It seems that the men of Penuel resisted, so that to tear down the tower as Gideon had threatened, he found it necessary to slay them. Gideon had threatened only to destroy the tower. It was thus probably their own folly that led these men to choose to defend the tower and thus to lose their lives.

These strong measures on the part of the new judge of Israel may have been necessary to warn other Israelite towns of the probable consequences of a lack of patriotism. The punishment meted out to Succoth and Penuel may have served as an effective barrier, at least in part, to independent action on the part of isolated Israelite towns, permitting the Israelites to present a more united front in the event of a future invasion.