So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.'

As a result of Gideon's work under Yahweh's hand Midian was removed as a problem for the next generation. The forty years also indicates a period of waiting before God. The land was at peace and the people were faithful to Yahweh and the central sanctuary -- apart possibly from the affair of the ephod.

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