Sermon Tone Analysis

Jehovah-Shalom

Today, we’ll read from .

Pray

For those who haven’t been with us the past few weeks, we’re going through a series entitled, “God is...” Our aim is to explore just who this One that we’re called to place our faith, trust, and obedience in is, so as to be strengthened in those areas because we now know just who we’re placing them in.

The word that’s used so often, sang in a litany of songs, and recited in countless poems, seems ever so elusive.

I don’t know about you, but if you say “give me your wallet… I’ll give it back with more.

TRUST ME,” and I don’t know you… Man, please!

Or a person tells you that you can trust them with your heart, and you know nothing about that person’s character… You don’t even know their name… Child please!

This is why it’s so important to know Who you’re putting your faith into.

Thank God, He saw fit to tell us who He was, and reveal His character to us all throughout the Bible.

We already learned that we can trust Him with the things that are most dear to us through the story of Abraham being told to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

Abraham worked hard and prayed harder for a son that he thought would never come at one point, and then another 25 years after God told him it would happen.

Finally, he gets his son, and now is told to sacrifice him.

To many of us, we would’ve had every reaction/response but the right one - the obedient and faithful one.

Through his own obedience and faith in God, it was revealed that God is “our Provider” Jehovah-Jira.

At the moment of truth, when Abraham was coming down with the blade, God stops him and produces a ram for the sacrifice.

We later learned that we can count on God to make us whole, restore us, and heal us, through the story of Moses after leading the people of Israel out of Egypt.

They’re thirsty, haven’t had water in three days, and are now complaining against the very one that delivered them (and His servant), and all He does is revive and restore them by turning this bitter water into something drinkable.

There he was revealed as Our Healer - Jehovah-Rapha.

Last week, we learned that under God’s arms, we have rights, privileges protection.

While being attacked from the Amalekites, Moses goes up on the hill with his brother Aaron and Hur, while Joseph led the troops below.

When Moses raised the staff God had worked through so many times before, the people of Israel were victorious.

When he didn’t, they weren’t.

Ultimately, through victory, Moses built an alter and it was revealed that the Lord is our Banner - Jehovah-Nissi.

Today we’ll uncover the meaning behind Jehovah-Shalom.

What did it mean then, and what does it mean for us now?

Let’s start by how we got here...

Throughout the first five books of Moses, there’s this anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, regarding the Promised Land.

We were first introduced to Joshua last week when learning about Jehovah Nissi.

I teased the fact that ultimately, Joshua would prove to be a prominent protagonist, central to leading the people of Israel to the Promised Land.

The book of Joshua, depending on the math, has Israel finally taking the Promised Land through a series of military victories lead by Joshua, sometime around 1400 or 1220 BC.

They finally arrive and split the land amongst the 12 tribes of Israel.

Through all these victories, it was evident that God would fight for His people.

All they needed to do was be “strong and courageous” in the Lord, and also be faithful to Him, and obey His commandments.

That’s it!

Joshua even reminds them of this in their back-and-forth:

And

And they did....

Until they didn’t.

This brings us to the book of Judges, where our text resides.

In ancient Israel, after the deaths of Moses and Joshua, the nation faced a crisis of leadership.

The people often feared the dangers of invasion and plundering by bands of enemies still in or near their promised land.

Consequently, the Lord God raised up men, and one woman, who would act as divinely appointed “judges” over the people.

We find their stories documented in the Bible’s seventh book.

Its title, Judges, comes from the the title given to the twelve leaders of Israel between Joshua and Samuel.

These leaders, chosen by God to represent Him and to lead His people, appropriately bear that title since the Hebrew verb

“to lead” can also mean “to judge.”

Actually, the function of the fifteen judges was less to adjudicate conflicts than it was to act as political and military leaders.

Perhaps a better title for them might be “deliverers” sent to save Israel.

Especially noteworthy judges included Deborah (4:4); Othniel (3:9); Jephthah (12:7); and Samson (15:20).

Another of those great deliverers was Gideon, on whom we will focus in this session.

Peace Eludes Us When We Look at Our Circumstances.

13 Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened?

And where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about?

They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?

’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

Peace Eludes Us When We Look at Our Circumstances.

During the times of the judges, Israel was caught in a historical rut.

The Hebrews went through many cycles of moral and spiritual decay and suffered its consequences.

Those repetitive phases in Israel’s history required someone to call them back to God.

The cycles went something like this: apostasy against the Lord; enslavement; repentance; and finally, deliverance and salvation.

Note that the reason for the enslavement was the apostasy.

The reason for the deliverance was the repentance.

Unfortunately, the cycles tended to repeat in every new generation.

This repeating quandary was the impetus for the writing of Judges.

The unknown author wrote the book sometime after the start of the Israelite monarchy (circa 1030 B.C.; 18:1; 19:1).

He wanted to show his readers what would happen if they disregarded the warnings of Moses, Joshua, and the judges by worshipping Canaanite gods and doing wicked deeds.

During the times of the judges, Israel was caught in a historical rut.

The Hebrews went through many cycles of moral and spiritual decay and suffered its consequences.

Those repetitive phases in Israel’s history required someone to call them back to God.

The cycles went something like this: apostasy against the Lord; enslavement/discipline; repentance; and finally, deliverance and salvation.

Note that the reason for the enslavement was the apostasy.

The reason for the deliverance was the repentance.

Unfortunately, the cycles tended to repeat in every new generation.

This repeating quandary was the impetus for the writing of Judges.

The unknown author wrote the book sometime after the start of the Israelite monarchy (circa 1030 B.C.; 18:1; 19:1).

He wanted to show his readers what would happen if they disregarded the warnings of Moses, Joshua, and the judges by worshipping Canaanite gods and doing wicked deeds.

The situation at the time of was desperate.

The Israelites had lost their way again.

Note how the book’s author expressed the moral state of the nation at that time, “The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (v. 1).

Unrighteous living led to the inevitable consequence, “So the Lord handed them over to Midian seven years, and they oppressed Israel.”

In Gideon’s time, Midianites were a constant threat to the Israelites.

They, like the Amalekites, were nomadic peoples who attacked the Israelites and plundered their resources.

The terrified and poverty-stricken Israelites were forced to hide in the hills.

They cried out to God, so He sent them a prophet ().

Through him, God reminded the Israelites of how He had brought them out of Egypt, expelled the Canaanites, given them the land, and sealed them with a covenant: “I am the Lord [Yahweh] your God” (v.

10).

In Gideon’s time, they were a constant threat to the Israelites.

They, like the Amalekites, were nomadic peoples who attacked the Israelites and plundered their resources.

The terrified and poverty-stricken Israelites were forced to hide in the hills.

They cried out to God, so He sent them a prophet ().

Through him, God reminded the Israelites of how He had brought them out of Egypt, expelled the Canaanites, given them the land, and sealed them with a covenant: “I am the Lord [Yahweh] your God” (v.

10).

When the angel of the Lord sat down, Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress.

Normally threshing was done out in the open.

The thresher would toss the grain into the air so the wind would separate the lighter chaff from the wheat.

In any case, the angel, disguised as a common-looking man, sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which was a town southwest of the Jordan River.

The tree was on land owned by Joash (“Yahweh has given”) the Abiezerite.

Abiezer was a clan of the tribe of Manasseh.

Abiezer was both a personal and place name meaning “My father is help.”

Abiezer, the man, was a descendant of Joseph (; ).

Joash was apparently a well-to-do man in his clan, but who, inexplicably, sponsored a Baal cult site and altar ().