JU8-14: It Was NOT The Norm For The Victors In A Battle To Kill The Kings They Captured

“Then he said to Zevach and Tzalmuna, ‘Tell me about the men you killed at Tavor.’ They answered, ‘They looked like you, like a king’s sons.’  Gideon replied, ‘They were my brothers, my mother’s sons. As surely as Adonai is alive, I swear that if you had spared them, I would not kill you.‘”-Judges 8:18-19

Oh boy, the time had arrived for Zevach and Tzalmuna, the Midianite leaders to face the consequences of their wicked deeds…as all men must do in this lifetime.

Gideon kicks off the execution process by asking the men…

“Tell me about the men you killed at Tavor”.

There was a ton of implication packed into that question.

Of course, Tavor meant Mount Tabor.

And the “men” he was referring to were the innocent citizens who were living in that area who had no part in the battle.

What Gideon was pointing out was that these Midianites had committed horrific acts of terrorism against his fellow Hebrew brothers and sisters for no good reason other than to scare and control them.

The only response Zevach and Tzalmuna could offer Gideon was that the men they killed at Tavor very closely resembled him.

“That’s right” Gideon snapped back.

“And you know why?” 

Gideon continued on.

“That’s because you murdered my own blood.  My own family.  My own relatives”.

 Boiling with rage, Gideon comes to his final conclusion.

“As surely as Adonai is alive,
I swear that if you had spared them,
I would not kill you.'”

See here’s the thing and I betcha a lot of you folks reading this didn’t know this.

But it was NOT the norm for the winners in a battle to kill the kings and military leaders who they had just conquered.

Don’t get me wrong.

It definitely happened.

But it wasn’t the norm.

There was a practical reason for this.

Because when you haphazardly went off and killed the king of some nation in a barbaric and unjustly fashion, it just aroused the enemy’s fury making it all that much harder to force them to surrender.

But in this case, Gideon had every right to kill these 2 Midianite kings because they had slaughtered many of his innocent Hebrew brothers and sisters.

Gideon was forced to play the kin avenger or blood avenger in this situation…

Which by the way is the exact role Yeshua will play when he returns.

Gideon first ordered his firstborn son Yeter to execute the 2 men but he was just too darn scared to do it.

Why?

Because he was still a young buck.

He had never killed a man before and especially not such vicious and callous men as the warriors who stood before him.

This was obvious to the 2 Midianite leaders as well.

Seeing that the boy’s hands were shaking with fright they told Gideon “You kill us”.

Again, these were hardened warriors who had already seen much blood on the battlefield.

They weren’t afraid to face their execution which they knew they deserved.

But they wanted their death to be as quick and painless as possible.

Some young punk who couldn’t wield a sword probably just wasn’t gonna cut it.

So Gideon granted their request and killed them.

Alright man it’s late and I’m not having any particular takeaways come to mind here.

So see you all next time.