Gideon - Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Exegetical Point:
Homiletic Point:
Intro
Intro
What did we cover last week?
Gideon was called to cast down altars for false worship and raise up true worship. God’s people are always called to reject and overturn false religion, so that we can pursue the pure and true religion of Christ.
God uses flawed deliverers like Gideon, but he has used a perfect deliverer in Jesus
God uses apparent weakness to overcome the strong! 300 to overcome a massive army! Jesus was apparently weak, but through his “weakness” he saved his people!
Gideon was a fearful man. We ought not waver in our faith, put away fear of man - fear God not man!
Today we’re covering the last portion of Gideon’s career as a Judge in Israel.
As I was thinking about this, it became apparent to me that there is so much wisdom bound up in these pages, either as an object lesson in foolishness, or wise choices. SO, my heading for each of our 4 sections is a Proverb.
Kids, see if you can write down the reference for each Proverb!
A Soft Answer Turns Away Wrath
A Soft Answer Turns Away Wrath
We left off the story at a bit of a cliffhanger last week. Gideon’s 300 had put the Midian army to flight, and Gideon had called on the local tribes of Israelites to chase down the fleeing army.
Ephraim answered the call to arms, and they actually captured two princes Oreb and Zeeb.
But despite their prestigious victory, Ephraim has a bone to pick with Gideon. They are wondering why Gideon didn’t include them with the first part of the battle. They are a little offended!
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.
Ephraim was one of the biggest tribes along with Manasseh. They wanted some of the battle glory in driving off Midian!
But we have already seen, that God chose Gideon, and he wanted to use the “weak” force of the 300 to demonstrate His power and ability. He wanted Israel to thank God, not revel in their own strength.
Yet even here in the wake of such a striking victory, we have strife among the tribes as they vie for their own position and glory. Not looking to God, but asking why I couldn’t have a bigger role.
Gideon could have talked down to Ephraim, and told them off, saying, “who are you o man to contend with the will of God?” or challenging them for their proud attitude. Yet Gideon chooses another tack - the wise track of Proverbs
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Gideon opts to play it cool, and calm the tensions. Better to keep Ephraim on side and focus on what really matters. The Remnants of Midian are fleeing throughout the countryside of Israel, there’s not really time to hash out who should have called who, when. They need to get back to pursuing the enemy!
Gideon plays the diplomat, and butters them up:
And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger against him subsided when he said this.
Gleanings - Harvest: You’re so great that your left overs at harvest are better than our whole harvest (abeizer is Gideon’s clan). “We’re not trying to one-up you!”
Then Gideon points to the evidence - look you captures the enemy princes, I haven’t got any big wins like that on my resume. Are you really worried that we’re overshadowing you guys?
Gideon does hint at the fact that it is not their own doing that got them this boon - “God has given into your hands”. At the end of the day they have nothing to boast about.
It works, Ephraim’s pride is satiated for the time being.
But! This won’t be the last of inter-tribal tensions!
Some would suggest that Gideon is merely being pragmatic here, to try and keep Ephraim on side for the rest of the campaign. They see this as mere flattery. I’m not convinced that is all that he’s doing.
He might be laying it on a bit thick, but as the proverbs shows, when somebody is looking for a fight - you don’t feed their anger. Gideon disarms the situation with a few kind words.
Perhaps many of us would benefit from the import of the proverb. Even when we know we’re right, or when we have every reason to be treated with more respect, we can follow Godly wisdom and disarm our verbal opponent by speaking kindly.
Your tongue is a dangerous weapon, and what you do with it can have serious consequences.
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
Be careful how you use your tongue brothers and sisters!
What will you use yours for?
<pause>
The Way of the Treacherous is their Ruin
The Way of the Treacherous is their Ruin
So with Ephraim happy, Gideon gets back to the real work at hand - chasing the bad guys out of God’s Promised Land! There is no place for serpents in their Garden.
The army is on the move. The once fearful Gideon is now a confident leader of the warriors of God’s People, leading them forward. But, they are running out of supplies. They’ve been on the move, and they’re out of food. SO they ask for help.
Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. He said to the men of Sukkoth, “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
Famished yet still pushing on.
This is relatively common scene when armies are on the move. They need to be fed. So they either receive kind donations from aligned cities, buy food through negotiations, or steel it from the local people. Gideon is not going to steal from these guys, and become just like the enemy they have driven out. He asks nicely!
But the officials of Sukkoth said, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?”
Most likely these are Israelites, turning away their countrymen - a huge slap in the face to one’s fellow member of God’s people.
Their reasoning? They had been oppressed by Midian too, and they were afraid. They feared reprisals if Gideon failed, and Midian heard they had helped in the rebellion. They tried to play both sides for fear of what might happen to them. When you’re victorious, (and it’s safe) we’ll help you out.
They wanted to reduce their risk profile, and so in their efforts to cover their own backside, they betray the very people who are trying to help them. And witholding food made it more likely (in a human sense) that Gideon would fail.
Because of their treachery, Gideon promises reprisals.
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.”
Unfortunately, Succoth was not the only town to act this way. Peniel basically does the same thing:
From there he went up to Peniel and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”
You may appreciate the great risk these towns would have been making, to use the little supplies they had, to contribute to military action to overthrow their oppressors. Yet they are not a neutral town like Switzerland that can stand back and watch it all play out.
They are God’s people refusing to help God’s people on God’s mission. They are traitors.
Sure enough, Gideon’s army, presumably starving, push on and engage the remaining forces in battle.
After the previous battle, the flight and pursuit, they’re down to 15,000 out of 120,000 (now we see how big the 300 victory was!)
They fight, and Gideon comes away victorious, with the two kings in custody.
He makes his way back to those people who had betrayed him
Then Gideon came and said to the men of Sukkoth, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, ‘Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’ ” He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Sukkoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers.
He comes back with the evidence of victory in hand and basically rubs their noses in it!
He catches a young guy to get all the intel about Succoth.
Gideon keeps his promise and punishes them for their treachery.
Same for Peniel:
He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.
Did Gideon do the right thing?
He was the closest thing they had to a civil government of the day, and he was appointed by God to deliver the people.
Yet we can’t help but wonder if he did the right thing. Did such sin deserve the death penalty of the men of Peniel?
Those towns deserved what they got. Yet I can’t help but feel that the once fearful Gideon has let the power go to his head and he is abusing his power with an army to do his bidding. It smacks a little of personal vendetta, not righteous zeal.
The defeat of Zebah & Zulmunna
Captured, now interrogated.
Turns out they killed Gideon’s brothers (or kin).
Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, “Kill them!” But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid.
Jether has the fearfulness of his father, even with the enemy in their hand he could not take up that task. Yes he was only young, but Gideon was offering his son great glory of delivering the final blows.
Remember, these aren’t innocent guys, they have been oppressing God’s people 8 years, not letting them grow or keep their food.
Gideon finishes the job, closing a chapter. They are finally free from Midian!
God has fulfilled his plan - sending Gideon to save Israel.
This reminds me of the proverb:
Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.
This applies to both the Midianites and the towns of Succoth/Peniel.
While their actions make sense from an earthly perspective, they did not take into account that God is on the throne. So they laked good sense.
Midian, despite being used by God for a time, were still a rebellious people who willingly hurt others unjustly.
The men of those two towns could have won favor, but their treachery led to ruin.
Treachery against your fellow man, or against God will only bring you ruin.
Do you live like Succoth in the world? Looking to see which way the winds are blowing before you act in faith?
I’m not talking about reserved consideration, I’m talking about fearfulness and cowardice because you’re not sure if God is on your side.
We should be like the Apostles who were once fearful and hiding, until Jesus rose from the dead. That is the signal, there is no more need for fear! Go and make disciples of all nations! Why? Cause Jesus is at the right hand of the Father with all authority! It is his mission, you’re on it. Yes it seems like high risk, but it is good sense to follow the triumphant king into a world of blessing, yet if you would betray him, and bury your resources, talents and devotion for fear of reprisals, then you have betrayed God. Look at the parable of the talents - the guy with one talent betrayed his master and did nothing, and he suffered for it.
Loyalty hurts sometimes - but you have to stick with your people! If you belong to God’s people, then live with such loyalty and devotion, that risks great suffering for the sake of the cause of Christ.
Give me Neither Poverty nor Riches
Give me Neither Poverty nor Riches
Gideon asked to become King - he refuses (on face value)
Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.”
They were feeling the lack of national unity and government - mostly because of their own disobedience.
Looks good on the outset - The LORD witll rule over you. The right answer!
Then he proceeds to take up a tax of sorts - the kind of thing a king would do. Interesting.
What does he do with this wealth? Males a priestly garment.
And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.
They already had the ephod at the tabernacle, so why is Gideon making his own? It seems he had pretensions about being a priest, or sponsoring an temple of his own. His fear has moved from fearing all, past fearing GOd only, into pride and arrogance.
Only God gets to say who can become a preist, and how they are to worship Him. We don’t get to innovate in worship.
Became a snare - worship in Israel is really messed up! Doesn’t seem to destroy it! Why not?
We’re left thinking that the deliverance from Midian has not been complete. The opressor is gone, but the cause of their troubles is still in their midst. They tore down the altars of Baal and asherah, but we’re back home with false worship. What was the point of all this deliverance if the people are still stuck here like this?
They may have through they were worshiping God, but they are not, they are prostituting themselves in false worship. They need a rescue that affects their hearts!
We need a permanent rescuer, because sin is always with us!
Gospel - sin-hearts, needs a greater savior, and one who shows us how to worship properly!
So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
Funny, because they had literally taken the heads of Midianite princes
God did delver his people, despite their hearts being far from Him.
God blesses his people through a flawed leader.
The prayer of Gideon should have reflected this proverb:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
He had much, and so much was required of him. He was called to use his power and riches appropriately, but instead they became a huge problem for the family.
The proverbs suggests we should pursue a “middle way” between having too much and having too little.
He was a snare - a stumbling block.
This does not mean wealth is bad, but it comes with risk to sin. If we can’t use our wealth in a Godly way, it is better to have less, and sin less. Part of the Christian practice of tithing, or giving offerings to God helps with this.
We’re saying this is God’s wealth, and I will give a portion of it back it recognition of my dependence on him.
It teaches us to trust that God will supply our need and we can give away and be generous because God supplies our need. I don’t need to cling to wealth because God is my Jehovar Jireh - our provider.
It teaches us to serve God with our resources ad not just line our own pockets for a rainy day, or to serve ourselves.
So many of our fellow citizens are “full” and they deny the Lord. You we do it in our own way, with pride in our hearts - living as if God doesn’t matter to our everyday lives.
Their Feet Run to Evil
Their Feet Run to Evil
The victory won, Gideon presides.
Even though he has rejected kingship, he is acting like a king. Taking a tax, and then taking a bunch of wives. Not only is this self-indulgence - it is a power trip.
He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelek.
Then, he even has a son (through his mistress) called Abimilech - “My father is king”. Gideon seems rather disengenuous.
So Gideon leaves a mixed legacy - delivering Israel, but leaving behind idolatrous worship and promiscuous legacy. This way of living would cause huge trouble to the next generation.
The evidence is shown how they were so quick to return to false worship:
No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.
Did not remember
Baal- Berith - Baal of the covenant - wring covenant!
Don’ think that what you do now is isolated from the next generation!
This pattern of life is represented well in this proverb:
my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.
This father warns his son to steer clear of these people who are quick to run to evil. In this case, as soon as the stricture is lifted, they run to evil.
So What?
So What?
Drive home conclusion