Gideon & God's Victory
Chronological Bible Storying • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 48:17
0 ratings
· 32 viewsThe story of how God used a common man to route the Midianite army oppressing the COI (Children of Israel).
Files
Notes
Transcript
Gideon & God’s Victory - Judges 1-8.
Introduction & Review
Today we’re continuing our chronological Bible storying series, “The Big Picture of the Bible, from Creation to Christ.” It is the story of God plan of redemption that runs like a scarlet thread woven through the Bible from the first book of Genesis through the last book of Revelation. This plan of redemption is of critical importance in the lives of all humans. Ever since the fall of the first couple Adam & Eve who rebelled against God’s one rule, we’ve been trapped in a sinful, rebellious evil world and each of us is born into sin.
But the Creator God has been working a plan of redemption to show us sinful, rebellious humans the depth, width & height of His amazing love, grace and mercy He wants to lavish on us. Throughout our Bible story series, we’ve seen we can be recipients of His amazing love, grace and mercy if we will simply respond to Him by faith and obey what He tells us to do. He did this with Abel, with Noah, with an old guy with no kids named Abraham, Isaac the son God gave Abraham when he was 100 years old, Jacob, Joseph, and most recently Moses.
We’ve seen how God rescued the COI out of slavery from Egypt after 400 years of being in bondage. God powerfully worked miracles and signs to get Pharaoh & the Egyptians to expel the COI out of Egypt and God proved His power over the most powerful king in the world at that time with a devastating victory over Pharaoh & his army by drowning them in the Red Sea.
Then God went to work to provide literally everything the COI would need in the wilderness and specific, exact instructions on how to worship & relate to Him properly. He gave Moses His law, His expectations of how His people were to live as holy people set apart for His honor and glory and as a testimony to all the pagan nations around them.
Unfortunately, the COI refused to obey God out of fear of the giants in the Promised Land & did not have faith God would fight for them even though they had seen God’s mighty power in delivering them from Egypt & what He did to Pharaoh & his army by drowning them in the Red Sea.
The punishment God imposed on the COI for their rebellion & disobedience was one year of wandering in the wilderness for every day the spies had spied out the PL which was 40 days so they were going wander for 40 years until everyone 20 years & older died.
Last time in our story series, Moses died & God commissioned Joshua to lead the COI to victory. God personally appeared to Joshua to encourage Joshua that the Lord would be with Joshua in the same way He had been with Moses & commanded him to be strong and very courageous. The Lord Jesus even appeared to Joshua as the Commander of the Lord’s Army with His sword drawn & gave Joshua specific instructions how they were going to conquer the fortified city of Jericho.
God told Joshua they were to march around Jericho once a day for 6 days in silence following the Ark of the Covenant which represented God’s presence. On the 7th day however, they were to march around the city 7 times and then at the blast of the trumpets the people were to shout and the walls would fall flat! That’s exactly what happened as God yet again followed through on His promises & displayed His mighty power. The rest of the book of Joshua is about the COI conquering the Promised Land.
Today’s story comes to us from Judges 1-8 & we’ll see what happened when the COI began to compromise and disobey the clear Word of God & His judgment for disobedience & the terrible sin of idolatry.
As always, listen to the details of the story with the idea that you can and should tell this story to someone else along the way - especially your children & grandchildren.
1. Tell the story - Setting
We fast forward in our series roughly 30 years to the end of Joshua’s life. Before he died, faithful Joshua gathered all the leaders & the COI & spoke to them the Word of God saying in Joshua 24:14-15 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
What a great challenge and a reminder that we have to choose to obey and follow the Lord by faith. Joshua said “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The people promised to obey and then 24:29 records that Joshua died at the age of 110. 24:31 records that the COI obeyed God during Joshua’s lifetime as well as during the lives of the elders who outlived Joshua.
The book of Judges begins describing further conquests of the COI & shows they started out well by inquiring of the Lord about going up and conquering Jerusalem. God told the tribe of Judah to go take it as this would become the City of God and the capital of the nation, the City of David.
At this point we need to be reminded of a promise God made to Mose & the COI in Exodus 23:20-33 (Turn & read).
This reminds us of the blessings and cursing promise God made to the COI right before Moses died. The principle is simple & easy to understand for young & old alike, if you obey God He blesses, if you disobey God, He curses with judgment.
So in Judges 2, we see the beginnings of a major problem. The COI did not obey the Lord by continuing to conquer the land and drive the Canaanites out of the PL. God’s plan was that the COI be agents of judgment on the Canaanites & to keep the COI from worshiping their idols. So God rebukes them for their disobedience & His anger burned against them.
We’re told God sold them into the hands of their enemies just as He had promised if they practiced idolatry.
In Judges 2:15-16 we read “Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them.”
The next several verses describe this sad & repeated pattern of disobedience, judgement, the COI groan from the pain of judgment, God raised up a deliverer to free them from their oppression, a period of peace and blessing; only to repeat the cycle after the judge died. Over and over again. I guess the COI never heard the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over again & expecting different results.
Some of these judges were:
1. Othniel - delivered them from the king of Mesopotamia. The COI had 8 years of oppression followed by 40 years of rest.
2. Ehud - delivered them from Moab - 18 years of oppression & then 80 years of rest.
3. Crazy Shamgar - (my warrior son’s favorite) - Killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad. Not listed, brief rest.
4. Deborah/Barak - delivered from Sisera, 7 years of oppression & 40 years of rest. See how gracious God is? The years of oppression & judgment no where near the seasons of rest God gave!
5. Gideon - our focus for today.
The Bible tells us the Midianites were sent by God to oppress Israel because of their wickedness which went on for 7 years. The Bible compared their oppression to how locusts devour everything in their path. They completely consumed or destroyed all their crops so there was no food for man or beast.
It was so bad the COI were forced to hide in dens, caves and strongholds in the mountains b/c of the oppression of the Midianites. In response to the cries of the COI, the Lord sent them a prophet to remind them of how God had brought them up out of slavery in Egypt & how He had driven out their enemies from the PL but they had not obeyed His voice.
So consuming & devastating was this plague of Midianites, when we first meet Gideon, he’s attempting to thresh grain in an enclosed wine press. That means either the amount of grain he had was so small he could do it there, or with what he had, he was willing to breath the dust of the grain inside the winepress because he was scared to death to do it out in the open! I believe it’s out of fear b/c the Bible specifically says he was there to hide it from the Midianites.
That’s where we meet Gideon when the Angel of the Lord appears to him. Listen to how God addressed him: “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (6:12) I can picture Gideon looking sheepishly over his shoulder: “Are you talkin’ to me?” Yes you!
We get a sense of how beaten down the COI were by Gideon’s response: “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has a all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our father’s told us about saying: ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us & delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.’”
The Lord’s way of answering was certainly not what Gideon expected: “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent you?”
Poor Gideon had the same problem a lot of us have when God is talking to us, we don’t realize it’s the Lord Himself speaking truth to our hearts. We know this from Gideon’s response to God: “O my lord (lower case l), just a sign of respect to this messenger he’s speaking too), how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh & not only that, I’m the least in my father’s house.” (In other words I’m the low man on the totem pole & pecking order in my family.)
As the conversation continues, Gideon slowly begins to realize he’s not just talking to anyone, he’s in a face to face meeting with Yahweh because the Lord said: “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.” (6:16)
So Gideon starts to have some clarity, maybe the dust from the wheat had died down so he can see & breathe clearly. So Gideon says “If now I’ve found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You & bring out my offering to set it before you.” So the Lord said “I’ll wait until you come back.” (6:18).
Let me just pause here to say we know this was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ Himself because throughout the Bible, angelic messengers refused to allow the people they talked to on behalf of God to make a sacrifice & worship them as God. This Messenger was willing wait for Gideon to bring an offering. This messenger is also specifically called “The Angel of Lord” which is the terminology used to identify an appearance of Jesus before His supernatural birth in the NT to Mary.
So Gideon goes and prepares a young goat, unleavened bread (very important) an ephah of flour along with broth he cooked in a pot and brought it to the Lord. So the Angel of the Lord told Gideon to take the meat, unleavened bread & lay them on a rock and to pour out the broth so Gideon did so.
Then the Angel of the Lord put out the staff that was in His hand and touched the meat & unleavened bread and fire came up out of the rock & consumed the meat & the unleavened bread & immediately the Angel of the Lord disappeared!
Well Gideon was now more fearful of the Lord than the Midianites b/c when he figured out Who he’d been speaking with, he was terrified he was going to die b/c he’d seen the Lord face to face. “But the Lord spoke to him, ‘Peace be with you; do not fear you shall not die.”
So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it “The-Lord-Is-Peace.”
That night, the Lord spoke to Gideon and told him he wanted Gideon to pull down his father’s altar to an idol named Baal and the wood image representing Baal next to the altar, using his dad’s bulls to help him tear down these items of idol worship.
Then the Lord told Gideon to sacrifice one of his father’s bulls and burn up the idol on a new altar. So under cover of darkness, Gideon & 10 of his servants did exactly what the Lord commanded, but he did it at night b/c he was afraid of the men in town living around them.
Well the next day, there was no shortage of people upset by this and they began an investigation to see who had the audacity to tear down their shrine to an idol and make a sacrifice to a different God! It was a pretty short investigation b/c someone said “Gideon did this.” So the posse went to Gideon’s father’s house and they demanded Joash bring out his son to face them for tearing down the altar & idol Baal.
To Joash’s credit, he wisely told his idolatrous neighbors, “Would you plead for Baal? Are you going to save him? Let the one who pleads for Baal be put to death by morning! If he (Baal) is a god, then let him take care of his own business since his altar has been torn down.” In other words, if Baal is a true god, he should be able to handle it.
While this was going on, the Midianites and the Amalekites where preparing to raid Israel again and a host of them camped against the COI in the Valley of Jezreel. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and he blew his trumpet to assemble an army to face their enemies. Several tribes responded to the call to prepare for battle.
In a quiet moment that evening, Gideon said to the Lord: “If you will save Israel by my hand as You have said…look I’ve put out a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground around it, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand as You have said.”
Well you guessed it, the next day when Gideon went to check on his fleece, it was soaking wet, so much so he wrung out the fleece and had a whole bowl of water to show for it; yet the ground was dry all around. Gideon needed more proof, “Lord, don’t be angry with me. let me propose one more test, tonight, I’m going to put that fleece out but keep the fleece dry and the dew on the ground all around.” Sure enough, the Lord directed that dew all around on the ground but miraculously kept the fleece dry!
What an encouragement this must have been to Gideon!
So Gideon gets his army of 32,000 together and has them camped opposite the Midianite & Amalekite army. The Bible tells us the army of the Midianites & the Amalekites were as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore in multitude! (7:12). 32,000 sounds like a lot of people but compared to the Midianites, it’s nothing from a human way of thinking!
Problem/Curve ball
But there’s a problem, God looked at the numbers of people with Gideon & says basically, Gideon, you have too many people for Me to deliver the Midianites into your hand. I don’t want the COI claiming glory for themselves & say by their own hands they won. Tell you what, you tell them anyone who wants to leave because they are fearful & afraid they can leave no questions asked.
What in tarnation? We’re encouraging desertion in a time of war? So Gideon did what God said to do and 22,000 men just up and left leaving Gideon with 10,000 men!
Oh but God wasn’t done yet! He said you know Gideon, you still have too many men, bring them down to the water b/c I need to test them further and you will keep the ones I tell you to keep.
So Gideon brought them down to the water & the Lord told Gideon to separate them by whoever get’s down on all fours to drink with their face down or cups their hand to lap like a dog into another group. The ones who cupped their hands and drew water up were only 300 men, that means 9700 men got on all fours to drink with their face down!
God said okay - that should do it. 300 men, perfect, let the 9700 go home and I’ll take care of business with 300 men. Well the Lord knew this was going to be quite a shock to Gideon so He graciously tells Gideon to go on a late night recon assignment next to the camp of the Midianites.
God went further to say, “If you’re afraid to go alone, take your servant Purah because I want you to hear what they are saying. So Gideon took Purah down with him. Again the Midianites were numerous as locusts and had a camel calvary that couldn’t be numbered.
Quietly they snuck down to where they were right outside one of the tents of the Midianites. Gideon’s heart must have been pounding through his chest. As he and Purah hid in the shadows outside one particular tent, they heard voices coming from inside.
One of the Midianites was telling his tent-mate about a dream he’d had. He dreamed a loaf of barley bread came rolling into camp & smashed into a tent of theirs with such force, the tent was overturned and collapsed. His companion exclaimed “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp!” (7:14).
Oh my word Lord! That’s awesome. When Gideon heard the telling of the dream & how they interpreted that dream, he worshiped the Lord. He returned to the camp of Israel and roused everyone up to go to war b/c God had already declared victory!
Gideon got everyone organized into 3 groups of 100 each. He put a trumpet in each man’s hand along with an empty pitcher with a torch inside the pitcher. He told them to watch and do what he does and to get into position around the camp in each group.
Gideon explained the battle plan, when I blow my trumpet, you all blow your trumpets all around the camp and shout “The sword of the Lord and Gideon.”
Climax
So that’s what they did, right at shift change because the Bible says “just as they posted the watch” (7:19). 3 companies of 100 all around the camp, they blew the trumpets, they smashed the jars to reveal their torches around the hillside of the Midianite camp and they shouted with a great shout: “The sword of the Lord and Gideon!” Well absolute chaos ruled in the Midianite camp b/c the Lord caused the Midianites to fight with one another and they killed each other or fled in terror. Gideon and his meager 300 chased Midianites & Amalekites till they were tired from the chase and other tribes of the COI came to continue the chase.
Peace returns to the Village
So the Lord routed the enemies of Israel by the hand of Gideon, from the weakest tribe in Israel, and the youngest of his father’s house. A nobody God called a “mighty man of valor.”
God used Gideon in a mighty way and gave the COI rest for 40 years. Gideon was a flawed man who had many wives & 70 sons. He also made an ephod/breastplate out of the plunder of the Midianites that became a snare to Gideon & his household as well as the COI who made it into an object of worship. In spite of his flaws, God saw fit to record Gideon’s name in Hebrews 11:32 as part of God’s hall of faith.
Set up for next time
Next time in our story series, we’ll see how God continues His plan of redemption through other key people He would raise up to lead Israel as His chosen people. But for now, let’s think of why this is a key story in story of redemption.
2. Explain how this story matters to the big story of the Bible. (IE Why is this a key story?) Let us think about a few reasons of critical importance…
This story demonstrates God’s continued concern & care for His chosen people as He promised Abraham, even though they rebelled against Him. He was gracious to them in judgment & is attentive to their cries.
This story demonstrates God’s mighty power & His ability to use the most common ordinary people for His Kingdom purposes & glory.
This story demonstrates God will not tolerate idol worship nor share His glory with any other. We would do well to recognize God’s judgment on the United States, repent & humble ourselves before God. We’re groaning under evil leaders, but we’re not repenting!
This story demonstrates the eternal existence of Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Lord, the agent of God’s redemptive purposes and plans.
3. Applications of the story to everyday living - (2-3 lessons from the story that apply to our lives today - including the gospel.
1. Always remember God sees you for who you can be by His grace, not who you are or where you are when He calls you. When God came calling to Gideon, he found a weak man cowering in wine press threshing grain. Yet God called him a “mighty man of valor.” God knows who you can be by His grace. Share the ABC’s.
BTW church, when people come to us, stained and scarred by the sins & trials of life, see them & receive them for who they can be by the grace of God!
2. When you understand what God wants you to do, obey Him & get to it immediately. Gideon immediately pulled down his own father’s altar & image of Baal and worshiped the Lord. So what he did it under cover of darkness in fear. He feared God more than his father or the men of the town & obeyed God right away. 1st time with a good attitude.
(What about his fleece, isn’t that delayed obedience?) Fleece faith is better than no faith! As a matter of fact, you could argue putting out a fleece is a sign of great faith! Gideon need to be sure he was following the Lord so he asked for a sign and the Lord accommodated his requests. The Lord didn’t rebuke him for putting out a fleece. That’s how God works in our lives, He works patiently to help us grow in our faith and walk with Him.
3. Never underestimate how God can work with a few people and cracked pots! God whittled Gideon’s army which was already small down from 32,000 to 300. He armed them with a trumpet, a torch and clay pot. Yet when those few men followed Gideons lead, blew the trumpets, shouted and cracked those pots, God won an astounding victory in such a way as He alone gets the glory! He’s the God of the impossible!