Zebah

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ZEBAH (‘victim’). A Midianite king, mentioned together with Zalmunna , who was killed by Gideon as the result of blood-revenge (  Judges 8:18-21 ); both kings had, however, been previously overcome in battle by Gideon, who championed the Israelites against their Midianite oppressors. This victory must have been of vital and far-reaching consequence to the Israelites, for it is more than once commemorated long after as a landmark in the nation’s history (  Isaiah 9:4;   Isaiah 10:26 ,   Psalms 83:11 ). The death of Zebah and Zalmunna is very graphically described. Gideon commands Jether, his eldest son, to slay them, but being only a youth he is afraid; so the kings ask Gideon himself to kill them; he does so, and takes the crescents from the necks of their camels. This last action may conceivably Imply a kindly remembrance of the kings on the part of Gideon, for from   Judges 8:19 it would seem that it was only reluctantly, and from a sense of duty, that he slew them.

W. O. E. Oesterley.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ze'bah. Zebah and Zalmun'na . (Deprived Of Protection). The two "kings" of Midian who commanded the great invasion of Palestine, and who finally fell by the hand of Gideon himself.  Judges 8:5-21;  Psalms 83:11. (B.C. 1250). While Oreb and Zeeb, two of the inferior leaders of the incursion, had been slain, with a vast number of their people, by the Ephraimites, at the central fords of the Jordan, the two kings had succeeded in making their escape by a passage farther to the north (probably the ford near Bethshean), and thence by the Wady Yabis , through Gilead, to Kurkor, high up on the Hauran. Here, they were reposing their with 15,000 men, a mere remnant of their huge horde, when Gideon overtook them. The people fled in dismay, and Gideon captured the two kings and brought them to his native village, Ophrah, where he slew them because they had killed his brothers.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

One of Midian's two kings ( Judges 8:5-21;  Psalms 83:11). Oreb and Zeeb were the prince-generals of Midian, slain by the Ephraimites at the central fords of the Jordan ( Judges 7:25). Zebah and Zalmunna were their kings slain by Gideon at Karkor, high up on the Hauran, where they had fled by the ford further to the N. and on through Gilead. Their murder of his brothers (three at least, as not the dual but plural is used) at Tabor was what, in spite of hunger and faintness, especially stimulated Gideon to such keenness in the pursuit.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Judges 8:4-21 Psalm 83:11 Isaiah 9:4 Isaiah 10:26

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Judges 8 1 Samuel 12:11 Isaiah 10:26 Psalm 83:11

Morrish Bible Dictionary

One of the twoMidianite kings who were defeated and slain by Gideon.  Judges 8:5-21;  Psalm 83:11 .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Ze'bach, זֵבִה Sacrifice, as often; Sept. Ζεβεέ ; Josephus, Ζεβή ; Vulg. Zebee), first named of the two "kings" of Midian who appear to have commanded the great invasion of Palestine, and who finally fell by the hand of Gideon himself. B.C. 1361. He is always coupled with Zalmunna, and is mentioned in  Judges 8:5-21;  Psalms 83:11). (See Zalmunna). It is a remarkable instance of the unconscious artlessness of the narrative contained in  Judges 6:33 to  Judges 8:28 that no mention is made of any of the chiefs of the Midianites during the early part of the story or indeed until Gideon actually comes into contact with them. We then discover ( Judges 8:18) that while the Bedawin were ravaging the crops in the valley of Jezreel, before Gideon's attack, three or more of his brothers had been captured by the Arabs and put to death by the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna themselves. But this material fact is only incidentally mentioned, and is of a piece with the later references by prophets and psalmists to other events in the same struggle, the interest and value of which have been alluded to under OREB (q.v.).

 Psalms 83:12 purports to have preserved the very words of the cry with which Zebah and Zalmunna rushed up at the head of their hordes from the Jordan into the l'axurianit growth of the great plain — "Seize these goodly pastures!"

While Oreb and Zeeb, two of the inferior leaders of the incursion, had been slain, with a vast number of their people, by the Ephraimites at the central fords of the Jordan (not improbably those near Jisr Damieh), the two kings had succeeded in making their escape by a passage farther to the north (probably the ford near Bethshean), and thence by the Wady Yabis, through Gilead, to Karkor, a place which is not fixed, but which lay doubtless high up on the Hauran. Here they were reposing with 15,000 men, a mere remnant of their huge horde, when Gideon overtook them. Had they resisted, there is little doubt that they might have easily overcome the little band of "fainting" heroes who had toiled after them up the tremendous passes of the mountains; but the name of Gideon was still full of terror, and the Bedawin were entirely unprepared for his attack: they fled in dismay, and the two kings were taken. (See Gideon).

Then came the return down the long defiles leading to the Jordan. We see the cavalcade of camels, jingling the golden chains and the crescent-shaped collars or trappings hung round their necks. High aloft rode the captive chiefs clad in their brilliant kefiyehs and embroidered abbayehs, and with their "collars" or "jewels" in nose and ear, on neck and arm. Gideon probably strode on foot by the side of his captives. They passed Penuel, where Jacob had seen the vision of the face of God; they passed Succoth; they crossed the rapid stream of the Jordan; they ascended the highlands west of the river, and at length reached Ophrah, the native village of their captor (Josephus, Ant. 5, 6, 5). Then, at last, the question which must have been on Gideon's tongue during the whole of the return, found a vent. There is no appearance of its having been alluded to before, but it gives, as nothing else could, the key to the whole pursuit. It was the death of his brothers, "the children of his mother," that had supplied the personal motive for that steady perseverance, and had led Gideon on to his goal against hunger, faintness, and obstacles of all kinds. "What manner of men were they which ye slew at Tabor?" Up to this time the sheiks may have believed that they were reserved for ransom; but these words, once spoken, there can have been no doubt what their fate was to be. They met it like noble children of the desert without fear or weakness. One request alone they make that they may die by the sure blow of the hero himself "and Gideon arose and slew them;" and not till he had revenged his brothers did any thought of plunder enter his heart then, and not till then, did he lay hands on the treasures which ornamented their camels. (See Midianite).