• Mt. Tabor is rather remote from the tO|>oin-aphy of the narrative. Tabor by Bethel (1 S 10^) is nearer Sliechem. Moore Bujfk'ests ni2D (cf. ^), altered to lun to suit 0^: Budde j';n (DM).
) In v.i8« omit ni.T, so Budde. V.iTb prob. editorial addition, anticipating v.-if-. W^^ is perhaps secondarj' ; the narrative docs not imply that G. inlendi-d to ofler a sacrifice. V.2J* editorial, antioipatea G.'s recoiniition of the angel. Wilh this § cf. Gn IS'* J, and Jg 132-i>. This § is ascribed by sonic critics to J.
I In V.23 the words ' bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old,' are corrupt and ungrammatical. 'jr.1 IS and lir.l 13 are doublets.
§ The name cannot = ' one who strives with Baal,* as the text would ingeniously suggest ; but ' Baal strives, Kiuil being a name for J", used without offence in early times ; cf. lu^hlwuil, Meribaat, etc But Jerubbaal should prob. be writtei* Jerubaal = 'Baal (i.t. J") founds,' •Ti', cf. Jeruel, Jeremiah (Wellh. Tea d. D. Sam. p. 31. So Bu., Sloore). In v.sl Mie thol will plead . . . morning' interrupts the condition, d. ; * U-cause one hath broken down his altar ' is repeate.1 fr.ini v.»2 ; both should be struck out a.< insertions. This S is attributed lo E.
II The account (7"") of the test by which Gideon's large ami^v was reduced to 300 belongs to some later tradition it is obviouslv connected with ft^ ; but this verse is inconsi>lent»'itli T^ and neither can be original. At end of T* note L.\X .\- /.Li-irrrut m!^it Mi^O' mirtf. In v." ' puttuig their hand to Uuir moulh ■ is a gloss ; it should come at the end of the verse.
II This ixiragmph has been a good deal altered by editors. Two versions of Gideon's strat.igein seem to have In-en com- bined. In the one version the ;«Kl are armed with pitchers and torches: in the other, with trumpets luily. The text hu been
greatly confused by haniionicing oilditions; see tJie comment- arii*s. In v.* Uie'wonl *a swonl.' KVin. is iiruh. a gloM. Id v.--i<'the two narratives are combined again in deecnbing Uii
the two narraliv direction of the fliirht
^J
172
GIDEON
GIFT
MidianiteB at the .Tonlan ford. The movement is ^uc^•essful, and the Eiihiaimites capture and slay the two princes Oreb and Zeeb.* In the pride of their siiccess, the Eplirainiites quarrel with Gideon for not having called in their assistance earlier. lUit Gideon appeases their jealousy by a shrewd speech : ' Is not the gleaning of fiphraim better than the vintage of Abie/er?' This certainly looks as if the victory were won. ami the ' vintage ' over : the F-iibraiiuites had completed the work of Gideon on the W. si<le of the Jordan cro-ising. In the other narrative, however (S'*'-'), we liml Gideon in hard pursuit, with his SOU, on the I'., of .lordan. So far from having won a victory, the chances of success seem .so unlikely that the i)eople of Siiccof h and I'enuel treat the pursuers with mockery, and refuse provisions for the wearied troops. At length, however, Gideon reaches tlie place where the Midianites .are encamped, takes them by surprise, captures the two kings, Zeliah and Zaliiiunna.t niul returns in triumph, piinishing Succoth and I'enuel on the way. He then kills tlie two kings with his own hand, in revenge for their murder of his brothers. The divergence of the two accounts is apparent. An attempt to combine them can be made, as is done, e.g., by Kittel.t He regards the exploitof Ephraim at the f(]rd as merely an episode in the pursuit, which is continued by Gideon and his men on the E. side of the river, and overcomes the ditticulty of 8''' by supposing these verses to be merely an imitation of I'J' ^ It seems, however, much more likely that we have in 8"""-' clearly a very ancient and homo- geneous fragment, a narrative of the pursuit ami final defeat parallel to 1^-9,^.% Whether 8^-=' i.s a direct continuation of 7'"^ or not, is difficult to say. It implies some account of a successful rout of the Midianites, but not necessarily tliat given in 7°'-". Perhaps we have here an ancient frag- ment, of which the beginning has been lost.ll
The Midianites triumphantly overthrown, Gid- eon's grateful countrymen otter to make him king. He declines ; but asks for the golden earrings taken in the spoil. With these he makes an ephod, i.e. apparently an image of J", overlaid with metal, H and sets it up in his house at Ophrah (g24-27a„ jj, [|,g main). The judgment of a later age condemned the action, and saw in it the cause of subsequent disaster ( v.^"/?''). The usual formula of the editor brings the story to a clo.se (v.'-"*). The account of Gideon's family, the birth of Abimelech, and Gideon's death and burial (vv.^-'-), seems to come from the hand of the final editor, who was familiar with P in Genesis,** and intended these verses to form a connecting link with tlie story of Abimelech in ch. 9. The remaining vv.^-^'> belong to the Deuteronomie framework of the Book of Jiulges. The story of Gideon is told in an extremely complicated narrative. Two main documents can be traced, but these have been so interwoven both before and after the Deuteron. redaction of Judges, that the analysis in detail must be regarded more as a critical experiment than as possessing anj' degree of certainty. In this article the two main narratives have been followed, and secondary elements noticed chiefly in footnotes. G. A. Cooke.