He Justly Chastises The Insolence Of The Men Of Succoth And Penuel Series

Chapter 30

He Justly Chastises the Insolence of the Men of Succoth and Penuel [8.13-8.17]

Scripture

13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up,

14 And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men.

15 And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary?

16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.

17 And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.

Commentary

13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up,-Judges 8.13 (KJV)

13 Gideon, son of Joash, returned from the battle through the Heres Pass (location unknown)-Judges 8.13 (GW)

And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle …To Penuel and Succoth, to punish them for their callous treatment of him and his men.

before the sun was up means "the heights of Heres, the sun-hills." ...from this it appears that it was in the night that he assaulted the remnant of the Midianite host at Karkor, which must be the night following; it could not be the same night in which he had defeated them in the valley of Jezreel; although Vatablus thinks this battle was begun and finished in one night. But there were, according to history, so many things done after the first defeat, such as sending messengers to Mount Ephraim and the Ephraimites, taking and holding the fords of Jordan against the fleeing Midianites, and bringing the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, arguing with him, and his answer to them, and his stay at Succoth and Penuel; which make it more probable that the day following was spent in the pursuit, and that it was the night after that that the whole affair was finished in one final battle. And before sunrise, Gideon returned to Penuel and then to Succoth; both Ben Gersom and Abarbinel hold the same opinion. However, according to the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, this phrase is to be rendered, "before the sunset", while the sun was still above the horizon; and so it must be in the daytime that he pursued the two kings and took them, and returned before sunset. Abendana observes that the word for "sun" may be the name of a place, and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions call it the ascent of Ares or Heres (GW version); as if it was the name of the place from which Gideon returned from the battle, also called the ascent of Akrabbim.

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." 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?

14 And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men.-Judges 8.14 (KJV)

14 and captured a young man from Succoth. He questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the 77 officials and leaders of Succoth.-Judges 8.14 (GW)

And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him…Just before he came to the city, he discovered a young man that lived there. He made him a prisoner and interrogated him about the chief magistrates of the city; what their names were, and where they lived.

and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men. This Succoth was not a small and inconsequential city, but with so many princes and elders in it, seventy-seven in all, it appears to have been of considerable size and importance. Under pressure, the young man explained to Gideon, what sort of men they were, their names, and where they lived: or perhaps he wrote down their names, and what part of the city they lived in; or Gideon wrote it down for himself so that he would not forget. I believe the young man wrote down the names of the seventy-seven elders of the city because here the Hebrew meaning of described is “to write down, describe in writing.” The RSV accurately translates the verse; “, "And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth."