Judges 7.docx

Prequel to Saviors that fail: When: Israel was in slavery for 400 years. Then Moses led the Exodus into the desert. His successor, Joshua, let them into the promised land. The 12 tribes of Israel came from Jacob’s (aka Israel) 12 sons. The “Judges” didn’t judge in a courtroom. They were “deliverers” or “saviors”. The Canaanites were the people living in the promised land when the 12 tribes of Israel got there. The various “-ites” (like Perizzites) can be thought of as sub-tribes of Canaanites. Last week on Saviors that fail: God’s people cried out to him. He sends a prophet to remind them that they have not obeyed him, but followed other Gods. Gideon chops down an alter of Baal in his own back yard (literally). Clean house before entering God’s service. This week on Saviors that fail: We continue the Gideon story. It proivdes insight into the rest of Israel’s history, and the history of salvation. Application →You will worship the Lord your God and have no other gods before him. Do not put the Lord your God to the test. .... And will someone finally tell Spain about the Light of the world??? Gideon and Abimelech Outline Israel is hungry (6:1-10) • The oppression by the Midianites is bad. God reminds them of the 1st commandment. Gideon’s call (6:11-24) • God calls Gideon but he doesn’t want to go. Gideon is scared. Gideon tears down Baal’s altar (6:25-32) • Gideon obeys God but is scared. He gets a new name that will haunt him. “Struggles with Baal.” Gideon puts out a fleece (6:33-40) • Gideon doesn’t want to go so he asks God to re-check and triple check the message. Why does God play along? Gideon’s first battle (7:1-8:3) • Gideon marches on the Midianites, but God re-checks and triple checks the number of troops. Doesn’t matter because God does all the fighting anyway. Midianites have nightmares about bread and Gideon is scared. Gideon’s second battle (8:4-21) • Gideon shows his petty, emotional nature. “King” Gideon’s becomes pagan (8:22-28) Surprise! Israel become pagan again (8:33-35) Abimelech, son of “King” Gideon, becomes “king” (9:1-6) Abimelech’s little brother, Jotham, tells a story (9:7-21) “King” Abimelech’s reign of terror and civil war (9:22-55) God’s condemnation of Abimelech is completed (9:56-57) Tola and Jair save/rule Israel (10:1-5) Judges 6-8 (CSB) Full armor of God? The Sign of the Fleece All the Midianites, Amalekites, and Qedemites gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Jezreel Valley. 33 “Enveloped” or “clothed” is a strong verb, not used of other Judges. Gideon’s great achievements are only done in the power of the Lord. The Spirit of the LORD enveloped Gideon, and he blew the ram’s horn and the Abiezrites rallied behind him. 35 He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him. 34 Choosing armies Verse 33 lists three foes against Gideon, but the Midianites are the villains of this story. Gideon calls his own townspeople (Abiezrites who were about to kill him 6 verses ago), his large tribe (Manasseh), and three more tribes of Israel: Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. Nearby Issachar and Ephraim were not invited (Ephraim and Manasseh were the two half-tribes of Joseph). Will they fell left out? Then Gideon said to God, “If you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you said, 37 I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by my strength, as you said.” 38 And that is what 36 happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water. Gideon then said to God, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.” 40 That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground. 39 Signs and wonders Have you ever waited behind someone at a green light sitting there just like it was a red light? God had clearly told Gideon what to do (v.14) and that God would be with him (v.16). Gideon already asked for a sign (v.19) that God fulfilled. Deut. 6:16 says not to put the Lord your God to the test. Why is Gideon putting out fleeces? Why is God washing and drying them? God is more interested in saving his people than letting Gideon get it wrong. 7 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops who were with him, got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many troops for me to hand the Midianites over to them, or else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say, ‘My own strength saved me.’ 3 Now announce to the troops: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two Jerubbaal “Let Baal struggle with him” – does that mean that he is for or against Baal? The name itself does not make that clear. When the story is summarized in 2 Sam. 11:21, the name is changed to Jerubbesheth, meaning struggle with “shame”, instead of “Baal”. Gideon will embody all of these meanings. thousand of the troops turned back, but ten thousand remained. Then the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many troops. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one can go with you,’ he can go. But if I say about anyone, ‘This one cannot go with you,’ he cannot go.” 5 So he brought the troops down to the water, and the LORD said to Gideon, “Separate everyone who laps water with his tongue like a dog. Do the same with everyone who kneels to drink.” 6 The number of 4 those who lapped with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men, and all the rest of the troops knelt to drink water. 7 The LORD said to Gideon, “I will deliver you with the three hundred men who lapped and hand the Midianites over to you. But everyone else is to go home.” 8 So Gideon sent all the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred troops, who took the provisions and their trumpets. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley. Gideon Spies on the Midianite Camp That night the LORD said to him, “Get up and attack the camp, for I have handed it over to you. 10 But if you are afraid to attack the camp, go down with Purah your servant. 11 Listen to what they say, and then you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the troops who were in the camp. 9 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the Qedemites had settled down in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their 12 camels were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore. 13 When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling his friend about a dream. He said, “Listen, I had a dream: a loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp, struck a tent, and it fell. The loaf turned the tent upside down so that it collapsed.” His friend answered: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Weird side-story? Joash, the Israelite. God has In v. 9, God handed the entire Midianite commands the attach camp over to him.” and in v.16 Gideon 14 Gideon Attacks the Midianites attacks. What does this teach us about Gideon? About God? When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to Israel’s camp and said, “Get up, for the LORD has handed the Midianite camp over to you.” 16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each of the men a trumpet in one hand and an empty pitcher with a torch inside it in the other hand. 15 “Watch me,” he said to them, “and do what I do. When I come to the outpost of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I and everyone with me blow our trumpets, you are also to blow your 17 trumpets all around the camp. Then you will say, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’” Who’s fighting? Gideon and the hundred men who were The Midianite recognized God giving them over to Gideon. Who with him went to the is Gideon fighting for? outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch after the sentries had been stationed. They blew their trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew their trumpets and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands, their trumpets in their right hands, and shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 21 Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army began to run, and they cried out as they fled. 22 When Gideon’s men blew their three hundred trumpets, the LORD caused the men in the whole army to turn on each other with their swords. They fled to Acacia House in the direction of Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath. 23 Then the men of Israel were called from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites. 19