Judges 8:13

SUCCOTH AND PENUEL PUNISHED (Judges 8:13-17)

"And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres. And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he described for him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, seventy and seven men. And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom ye did taunt me, saying are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in thy hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary? And he took the elders of the city and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. And he brake down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city."

"Gideon ... returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres" (Judges 8:13). We definitely prefer the KJV rendition here which reads: "Before the sun was up." As Hervey said, "This rendition may be well defended and gives excellent sense."[11] Without any doubt the word "Heres is an ancient word for "sun"; and the foolish excuse for making this a proper name of some place is based totally upon what some scholar imagines to be the customary use of "up" or "ascent." However, where is the scholar who knows ALL the uses of such words? Furthermore, when they have made a place-name out of it, WHERE is the place? Of course, there is no such place. Furthermore, the mention of sunrise here indicates, what is almost a certainty, namely, that Gideon attacked the kings at Karkor AT NIGHT. Is that not what he did previously? Why would he have changed his tactics?

"A young man of Succoth ... described for him the princes of Succoth" (Judges 8:14). This is a shameful mistranslation, which happily is corrected in the RSV, which has, "And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth." As Cundall noted, "This is a vital witness to the wide dissemination of the arts of writing and reading,"[12] which was known and employed by people of all ranks and conditions, not only in the times of Samuel, but also far earlier even in the times of Moses.

"And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth" (Judges 8:16). In view of what is stated in Judges 8:17, that he slew the men of Penuel, it is inconceivable that the punishment of death for the rulers of Succoth would not also have been executed. As Dalglish noted, "The language of the narrative forbids any other interpretation than that the elders were put to death by being threshed amid thorns and briers, or by having thorns and briers dragged over their prostrate bodies."[13] "The words "he taught" here, by the slight change of a single letter, can be read as "he threshed."[14] Certainly, such cruel punishments were known in those times, as indicated in Amos 1:3. However, George Moore stated, "... making the word `thistles' (briers) in this passage mean `threshing-sledges,' as in some dictionaries and commentaries is merely a figment of bad etymology."

"And he slew the men of the city" (Penuel) (Judges 8:17). This does not mean that he slaughtered the whole city, but only the rulers of it, as was the case in Succoth. "Gideon slew their great men and beat down their tower, but did not harm the inhabitants."[15]

"The punishment inflicted by Gideon upon Succoth and Penuel was well deserved in all respects, and was righteously executed. They had not only acted treacherously against Israel as far as they could, from the most selfish interests, but in their contemptuous treatment of Gideon and his men, they had poured contempt upon the Lord, who had demonstrated and shown before all Israel that Gideon and his men were God's own soldiers by the victory which was given to him against an innumerable army. Having been called by the Lord to be the deliverer and the judge of Israel, it was Gideon's duty to punish those faithless cities."[16]