Gedeon appeaseth the Ephraimites. Taketh Zebee and Salmana. Destroyeth
Soccoth and Phanuel. Refuseth to be king. Maketh an ephod of the gold
of the prey, and dieth in a good old age. The people return to
idolatry.
8:1. And the men of Ephraim said to him: What is this that thou meanest
to do, that thou wouldst not call us, when thou wentest to fight
against Madian? And they chid him sharply, and almost offered violence.
8:2. And he answered them: What could I have done like to that which
you have done? Is not one bunch of grapes of Ephraim better than the
vintages of Abiezer?
What could I, etc.... A meek and humble answer appeased them; who
otherwise might have come to extremities. So great is the power of
humility both with God and man.
8:3. The Lord hath delivered into your hands the princes of Madian,
Oreb and Zeb: what could I have done like to what you have done? And
when he had said this, their spirit was appeased, with which they
swelled against him.
8:4. And when Gedeon was come to the Jordan, he passed over it with the
three hundred men that were with him: who were so weary that they could
not pursue after them that fled.
8:5. And he said to the men of Soccoth: Give, I beseech you, bread to
the people that is with me, for they are faint: that we may pursue
Zebee, and Salmana, the kings of Madian.
8:6. The princes of Soccoth answered: Peradventure the palms of the
hands of Zebee and Salmana are in thy hand, and therefore thou
demandest that we should give bread to thy army.
8:7. And he said to them: When the Lord therefore shall have delivered
Zebee and Salmana into my hands, I will thresh your flesh with the
thorns and briers of the desert.
8:8. And going up from thence, he came to Phanuel: and he spoke the
like things to the men of that place. And they also answered him, as
the men of Soccoth had answered.
8:9. He said, therefore, to them also: When I shall return a conqueror
in peace, I will destroy this tower.
8:10. But Zebee and Salmana were resting with all their army. For
fifteen thousand men were left of all the troops of the eastern people,
and one hundred and twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword were
slain.
8:11. And Gedeon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents, on the
east of Nobe and Jegbaa, and smote the camp of the enemies, who were
secure, and suspected no hurt.
8:12. And Zebee and Salmana fled, and Gedeon pursued and took them, all
their host being put in confusion.
8:13. And returning from the battle before the sun rising,
8:14. He took a boy of the men of Soccoth: and he asked him the names
of the princes and ancients of Soccoth, and he described unto him
seventy-seven men.
8:15. And he came to Soccoth, and said to them: Behold Zebee, and
Salmana, concerning whom you upbraided me, saying: Peradventure the
hands of Zebee and Salmana are in thy hands, and therefore thou
demandest that we should give bread to the men that are weary and
faint.
8:16. So he took the ancients of the city, and thorns and briers of the
desert, and tore them with the same, and cut in pieces the men of
Soccoth.
8:17. And he demolished the tower of Phanuel, and slew the men of the
city.
8:18. And he said to Zebee and Salmana: What manner of men were they,
whom you slew in Thabor? They answered: They were like thee, and one of
them as the son of a king.
8:19. He answered them: They were my brethren, the sons of my mother.
As the Lord liveth, if you had saved them, I would not kill you.
8:20. And he said to Jether, his eldest son: Arise, and slay them. But
he drew not his sword: for he was afraid, being but yet a boy.
8:21. And Zebee and Salmana said: Do thou rise and run upon us: because
the strength of a man is according to his age: Gedeon rose up, and slew
Zebee and Salmana: and he took the ornaments and bosses, with which the
necks of the camels of kings are wont to be adorned.
8:22. And all the men of Israel said to Gedeon: Rule thou over us, and
thy son, and thy son’s son: because thou hast delivered us from the
hand of Madian.
8:23. And he said to them: I will not rule over you, neither shall my
son rule over you, but the Lord shall rule over you.
8:24. And he said to them: I desire one request of you: Give me the
earlets of your spoils. For the Ismaelites were accustomed to wear
golden earlets.
8:25. They answered: We will give them most willingly. And spreading a
mantle on the ground, they cast upon it the earlets of the spoils.
8:26. And the weight of the earlets that he requested, was a thousand
seven hundred sicles of gold, besides the ornaments, and jewels, and
purple raiment, which the kings of Madian were wont to use, and besides
the golden chains that were about the camels necks.
8:27. And Gedeon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city Ephra.
And all Israel committed fornication with it, and it became a ruin to
Gedeon, and to all his house.
An ephod.... A priestly garment which Gedeon made with a good design;
but the Israelites, after his death, abused it by making it an
instrument of their idolatrous worship.
8:28. But Madian was humbled before the children of Israel, neither
could they any more lift up their heads: but the land rested for forty
years, while Gedeon presided.
8:29. So Jerobaal, the son of Joas, went and dwelt in his own house:
8:30. And he had seventy sons, who came out of his thigh, for he had
many wives.
8:31. And his concubine, that he had in Sichem, bore him a son, whose
name was Abimelech.
His concubine.... She was his servant, but not his harlot: and is
called his concubine, as wives of an inferior degree are commonly
called in the Old Testament, though otherwise lawfully married.
8:32. And Gedeon, the son of Joas died in a good old age, and was
buried in the sepulchre of his father, in Ephra, of the family of Ezri.
8:33. But after Gedeon was dead, the children of Israel turned again,
and committed fornication with Baalim. And they made a covenant with
Baal, that he should be their god:
8:34. And they remembered not the Lord their God, who delivered them
out of the hands of all their enemies round about:
8:35. Neither did they shew mercy to the house of Jerobaal Gedeon,
according to all the good things he had done to Israel.