Catching a Young Man of Succoth - Judges 8:14

In the book of Judges we learned how, “Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up”, and in chapter eight and verse fourteen of Judges, we learn how Gideon, “caught a young man of the men of Succoth” where we read,

And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men.

The verse reads, “And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him:” The writer began with the words, “and caught a young man” which means “and took, seized and captured a youthful male human being” “of the men of Succoth” or “pertaining to the male human beings belonging to Succoth whose name means ‘booths’ and was the site where Jacob put up booths for his cattle and built a house for himself; apparently east of the Jordan near the ford of the torrent Jabbok and later allotted to the tribe of Gad”, “and enquired of him” which means “and asked, consulted, requested and demanded from him, the young man of Succoth” the following information. The writer shared how “Gideon” seized a youthful male who was from “Succoth” and asked him for the following information. 

The verse goes on to say, “and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men.” The writer continued with the words, “and he described unto him” which means “and he, the youthful male from Succoth, wrote, inscribed and engraved to him, Gideon” “the princes of Succoth” which means “belonging to Succoth whose name means ‘booths’ and was the site where Jacob put up booths for his cattle and built a house for himself; apparently east of the Jordan near the ford of the torrent Jabbok and later allotted to the tribe of Gad”, “and the elders thereof” or “and the older and ancient men belonging to Succoth”, “even threescore and seventeen men” which means “also and indeed seventy seven male human beings”. The writer shared how the youthful male of “Succoth” told “Gideon” who the ancient males were who belonging to “Succoth” which included seventy seven males.

When we consider the words in this verse, we learn how “Gideon” seized a youthful male from “Succoth” and desired to know the names of the ancient “men” who lived in “Succoth”, and he wrote down the names of seventy seven of them. We are reminded that these “elders” would not give provisions to the three hundred men who accompanied “Gideon”, and “Gideon” told them when he came back from capturing “Zebah and Zalmunna”, the two rulers and leaders of “Midian”, he would beat them with the thorns and briars of the wilderness. (See Judges 8:7) We can imagine what was on “Gideon’s” mind. There is a day of accounting for all of us, (Hebrews 9:27) and when we yield our lives to His Son Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of all mankind and rose from the grave after three days, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put His Holy Spirit within us to guide us into all truth and allow Him to take vengeance upon all who rise up in opposition to us. (See John 3:16; Acts 1:8; Romans 12:19)

Next time we learn how Gideon, “came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".