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person verbs. Later on in this narrative movement, these towns indeed
become the objects of violent verbs (1f1fi "trample" in 8 :16,34 ?'I1? "break
down" and 17 fit "kill" in 8:17)-the irony is, it is against his own people.35
In 8:10 the focus shifts to Zebah and Zalmunna. A comparison of the
type of verbs used in reference to the different characters underlines the
point of this episode:

This exposition shows that Gideon is always used as the subject of
very active, forceful verbs. 16 Zebah and Zalmunna are always objects of
these same verbs, except when they are fleeing-a verb with a negative

34The MT has yr, which Klein renders as "he taught them with thorns and briars"(hiphil
form of D-11) (Klein, Judges, 62-63). An alternative would be to follow the textual note in
the BHS, which suggests an emendation and reads 1f17 with the LXX et. al., possibly in .
light of Jdg 8:7. Either case supports the notion of violent behavior by the hand of Gideon.
3sKlein, Judges, 62. The irony is that Gideon kills all the people who doubt him, which
"
is in sharp contrast to how God treats him when he had doubted. Cf. also Olson, "Judges,"
808.
36 Bal, Narratology, 26-27. Bal remarks that determining the subject and the object of
the story becomes significant in characterization. '
,