Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’” And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. Judges 8:13-17
Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres Gideon returns from the victory God has given. His wisdom as a military leader is seen in the fact he does not return the way he came. Here God tells us he returns to Succoth
via the mountain pass at Heres.
And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men On the way, Gideon captured (seized or took) a young man who gives him the names of every leader in Succoth – men Gideon intended to severely punish for their refusal to aid his men in a time of great need..
And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’ “ When Gideon get to Succoth he gathers the leaders of Succoth together and shows them the captured Midianite kings. He throws the words of fear (and derision) back in the faces of the city elders. They doubted God and Gideon’s ability to capture these marauders, now here they are, in chains in front of them. Succoth’s problem is no longer Midian but Gideon.
And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. Gideon instructs his men to gather thornbush vines from the wilderness. They use those vines to publicly whip the elders of the city. The intent is that these elders might be shamed for the evil they had done to Gideon and his army. (Read Luke 12:47.)
And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city From Succoth, Gideon returns to Penuel. (He actually has to backtrack to get there.) There he breaks down the tower in the city as he said he would. The tower is typically the highest point in the city. The watchtower serves to prevent the city from surprise attacks. Thus Gideon breaks apart the city’s first means of defense (located on the east side of the Jordan where armies attacking Judah or Israel would come from.) After that, shockingly, Gideon kills the men of Penuel. This leaves the women and children in the city virtually defenseless. His revenge is complete. The city is destroyed.
What Can We Learn? We read these verses and sense something is wrong. First God is not mentioned in this chapter at all except
when He gives the land rest. After the initial victory at Jezreel God appears to be forgotten. (That is never good!) Second we see a
side of Gideon that is surprising. Remember he started off as a fearful man hiding in a winepress. Now when he encounters
people who are fearful to aid him he becomes angry and vindictive. (We often hate in others the sin that we struggle with.) It may also be that after God gave the victory with the 300 that Gideon begins to live his life in his own strength. This happens to many of us. We trust God in the big challenges of life but once we get past them we tend to forget God and live life in our own power and in the flesh. When we do, we perform acts that are not very Godly. That
sin is what we see here in Gideon’s judgment of Succoth and Penuel.