Gideon came to the Jordan, [and] passed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing.
"Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in thy hand?"  (Judges 8:6). Keil's rendition of this more clearly gives the meaning: "Is the fist of Zebah and Zalmunna in thy power that we should give thine army bread"? This plainly indicates that it was FEAR OF REPRISAL that motivated the shameful actions of Succoth and Penuel.