As for Penuel, Gideon tore down its tower and killed the men of that city.
Then Gideon asked the kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, “What can you tell me about the men you killed at Tabor?”
They answered, “They looked just like you. Every one of them looked like the son of a king.”
Gideon said, “They were my brothers, my own mother’s sons. I swear, as surely as YAHWEH lives, that if you had let them live, I would let you live.” Then he turned to Jether, his firstborn son, and said, “Go ahead, kill them now!” But the boy wouldn’t do it. He didn’t draw his sword because he was still only a timid boy.
Then Zebah and Zalmunna taunted Gideon, “Come on, kill us yourself. It takes a man to do a man’s job.” So Gideon executed them and plundered the crescent ornaments that hung on the necks of their camels.
After that, the Israelites said to Gideon, “You’re our war hero! You’re the one who saved us from the Midianites. You be our ruler! Then your son will rule after you, and then your grandson.”
Gideon answered, “No. Neither I nor my son will be your ruler. YAHWEH is to be your only King. However, I do have one request,” Gideon added. “Give me all the gold earrings you took from the Midianites.” (It was the custom of the Midianites to wear gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
The people answered, “Gladly. They’re yours!” They spread out a cloth, and each one placed on it the earrings they had taken as plunder. Gideon received gold earrings that weighed seventeen hundred shekels, not including the crescent ornaments, necklaces, and fine purple robes of the kings of Midian, nor the ornamental collars taken from the necks of their camels. Gideon used all this plunder to make a sacred golden ephod. He put it on display in his hometown, Ophrah, and all Israel strayed from YAHWEH and gave over their hearts to the golden ephod. It was a seducing snare for Gideon and his family.
So Israel defeated Midian, who never troubled them again. The land had peace for forty years until Gideon died.
Gideon, the Baal-Fighter, son of Joash, returned to his own home and lived there. Because he had many wives, Gideon fathered seventy sons. In addition, he took a concubine in Shechem. She bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, at Ophrah, a town of the clan of Abiezer. No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again abandoned the true God and worshiped the images of Baal. They made Baal-Berith their god and no longer remembered YAHWEH their God, who had saved them from all their enemies on every side. The Israelites failed to demonstrate loyal love to the family of Gideon, the Baal-Fighter, for all the good that he had done for them.
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