Study Desk

"Sisra's mother looks out the window; peering out through the lattice she wonders, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why are his horses so slow to return?'

But the people of Isra'el did what was evil from Adonai 's perspective, so Adonai handed them over to Midyan for seven years.

The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and matzot, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." Gid‘on did so.

Gid‘on took ten of his servants and did what Adonai had told him to do. He didn't do it by day, because he was afraid of the men in his father's household and those from the city, so he did it at night.

"Bring out your son," the men of the city demanded of Yo'ash, "so that he may die, because he destroyed the altar of Ba‘al and cut down the sacred pole next to it!"

So he brought the people down to the water, and Adonai said to Gid‘on, "Put to one side everyone who laps up water with his tongue the way a dog does, and put to the other side everyone who gets down on his knees to drink."

So they took the provisions and the shofars of the people; then he sent all the men of Isra'el away, each to his tent. But the three hundred men he kept. The camp of Midyan was in the valley below him.

and after you hear what they are saying, you will have the courage to attack the camp." So with his servant Purah he went down to the outposts of the camp.

Gid‘on got there just as a man was telling a comrade about a dream he had had: "I just now dreamt that a loaf of barley bread fell into the camp of Midyan, came to the tent and struck it so hard that it overturned the tent and knocked it flat."

Gid‘on sent messengers through all the hills of Efrayim, with the message, "Come down and attack Midyan; and capture the rivers before they get there, as far as Beit-Barah, and also the Yarden." So all the men of Efrayim came together and seized the rivers as far as Beit-Barah and the Yarden.

But the chiefs of Sukkot said, "You haven't captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your army?"

So he answered the people of P'nu'el similarly, "When I return safe and sound, I will break down this tower!"

Then he came to the people of Sukkot and said: "You insulted me when you said, ‘You haven't captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your exhausted men?' Well, here are Zevach and Tzalmuna!"

Then Zevach and Tzalmuna said, "You, do it. You, kill us. Let a grown man do what takes a grown man's strength." So Gid‘on got up and killed Zevach and Tzalmuna; then he took the ornamental crescents from around their camels' necks.

This is how Midyan was defeated by Isra'el, so that they ceased to be a threat. The land had rest forty years during the lifetime of Gid‘on;

His mother's brothers spoke to all the men of Sh'khem and said all this about him, so that they followed their feelings and supported Avimelekh, arguing, "After all, he's our brother."

So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come and rule over us!'

So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You, come and rule over us!'

But God sent a spirit of discord between Avimelekh and the men of Sh'khem, so that the men of Sh'khem dealt treacherously with Avimelekh.

This came about so that the crime against the seventy sons of Yeruba‘al might be avenged and the responsibility for their bloody death be placed on Avimelekh their brother, who murdered them, and on the men of Sh'khem, who helped him kill his brothers.