24

Zebah and Zalmunna.

unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.

9. And he spake also unto 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 hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword.

II. And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host was secure.

12. And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host.

13. And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up,

14. And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men.

15. And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary ?

16. And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.

17. And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.

It is perhaps to this slaughter at the fords that Ps. lxxxiii. 11-13 and Isa. ix. 4, 5, refer.

Thus Gideon's soft answer turned away their wrath e' (Prov. xv. I).

4-7. Succoth, or 'the booths,' was on the east of the Jordan. It was so named by Jacob (Gen. xxxiii. 17).

The princes of the town refuse Gideon's request, because his victory is not complete, so long as the chief leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna, are not captured, and may return to take vengeance on any who help him.

8-9. Penuel was where Jacob wrestled with the angel (see Part I, p. 83).

10-12. Gideon overtakes the fugitives in Karkor, perhaps the name of a district, in the far east. Here another engagement takes place. The remaining 15,000 are slain or dispersed, and the two leaders taken.

13-17. The men of Succoth are taught' (or thrashed) with thorns and briers, as Gideon had threatened. This probably means that they were put under harrows, covered with thorns, and so killed. David afterwards treated' the Ammonites in this way (2 Sam. xii. 31).

Penuel was fortified again by Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 25).

18-21. We know nothing about the massacre of Gideon's brothers here referred to; whether it was before or in the course of this war. From the flattering answer of the Midianite princes we learn that Gideon, like Saul, was of commanding presence. Gideon was the natural avenger of his brothers' death. Wishing to train his son Jether to the duty of slaying his country's enemies, he calls upon him to

• For a similar outbreak of the Ephraimites, and their very different treatment by Jephthah, see Judges xii. 1–6.

f The account here of Gideon's troops, as 'faint yet pursuing,' describing 'the union of exhaustion and energy,' has given the words a place in the religious feelings of mankind (see Stanley, J. C. i. 344).

26 Zebah and Zalmunna—Abimelech.

18. Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.

19. And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.

20. And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth.

21. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks.

III. ABIMELECH AND JOTHAM.

JUDGES ix. I-21.

IX. 1. And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother's brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,

2. Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you ? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.

Jether is afraid, and, at their own

be the executioner.
request, Gideon himself slays them.

The effect of this great deliverance, which was followed by 'quietness' for forty years, was that the people wished to make Gideon king 8. This he refused, telling them that Jehovah should reign over them.

But he fell into sin in other ways. With the ornaments taken from the Midianites, for which he had asked, he made himself a gorgeous ephod, and set up a sanctuary at Ophrah. He also took many wives, as Eastern kings commonly did.

He is mentioned in Heb. xi. 32, with Barak, Samson, and Jephthah.

This is the first indication of the desire for monarchy, which reappears in the time of Samuel, and leads to the setting up of Saul as king. The word here, however, is not the same as that afterwards used for king.

III. ABIMELECH AND JOTHAM.

JUDGES ix. 1-21.

IX. 1-3. Gideon has seventy sons, who, after his death, rule over this part of the country. One of them, Abimelech, persuades his brothers to urge the people of Shechem to make him king, on the ground that it is better to have one master than many a.

The Shechemites agree, as Abimelech is their 'brother,' his mother having been a woman of Shechem. Probably these Ephraimites are jealous of the rise of Ophrah, Gideon's

a So Darius is described as maintaining that monarchy is better than oligarchy, since in the latter each wishes to be first and to carry out his own plans, from which jealous rivalries and strife arise (Herodotus, iii. 82).

28

Abimelech's Usurpation.

3. And his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother.

4. And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which fol lowed him.

5. And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

6. And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.

7. And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.

8. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.

9. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

IO. And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us.