Zebah

AI summary: Zebah matters because the cross references present him as part of the remnant royal power Gideon refuses to leave unjudged. His capture and execution complete the deliverance narrative and give personal resolution to the earlier murder of Gideon's brothers. Psalmic recall later uses his name as a byword for enemies brought down by God. Taken together, the material presents Zebah as a defeated king whose death marks the full collapse of Midianite oppression.¹

Man-killer, or sacrifice, one of the two kings who led the vast host of the Midianites who invaded the land of Israel, and over whom Gideon gained a great and decisive victory (Judg. 8). Zebah and Zalmunna had succeeded in escaping across the Jordan with a remnant of the Midianite host, but were overtaken at Karkor, probably in the Hauran, and routed by Gideon. The kings were taken alive and brought back across the Jordan; and confessing that they had personally taken part in the slaughter of Gideon’s brothers, they were put to death (comp. 1 Sam. 12:11; Isa. 10:26; Ps. 83:11). ³