Gideon Sermon
Before God gave Israel a King, she was ruled by a group of Leaders known as Judges. The Hebrew word for Judges literally means “deliverers” or “saviors” which means that they were expected to do more than just rule on civil matters like our judges do. There were 14 judges in all who served for about 350 years.
The time line begins in 1398 BC right after Joshua had led the people into the Promised land. In the book of Joshua the people were by & large obedient to God. They followed Joshua & Caleb and conquered the land. However, once they got comfortable in their new surroundings they reverted back to their old ways. We see this pattern continue today. When things are going good, people don’t seek relationship with God. They don’t prayer regularlyu, they don’t study the Word, they start missing worship services…
The book of Judges describes 7 distinct cycles of Israel’s drifting away from the Lord. It starts before the death of Joshua’s and degrades into complete rebellion against God’s authority by demanding a king to rule over them.
There is a pattern we will see in each cycle. The Israelites will
1) disobey God’s and their leader’s direction by failing to completely drive out the inhabitants of their new land
2) idolatry
3) intermarriage with those inhabitants
4) not heeding judges
5) turning away from God after the death of the judges
6) God’s then allows the people around Israel to defeat them militarily and put down the people
7) Israel’s prays for deliverance
8) God raising up “judges,” who led in shaking off the oppressors.
The events that take place in the book of Judges are nor chronological. Which makes reading it a little tricky if you are one of those people who envisions the story in your head as you are reading it.
The book is arranged to emphasize:
· God’s power
· His mercy to his covenant children,
· His grace in delivering His people and providing them with their inheritance.
The key verse, the one that summarized the book of Judges is 21:25:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Now we know what happens when Israel gets their kings, they fall back into the same pitfalls. What I want to emphasize her, why I choose this verse as key is because when we do what is right in our own eyes, we are failing to acknowledge our submission to God’s authority.
OK, hold that thought.
We won’t have time to this morning to look at all the Judges. You will remember I said that Israel repeats the pattern 7 times in the book. So we just need to look at one Judge to get the idea. They when you sit down to read the rest of the book, you will know what to look for.
Turn with me to Judges 6
Gideon is mid-point in the order of Judges. There were Judges before him and Judges after him. Gideon follows Barak & Deborah. Deborah was a prophetess and Barak was a not-so courageous military leader. Deborah went to Barak and told him if he would act, God would be with him and they could defeat their enemies. But Barak was not so sure. Finally he said that he would only go to battle if Deborah went with him. She did, they won, and there was people in the land for 40 years. Now I have already identified a pattern, where when things get good, the people get lazy in their worship and forget who God is. This leads to intermarriage and idolatry. God chastises his people by allowing their enemies to overtake them until they repent and then he rescues them.
When we meet Gideon, the Midianites and Amalekites had been harassing the Israelites for 7 years. The enemy would cross the Jordan every year and loot the land, helping themselves to herds & crops.
Judges 6:
6 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.
7 When the Israelites cried to the Lord because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet,
10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
Now that is a typical answer. When things are going bad for a weak believer, and a well meaning brother or sister in Christ says, “don’t worry, God is with you’. They respond like this, “If God is with me, why are these bad things happening? You tell me, where is God?”
14 The [angel of the] Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
Another typical response: You will be praying for someone to come and help the situation around you, and God calls you!
15 “But Lord, ” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Excuses, excuses.
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”
17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
How often does God send answers our way, and we don’t believe they are God?
When Dave & I put our first house up for sale, we tried to sell it ourselves. So we put a sign in the window, and a man came and offered us $77,000 for our home. When decided that was too small and offer and refused it. We then went though one year and 2 realitors with out a nibble. When our last contract expired, Dave took the house off the market. He did it very dramatically. He said if God wanted to sell our house, he would have to do it himself. 3 days later there was a knock on the door. There were 2 men. One said that he had come to sell our house. One week later, our house was sold for $77,000. The same amount we had rejected a year ealier.
19 Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
In other words, OK, I believe it’s you!
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord is Peace.
25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
Who’s pagan altar was it? His fathers.
This shows us 2 things:
1. you are responsible for your own relationship with God. You parents, spouse, and children are responsible for their own.
2. There will come a time when you will be required to do what is right, to take a stand for God, and not everyone will agree with you – even those who you think should support you most.
28 In the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!
29 They asked each other, “Who did this?”
When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30 The men of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
OK, now it’s Daddy’s turn to do what’s right.
31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” 32 So that day they called Gideon “Jerub-Baal,” saying, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he broke down Baal’s altar.
Of course, Baal doesn’t retaliate, because he’s not a real god. So Gideon’s life is spared.
Meanwhile
33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
OK, good. Gideon sees that God had preserved his life – the people didn’t kill him for tearing down their pagan alters. He calls his brothers to arms to go fight the invaders. We expect him to march out and lead his people to victory, but…
36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—
Huh? If God will do as he promised? Wait a minute. He just saw God do as he had promised. God was truly with him. He could have been killed…
36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—
37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
It’s a miracle! Or is it? Maybe the ground dries faster than water on a fleece? Let me ask for something harder, more proof.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
OK, this time I believe you.
Now before we criticize Gideon for lack of faith, we need to consider that he grew up in a household where they worshiped pagan Gods. The heritage was there, but a counterfeit was also present. AND God was calling Gideon to stand up against the armies who had been decimating his homeland for 7 years. He may have needed some reassurance.
However, that does NOT make it ok for us to tempt God. We who have seen God’s goodness, and mercy, and miracles, and deliverance. We who should know the voice of God by now. We should not make bargains with God, or demand that he jump though our hoops before we obey him. That’s why Jesus responded they way he did in Matthew 12:38 (Keep your finger in Judges and flip there real quick)
38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Back to Judges
7 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.
So they go off to battle. But something strange happens.
2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands.
Can you imagine what Gideon might be thinking? “Wait a minute. Hold the phone. We have too many men? We haven’t had enough for 7 years. For 7 years these invaders have plundered our land and put such fear in us that we hid in caves, and not you’re telling me there are too many soldiers here?”
2b In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, 3 announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
OK good, we got rid of the guys who were so fearful they might have held us back us in battle.
4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”
5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.” 6 Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.
Do you think maybe God was going to provide Gideon with a sigh he could not dispute? Something so faith building, that Gideon would be able to lead Israel as a mighty man of God.?
7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.” 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.
Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.
9 During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. 10 If you are afraid to attack,
“If you are afraid to attack”. Why would God say that? “If you are afraid to attack”. Because Gideon was still afraid!
Why do people panic when they or a loved one gets sick?
Why don’t Christians share their faith with other people?
Why is the church in the state it is in, despite all the miracles, signs, and wonders we have witnessed, because of fear.
10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.”
So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”
14 His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”
You tell me how does this man know who Gideon is? He is just a soldier in the camp. And actually, Gideon hasn’t proven himself in any military battle before this point. How does this guy know about Gideon?
15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God.
He said, “thank you God!” This is a good thing to do.
When you are encouraged by something you have read in the word, or by something someone has said in a service, or by someone’s testimony, or by a word of prophesy – your 1st response should be “Thank you God!” Or “Praise God!” Or “To God be the glory!” Make praising God a regular part of your vocabulary.
15b He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up!
Were they sleeping? Think about this, on the night before going into battle, they were sleeping like babies! I don’t know about you, but on the night before a big event like a school exam or a doctor’s appointment, I usually do not sleep very well. The 300 guys are about to go up against both the Midianite & Amalakite armies and they are sleeping like babies on the night before battle.
15b He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” 16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
They had to be shaking their heads at this point. We’re going up against thousands with torches & trumpets…
17 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”
The reasoning here is to the enemy each light could mean a legion behind it, so that they believed a super power had moved in to catch them in a death trap. (Remember too that most of them were sleeping also).
19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch [about 10 PM], just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
I wondered why Gideon identified himself. At first I thought it was pride, but that didn’t make sense considering Gideon had exhibited fear. So I did some research and found that by saying this he was actually identifying that it was the God Israelites and his people who were coming against them.
21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.
In their retreat, Gideon calls for assistance for the other tribes. They kill two of the Midianite kings and take back their homeland.
Now you would think everyone would be happy. The enemy has been defeated and instead of being thankful, the Ephraimites are mad at Gideon.
In chapter 8, Gideon proves that he is also a diplomat. He is accused of keeping the other tribes from the glory of battle. He tells his countrymen that God delivered them from the enemy. And that should be good enough. But, he says if you still want to help, my men are hungry and tired. How about giving them something to eat?
8 6 But the officials of Succoth said, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?”
In other words, if you guys are so good then where are the leaders of the Amalakites? You and God didn’t finish the job.
7 Then Gideon replied, “Just for that, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”
8 From there he went up to Peniel and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Succoth had. 9 So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”
When they finally catch up with the 2 generals/kings there are about fifteen thousand men with them. Gideon and his men overtake them on the trade route and defeat them.
To his word on the way home they stop at Succoth and beat the leaders with thorny whips and tear down the tower of Peniel killing the men of the town.
Afterwards he interrogates the 2 kings and learns that they had killed the men of Gideon’s family and hometown. Gideon of course kills them.
His countrymen then ask Gideon to rule over them, in essence to become their king. Gideon refuses know that God is their king, and continues to lead the people as a judge.
28 Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years.
33 No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and 34 did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.
35 They also failed to show kindness to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for them.