Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Yesterday we met Israel's fifth judge, Gideon. He was full of self-doubt, but God used

him to win the war against the Midianites. Today we opened with the

tribe of Ephraim having the strangest complaint of all. They're mad they weren't invited to the war.

They seem to pride themselves on being warriors. It's part of their identity, so they feel insulted

that Gideon only had them come in as backup yesterday in Chapter 7. But they calmed down a bit when

Gideon praises their previous military victories. Then Gideon and his crew head across the Jordan

River into the area of the Transjordan tribes. They're trying to capture two of the Midianite

King so they can finish off the war. Gideon asked some of the people in East Manasseh to feed his

army and they deny him. He's from

West Manassas, so these guys technically are from the same tribe, but they offer no support, and he

promises to destroy their town of Sukketh. Then he moves on to Penuel, a city in Gad, which is the

neighboring tribe to the south, and they deny him food too, so he promises to

destroy their local tower. His anger is warranted because these are fellow Israelites and they're

supposed to help each other out, especially in war efforts, but Gideon's response does seem a bit

extreme, like he's still operating out of insecurity and has something to prove.

Even though he just had a military victory, he never wielded a sword. He just smashed a jar and

blew a trumpet. And now he's been twice rejected by his own people in front of his army.

But Gideon persists. Even hungry, he chases down the two Midianite kings, Siba and Zalmuna. He captures them,

kills them, and steals their crescent ornaments. Then he goes back and fulfills his threats to

sucketh and penual. Today's reading about Gideon's conquest has a really different feel than

yesterday's, doesn't it? You may have noticed that there's no mention of God here.

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