Zebah (King of Midian)

Biblical Account

In Judges 8, Zebah appears as one of the two kings of Midian and is always mentioned together with Zalmunna. Oreb and Zeeb, who are killed in chapter 7, are called "princes" (leaders) of Midian, while Zebah and Zalmunna are distinguished from them as "kings."

• The pursuit: Gideon leads his exhausted three hundred men across the Jordan River in pursuit of the two kings. The men of Succoth and Penuel refuse to give his soldiers food, asking, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army?" (Judges 8:4-9).
• Capture: The two kings are at Karkor with the remnant of their army, about fifteen thousand men. When Gideon strikes the camp, which is off its guard, they flee but are eventually captured (Judges 8:10-12).
• Execution: When Gideon asks what kind of men they had killed at Tabor, the two kings answer, "As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king." Gideon reveals that those men were his brothers, the sons of his own mother. He then tells his firstborn son, Jether, to kill the two kings, but Jether, being young and afraid, does not draw his sword. When the two kings say, "Rise thou, and fall upon us," Gideon kills them himself. He then takes the crescent ornaments that were on their camels' necks (Judges 8:18-21).

Significance Within Scripture

Psalm 83, speaking of the nations seeking to attack Israel, prays, "yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna" (Psalm 83:11). In this psalm, Zebah serves as an example of an enemy defeated by God. Zebah's name does not appear in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Issues

• Revenge or judgment: Gideon executes the two kings on account of his brothers' deaths. Accordingly, some interpreters read the scene as an act of personal blood vengeance, while others read it as the fulfillment of God's judgment on the invaders. The text does not say when or how the brothers died.
• Connection to the ephod: The ornaments taken from the two kings and the purple garments the kings wore are linked to the account of Gideon's ephod that follows (Judges 8:24-27). For this reason, many preachers and commentators read this scene as the point at which Gideon begins to waver after his victory.
• Composition of the text: Some critical scholars regard the Oreb and Zeeb narrative in chapter 7 and the Zebah and Zalmunna narrative in chapter 8 as originally separate traditions. Conservative interpreters, by contrast, read them as a single continuous pursuit narrative.
• The name: "Zebah" is the same as the Hebrew word meaning "sacrifice." Some interpreters therefore regard it as a name given by the Israelites, though this view is not settled. Details of his life, such as his age or the length of his reign, are not given in the text.

In the Korean Church

In Korean preaching on Gideon, Zebah is typically mentioned only in passing, when sermons address the inhospitality of the people of Succoth and Penuel or Gideon's conduct after his victory. Zebah is rarely treated as a subject in his own right.