Judges 8:4-12
Summary for Judg 8:4-12: 8:4-12 a At this point, Gideon seemed as bent on revenge as on victory, and there is an abrupt cessation of his earlier dialogue with the Lord. The core of 300 men made this final run against the Midianites.• Gideon pursued the fleeing kings of Midian through the Jabbok gorge, then southward toward Rabbah, following the caravan route onto the Transjordan plateau.
• Succoth and Peniel were Israelite cities, but their loyalty to Gideon, an upstart general, was thin. The tribes east of the Jordan were continually exposed to the Midianites’ pressure and apparently feared the Midianites.
8:7 b It was a common practice in the ancient Near East to tear the flesh of a defeated foe (cp. Amos 1:3 c; Mic 4:13 d).
Summary for Judg 8:8-9: 8:8-9 e this tower: Towers were common in the period and have been excavated at both Succoth and Shechem (see 9:46-49 f).
Summary for Judg 8:10-12: 8:10-12 g Apparently the Midianite remnant with its two kings felt reasonably secure, having reached the Transjordan plateau en route to their traditional desert haunts. This put them well beyond typically Israelite territory. As he had done before (7:19-22 h), Gideon took the Midianite army by surprise. He captured the two kings and routed the army, thus eliminating the threat of Midianite retribution feared by the leaders of Succoth and Peniel.
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