He caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he described for him the princes of Succoth, and the elders of it, seventy-seven men.
"Gideon’s behavior could be justified if Penuel were a Canaanite city, but these were fellow Israelites! His character has been transformed again-he acted like a general out of control, no longer bound by rules of civility, let alone national loyalty." [Note: Block, Judges . . ., p. 293. See also McCann, p. 69.] 