despising it, the men of Succoth and of Penuel de- served all that they suffered. Let us consider, I. The punishment inflicted on them —
The lyrovocation they gave was exceeding great — [Gideon had already destroyed one-hundred-and-twenty thousand of the Midianitish army ; and was now pursuing with liis three hundred men the remnant, who had escaped the general carnage. He had crossed over Jordan, and was follow- ing them with all possible ardour ; but his men having been engaged all the preceding night and day without any inter- mission or any refreshment, were faint : Gideon therefore, in passing through Succoth, a city of the tribe of Gad, requested ha the kindest manner some provisions for his men : but the elders of the city only insulted him, and endeavoured to weaken his hands by deriding the vanity of his attempts. Gideon would not lose any time in debating the matter with them, but warned them, that when God should have delivered the Midianites into his hand, he would scourge them all with briers and thorns''. He then went forward to Penuel, a neighbouring city ; but was insulted by its elders precisely as he had been by the men of Succoth. It should seem that the men of Penuel confided in a tower which they had, and thought themselves safer in that, than they could be by any efforts of Gideon, or of God Ihmself in their behalf. Gideon therefore threatened them with heavier vengeance, when God should have dehvered Zebah and Zalmunna into his hands : for, though theh ingratitude was the same with that of the men of Succoth, there was in their answer somewhat more of atheistical impiety, which was the ground of a severer sentence against them^.]
The piuiishment he inflicted on them was just — [Gideon pressed forward, weak and faint as he was, and came upon the Midianites, when they conceived themselves to be perfectly secure : and God blessed his efforts, so that the fifteen thousand Midianites were destroyed, and their two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, taken, without the loss of a man belonging to the host of Gideon. Instantly did Gideon return, \vith his royal captives, to the two ungrateful cities which had refused him sustenance ; and executed on their elders the vengeance he had threatened : he punished those of Succoth with briers and thorns ; and those of Penuel with death, and the destruction of their boasted tower.
Now we say that this was just. Had the injury which he had sustained been purely personal, it would have become him to pass it by, and to leave the punishment of it to a righteous
^ ver. 7. <= ver. 9.