Assembling all his people at the call of the trumpet, Jerubbaal chose from among them three hundred of the strongest, with whom he came down unexpectedly upon the raiders, put them to flight in the plain of Jezreel, and followed them beyond the Jordan.  Having crossed the river, “faint and yet pursuing,” he approached the men of Succoth, and asked them for bread for himself and his three hundred followers.  Their fear of the marauders, however, was so great that the people refused to give him any help, and he had no better success with the people of Penuel whom he encountered a little further on.  He did not stop to compel them to accede to his wishes, but swore to inflict an exemplary punishment upon them on his return.  The Midianites continued their retreat, in the mean time, “by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah,” but Jerubbaal came up with them near Karkar, and discomfited the host.  He took vengeance upon the two peoples who had refused to give him bread, and having thus fulfilled his vow, he began to question his prisoners, the two chiefs:  “What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor?” “As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.”  “And he said, They were my brethren, the sons of my mother:  as the Lord liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.  And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them.  But the youth drew not his sword:  for he feared, because he was yet a youth.”  True Bedawins as they were, the chiefs’ pride revolted at the idea of their being handed over for execution to a child, and they cried to Jerubbaal:  “Rise thou, and fall upon us:  for as the man is, so is his strength.”  From this victory rose the first monarchy among the Israelites.  The Midianites, owing to their marauding habits and the amount of tribute which they were accustomed to secure for escorting caravans, were possessed of a considerable quantity of gold, which they lavished on the decoration of their persons:  their chiefs were clad in purple mantles, their warriors were loaded with necklaces, bracelets, rings, and ear-rings, and their camels also were not behind their masters in the brilliance of their caparison.  The booty which Gideon secured was, therefore, considerable, and, as we learn from the narrative, excited the envy of the Ephraimites, who said:  “Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with Midian?"*

     * Judges viii. 1-3.