On return from this battle, Gideon seizes a young man (or perhaps the term na‘ar should be understood as “an official”)89 and coerces him to write down the names of the seventy-seven officials (sarim) of Succoth, the elders (zeqenim) of the town. He then tortures his own countrymen—by flogging them with desert thorns and briers90—and he pulls down the tower of Penuel, killing the men of the city. Gideon is simply taking the law into his own hands as soon as events have permitted him a reasonable pretense and situation to do so. He is the first judge to turn the sword against his fellow
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