Gideon's Later Choices

The men of Ephraim angrily asked Gideon why they had not been called sooner to fight Midian. Gideon answered with humble words, praising what Ephraim had done in capturing Oreb and Zeeb. Their anger cooled. Then Gideon crossed the Jordan with his three hundred men, faint but still pursuing the enemy kings.

Gideon asked the men of Succoth for bread because his men were weary while he chased Zebah and Zalmunna. They refused. At Penuel he was answered the same way. Gideon warned Succoth that he would punish them after the Lord gave him victory, and he said he would break down Penuel's tower when he returned.

Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with about fifteen thousand men left from a much larger army. Gideon attacked by the route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, where the army felt secure. The kings fled, but Gideon pursued and captured them, throwing their army into confusion as he returned from battle.

On the way back, Gideon caught a young man from Succoth and learned the names of its seventy-seven leaders and elders. He punished Succoth with thorns and briers. He broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of that city. Then he learned that the men killed at Tabor were his own brothers. Jether, his firstborn, was afraid to kill the two kings, so Gideon killed Zebah and Zalmunna himself.

The men of Israel asked Gideon and his family to rule over them, but Gideon said the Lord should rule over Israel. Then he asked for gold earrings from the plunder, and the people gave them willingly. Gideon made an ephod and put it in Ophrah, and Israel was unfaithful with it. It became a snare to Gideon and his house. Midian stayed subdued, and the land had rest for forty years in Gideon's days.

Gideon, also called Jerubbaal, lived in his own house. He had many wives and seventy sons, and his concubine in Shechem bore Abimelech. Gideon died in old age and was buried in Ophrah. After his death, Israel again turned to the Baals, forgot the Lord who had rescued them, and did not show kindness to Gideon's family.