Gideon’s Vengeance

With his victory complete, Gideon returns down the valley of the Jabbok River. The triumph has not quelled his anger over the refusal of the two cities of Gad to assist him while he was pursuing the Midianite kings, and he is determined to carry out his threatened reprisals. Coming first to Succoth, he captures a young man from the city and extracts from him the names of Succoth’s leaders and elders. Then, confronting these men, he reminds them of their words when they refused to help him, words he here describes as “ ‘ridicule.’ ” He had vowed to “ ‘tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers!’ ” He now does just that, probably scourging them with whips of brambles. The text says he thereby “taught” or “disciplined” them. He is much rougher, however, with Penuel, where he tears down the city’s tower (as he had said he would) and kills the men of the city.

Does Gideon go too far here? The crime of these cities is great indeed—in their lack of faith they behaved as enemies of Israel. Thus, some commentators, including Matthew Henry, argue that the punishment, though severe, was just. He notes that Gideon’s actions in Succoth were designed “not for destruction, but wholesome discipline, to make them wiser.” And he speculates that the reprisals in Penuel fell not on all the men but only on those who were “most insolent and abusive.” Others, however, say the punishment does not fit the crime and that Gideon’s actions reveal an improper ruthlessness, one of several character flaws that now begin to appear.

Gideon next deals with the two captured Midianite kings, revealing that his zeal in pursuing them was fueled by a personal vendetta: He holds them responsible for the deaths of his brothers, either in the recent battle or an earlier incident. He acts now not just as the deliverer of Israel but as the avenger of blood, taking vengeance for the death of a close relative. What a change has come over him! No longer is he the cowering Israelite who saw himself as the weakest of the weak. Even his enemies now testify that he has taken on an air of majesty (v. 18) and strength (v. 21). While his son is fearful to draw a sword for a lethal blow, Gideon is not, and he efficiently takes the lives of the two kings. Thus, he caps a smashing victory that afterward is cited in a prayer for God’s destruction of Israel’s enemies (Ps. 83:11).