TEXT [Commentary]

e.   Epilogue: Retirement and reversion (8:28-32)

28 That is the story of how the people of Israel defeated Midian, which never recovered. Throughout the rest of Gideon’s lifetime—about forty years—there was peace in the land.

29 Then Gideon[*] son of Joash returned home. 30 He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives. 31 He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech. 32 Gideon died when he was very old, and he was buried in the grave of his father, Joash, at Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer.

NOTES

8:28 the people of Israel defeated Midian. Something of the flavor of the original, which reads “so Midian was brought low before the Israelites,” vanishes from the NLT rendering. The use of language for bringing low or humbling also resonates with the beginning of the crisis (6:6), which also speaks of Israel being reduced or “brought low” (dalal [TH1809, ZH1937]). The NLT may also obscure the idea that it was Yahweh who had defeated Midian.

which never recovered. That Midian never again threatened Israel is apparent from the remainder of the OT narrative. Though his final abdication connects Gideon with the decline of Israel, his effective elimination of the Midianite threat associates him with the previous, effective judges, underscoring the tragedy of his abdication of responsibility at the very end.

Throughout the rest of Gideon’s lifetime—about forty years. The NLT might not be precisely correct here. The text says “and the land rested forty years in the days of Gideon.” Normally these epilogues state simply, “and the land rested X years, and X died.” The plain wording here, however, suggests that the land’s 40-year rest is included in Gideon’s lifetime, but does not demand that he died immediately after the 40 years. The possibility exists that Gideon lived to see some of the unraveling of the peace he won for Israel, particularly Israel’s “prostituting” themselves with the ephod.

there was peace in the land. This is the final occurrence of the standard formula for rest. Its absence from the remainder of the stories registers a critique of those leaders.

8:29 Then Gideon son of Joash returned home. That Gideon’s death is not immediately reported suggests perhaps his life extended beyond the 40 years of peace. Gideon is the only judge whose retirement is reported. It is very unlikely that the verb in this passage is to be read “mansively” to mean that Gideon “sits [on a throne]” = “reign as kin in his house” (Block 1999:300-301). Gideon was indeed a prominent chief or sheikh who exerted great influence, possibly dominating affairs in the region. This does not imply the institution of monarchy.

8:30 He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives. The Hebrew syntax makes this verse something of a footnote or aside, as if to say “By the way, Gideon had 70 sons.” Prodigious reproduction featuring the number 70 also appears with the “minor” judge Abdon (12:14). King Ahab had 70 sons who, like Gideon’s, were murdered in a coup (9:5; 2 Kgs 10:1). This notation links Gideon with the so-called minor judges, several of whom are noted for their many children. A leader who did not occupy a position of leadership by virtue of his genealogy often could claim respect and authentication other ways. To be anointed by the Spirit of Yahweh was one way, but a prosperity and power extending beyond one’s own immediate clan would be another. Through his 70 sons and their marriages, Gideon occupied the center of a network of marriage alliances that would have generated vast influence in a tribal society. Even though Gideon declined hereditary rule, he clearly remained a highly influential leader by virtue of his achievements and his extended family. Likewise, his sons collectively would wield great influence.

8:31 He also had a concubine. The Hebrew text suggests a contrast with the preceding verse, as if to say “but his concubine who was in Shechem.” Since the concubine features in the next story, the writer highlights her. Far more than mere sex slaves, concubines functioned as subordinate wives. Subordination resulted from diverse causes, such as lack of a dowry or possibly non-Israelite status (NIDOTTE 3.618-619; NIDB 1.713-714). See note on 19:1.

Shechem. The concubine’s home, Shechem, stood as the most important town in the area of Israelite settlement, the de facto capital of the region (Richter 2007:361-362). The fourteenth-century-BC Amarna letters record the actions of a chief named Labayu who used Shechem as the center of a mini-empire based on deception, betrayal, and sharp dealing. Shechem appears not to have been a uniformly or distinctively Israelite town, so a full marriage to a Shechemite woman probably violated Israelite intermarriage taboos. Taking a concubine might have allowed a marriage alliance in Shechem that extended Gideon’s influence via family ties into that important town. He seems to have had some influence there (cf. 9:2). Such an arrangement, however, certainly violated the spirit of OT marriage law, if not also the letter (cf. Deut 7:1-3), and directly triggered the betrayal of his house about which the author warned.

Abimelech. The name means “my father (is) king.” Typically Northwest Semitic names were statements about deities, hence the meaning is likely “my [divine] father is king” or “my father is the [divine] king.” Therefore this name does not imply Gideon himself had claimed kingship, however regally he may have comported himself. The text also uses an unusual phrase for Gideon’s naming of Abimelech. The normal construction is “and he called (qara’ [TH7121, ZH7924]) his name (shem [TH8034, ZH9005]) X.” The author here uses a phrase that appears only three other times in the OT for the naming of persons, literally, “he set (sim [TH7760, ZH8492]) his name (shem) [as] Abimelech.” The verb sim with shem as the direct object has four uses in the OT: (1) Most often, the expression is a calque of the idiom leshakken shem [TH7931, ZH8905] (to place the name), which is an inscriptional formula denoting placement of a monument bearing the speaker’s name, employed to signify Yahweh’s claim on the sanctuary and land (Deut 12:5, 21; 14:24; 1 Kgs 9:3; 11:36; 14:21; 2 Kgs 21:7; 2 Chr 6:20; 12:13; 33:7; cf. Richter 2002:127-205; 2007:343-344). (2) It expresses the establishment of a reputation or legacy (2 Sam 7:23; 14:7; 2 Kgs 21:4; 1 Chr 17:21). (3) A single reference denotes a liturgical blessing (Num 6:27). (4) It four times signifies the naming of a person (8:31; 2 Kgs 17:34; Neh 9:7; Dan 1:7). These latter passages(except 8:31) explicitly entail bestowing new names on adults (Boling 1975:162). Thus, Abimelech was not the man’s “birth” name, but one bestowed on him by Gideon, possibly either to claim him as a legitimate son or to confer on him some special status. The uncertain status of children of concubines or other women would necessitate such an action. That Abimelech considered himself his father’s proper successor certainly seems clear in the story to follow.

8:32 Gideon died when he was very old. The author does not note the age, great or otherwise, of any other judge.

the grave of his father, Joash. While several burials are noted in Judges, in most cases the author only notes the town, without referencing a tomb (2:9; 10:2, 5; 12:7, 10, 12, 15). Only the tombs of Gideon and Samson (16:31) are specified, and they are family tombs. Burial practices in Canaan prior to the era of Israel’s settlement are well documented. The typical burial prior to 1200 BC involved placing the body on a shelf in a cave-tomb. After the body had desiccated, the bones were separated and pushed to the end of the chamber to make room for the next body. Thus, the dead were literally “gathered to their people” in the accumulation of bones in the tomb. Burial practice in Canaan seems to change with the end of the Late Bronze Age. Extensive survey and excavation have failed to locate highland burials from the Iron I era, leading to the conclusion that burial in this period was by simple inhumation, thus leaving no trace. This practice expressed Israel’s egalitarian ethos, since a permanent tomb would suggest high social status (Gonen 1992; Kletter 2002; Bloch-Smith 2004; Faust 2004; 2006:92-107). Judges reflects this in the vagueness of its references to burials. The writer singles out the burials of Gideon and Samson, which deviated from normal practice. Perhaps these families were held in unusually high esteem.

Ophrah. Scholars debate the precise location of Ophrah. Indications in the narrative suggest it to be the mound located in Afula, in the center of the Jezreel valley (cf. note on 6:11). If this association is correct, Gideon’s hometown was a fairly significant site, one of the “daughter” towns of Megiddo (Josh 17:11). The site is noted in the list of place names recorded by Pharaoh Thutmose III (Rainey and Notley 2006:72-73). The site had a long, if sporadic history of settlement, but solid remains from early Iron Age I (1200–1150 BC) exist, despite serious damage to the site by modern development. The Iron IA remains include a brick-walled building with side rooms and a courtyard, granaries, and other artifacts including a board game! The mid-eleventh century BC saw the destruction of the site (Stern 1993–2008:1.37-38).

COMMENTARY [Text]

Commentators often glide over these final verses as the “standard conclusion” that recurs in the book (e.g., in 10:1-5). But the author actually tailors these conclusions to leave a precise impression on the mind of the reader and to prepare for the next account, often by introducing material distinctive to a particular judge. The standard elements appear in 8:28, 32, sandwiching 8:29-30, which report additional information. In the more standard elements, Gideon is credited with decisively and permanently ending the Midianite threat. The claim that the land rested 40 years is no mere convention: No subsequent judge will receive this commendation. Thus, Gideon is associated with Othniel, Ehud, and Deborah-Barak over against Jephthah and Samson. Moreover, Gideon’s 40 years of rest following seven years of oppression is the last time in the book that the period of a judge’s influence will be longer than the period of oppression that preceded his career. From now on, oppression will dominate over leadership, and the land will have no rest. The author thus used the standard elements to characterize Gideon as the last of the “good” judges.

However, the additional material in 8:29-30 introduces information that, in the context of the whole story, suggests, for the first time in the book, criticisms of a judge in the framework material. Gideon’s many marriages and 70 sons need not be taken negatively, since similar observations appear without criticism in the notes about the so-called minor judges (10:1-5; 12:8-15). Gideon’s continued dominance in the community, and the impression that all 70 of his sons somehow tyrannized the region (cf. 9:2), appear negatively in the context of his refusal to accept permanent, inherited responsibility. Instead of one successor, Gideon had 70! In this context, his siring of a son from a Shechemite secondary wife, whom he apparently claimed by renaming him Abimelech, created even more confusion and sowed the seeds of devastating conflict.

Gideon presents a mixed legacy. None of this should surprise the reader. The history of the Christian church includes many “great servants of God” who accomplished fine things for the Kingdom, but whose legacy was tarnished or corrupted by their refusal to accept responsibility for their achievements and for the next generation. One could name founders of worldwide mission organizations, great evangelists and pastors, prolific and profound authors, who all did powerful work for the gospel in the world. But the tales told by wives, children, friends, and colleagues often reveal a tarnished legacy. Gideon stands as a reminder that not only must we answer the call and fight the battles, winning the war; we must also win the peace. The responsibility of leadership, continuity, and wholeness in our relationships is as much a part of our legacy as souls won, books written, or kingdoms built.