July 18, 2021
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Reading along with us in Judges? Here’s today’s reading:
Judges 8 (NIV)
Zebah and Zalmunna
1 Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, “Why have you treated us like this? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?” And they challenged him vigorously.
2 But he answered them, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim’s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer?........Continue Reading
Gideon so faithful in battles seems to fall short in his own spiritual and personal life. He bravely walked into battles with insurmountable odds knowing God was with him and left victorious but then uses the spoils to make an idol-like ephod, took many wives, and seemed to fall so short in humility and reverence for God who actually won these battles for him.
The only correct thing I heard him do was direct the people that God was the King of Israel when the requested a new man to stand as king. The Israelites needed a constant judge to stand up for them, direct them, and keep them on track instead of just looking to their one true king God. Gideon didn’t set a very good personal example of that for sure either!
Judges 7&8
Judges 7 & 8
Judges 7 & 8
Sometimes it is hard to read about the brutality of this time. Gideon does show tremendous courage and faith to pursue the Midianite leaders and yet 2 groups mentioned here are hesitant to help him because if Gideon is not victorious over them, then the Midianites might come after them. Certainly they too should have trusted God in the way Gideon did especially after seeing the victory God had already brought, but to punish them so harshly didn’t show any restraint. It’s quite different from the way Gideon dealt with the Ephraimites by taking a place of humility before them. There is a lesson here that we shouldn’t expect people to have the same faith and understanding we have, but we need to stand beside them and lead them to believe and follow the way we do.
Gideon does well to point to God as the true king of Israel, but the pattern God had established was for Him to work through a strong leader (ie Moses and Joshua). We have to be careful not to shirk responsibility and use God’s work as an excuse for doing so. It reenforces the line that exists between God’s responsibility and ours. God will always take care of His, we need to make sure we don’t take too much or too little. And whatever might have been lacking in Gideon’s character shines through in him asking for gold so he could make this ephod that the Israelites would worship. Whatever it was, it was a way for him to point to himself in light of the victory God gave him. He does bring peace for 40 years, but once he dies, the Israelites are up to their disobedient ways. Very sad…..
33No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god 34and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 35They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.
It is really confusing to sift through the good and bad of Gideon. He did what God enabled and instructed him to do, even when he was fearful. Ephraim comes and gets jealous that he didn’t enlist their help (is that why they are mad?) rather than being thankful that Gideon conquers the oppressive Midianites. THEN when Gideon asks for help, he doesn’t get it! His response to the uncooperative people seems rash…. and God did say that he would defeat the Midianites as one man. In the end, it seems that Gideon kept the Israelites on track for his lifetime….despite some missteps.
Judges 8
Judges 8-14