS ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA
And the men of [the tribe of] Ephraim said to Gideon, “What is this thing that you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight with Midian?” And they quarreled with him vehemently.
But he said to them, “What have I done now [that is so significant] in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning (leftovers) of the grapes of [your tribe of] Ephraim better than the vintage (entire harvest) of [my clan of] Abiezer?
God has given the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb into your hands; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger toward him subsided when he made this statement.
So Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over [the river], he and the three hundred men who were with him–exhausted, yet [still] pursuing [the enemy].
He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me since they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”
But the leaders of Succoth said, “Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?”
Gideon said, “For that [response], when the LORD has handed over Zebah and Zalmunna to me, I will thrash your bodies with the thorns and briars of the wilderness.”
He went from there up to Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.
So Gideon said also to the men of Penuel, “When I come again in peace, I will tear down this tower.”
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies, about fifteen thousand [fighting] men, all who were left of the entire army of the sons of the east; for a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.
Gideon went up by the route of those who lived in tents to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their camp when the camp was unsuspecting.
When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and terrified the entire army.
Comments by
F.B.Meyer
On
Judges 8:1-12
A SOFT ANSWER TURNETH AWAY WRATH
The fleeing host made for the three fords of the Jordan, and with all haste Gideon summoned the tribes to anticipate them. The way of the victor was not without its drawbacks and discouragements. Ephraim was wroth; Succoth and Penuel were contemptuous; his own men were faint, though pursuing. But the faith that had won the great victory never wavered. Gideon “endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” From the eternal source of patience and hope he derived the grace of continuance. This is what Paul also learned and taught in after-years, 2Co_6:4, etc.
When the soul is leaning on God, drawing on his resources and affirming his sufficient grace, it can afford to answer Ephraim pleasantly; it will not shrink from rebuking cowardice in Penuel and Succoth; and it will hold on its victorious way, until the last enemy is destroyed and it enters the presence of God to receive the “Well done!” Discouraged soul, get alone, shut your door on all other thoughts, and say over and over to God the words with which the good Asaph ends Psa_73:23-28. Let these fill your heart with music till you are strong again.
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