Judges 7
RileyJudges 7:1-25
GIDEON AND THE THREE HUNDREDJudges 6-8.IN passing hurriedly over the Book of Judges, we were compelled to give inadequate treatment to certain great names. It would seem that at least the illustrious list that finds place in the composite photograph of Hebrews XI, should have extensive treatment—Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthae —and that no discussion of Judges would be complete that ignored any one of this quartette, and that three, at least—Gideon, Samson and Jephthae— should have somewhat elaborate study.In our bird’s-eye view of Judges, we were impressed with a constantly recurrent phrase. Painful as was the sentence, “And the Children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord”, it is again employed to introduce the subject of Gideon, for in judgment Israel was “delivered into the hand of Midian, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel”.The extent of this oppression is made evident in the circumstance that the Children of Israel made them “dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds”. And “when Israel had sown, the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, * * * * and destroyed the increase of the earth * * and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. * * They came as grasshoppers for multitude, * * and Israel was greatly impoverished”.The modern scientist has a vast deal to say about “the cave man” and “the tree man”. The only history that men have ever made in caves is much like this that Israel is here making. Caves have never been the homes of monkey men, for such men have never lived; but they have ever been the homes of criminals and cowed men.
Trees have never been the homes of men of any sort, but they have been the temporary refuge of men who sought to escape beasts, or spring advantageously upon their fellows. Such books as “The First Days of Man” are wild and bestial imaginations.“The Children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites”.
God is too often a mere convenience. We forget Him in prosperity, and only make our appeal to Him in times of suffering and pain. But God is ever merciful, and He hears even the man who prays only when he is in trouble. “The Lord sent a prophet unto the Children of Israel”. The greatest single necessity of any people was thus met. “Impoverished”, indeed, is that people who have no prophet. The prophet is more than a predictor. He may be an historian. In this instance he was. He rehearsed what the God of Israel had done for His people; how He had brought them forth from Egypt out of their house of bondage, out of the hand of the Egyptians, and how they had forgotten Him.
It was this fact that necessitated the rise of Gideon.With the eleventh verse we have recordedTHE CALL OF GIDEON“And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-eserite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites”.“Jamieson, Fausset and Brown” remind us that this was a dark corner in which Gideon was quietly rubbing the wheat from the straw. He dared not make a sound lest some watching Midianite should pounce upon him and take away the last hope of subsistence.He was divinely chosen. “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” (Judges 6:12).God has many ways of calling men into His ministry. We believe that at times He has audibly spoken. Little Samuel heard His voice. We believe that at other times, by the still small voice of the Spirit, He has produced profound conviction, as when Philip was sent the southway which is desert. But if the Old Testament be dependable, “the angel of the Lord”, or Christ, in some manlike form walked with men, talked with them, before the final incarnation.
It was He, then, who called Gideon. In fact, it may be that no other than the Second Person of the Godhead has ever selected the servants of the Divine will; and it is true that such office He still fills, for it is none other than the ascended Lord that gives now to the church its “apostles”, “prophets”, “evangelists”, “pastors” and “teachers”.He was naturally fitted. “The angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”.There is no history of Gideon’s exploits back of this time.
What they were we shall never know. It is not vain, however, to imagine that the life Gideon had lived was essentially different from that he is to live. The child is father to the man. You show me a man who is doing great exploits and I will agree to trace him back to a boy who behaves after a kindred manner. Gideon as a warrior was probably no whit more energetic, or daring, or dangerous to an enemy, than was Gideon, the shepherd farmer. The depth of his thinking, the seriousness of his nature, the sense of sympathy with Israel’s condition, his familiarity with Israel’s former and more glorious history—these are all voiced in Judges 6:13.
When one remembers that his father was an idol worshiper, the convictions and character of the lad become the more engaging, and also the more prophetic.I have a dear friend—a minister of the Gospel with power—who was the son of a saloon-keeper. This knowledge enhances alike the genuineness of his character and the strength of his convictions.He was supernaturally inspired. “The Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee”?And when, like Moses, he fled the poor house to which he belonged and hinted its departure from the faith, and, like David, admitted that he was least in the father’s house, “the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man” (Judges 6:16).Such a statement naturally staggered his faith.
Is it possible that God is speaking to me after this manner? And he decided to test it out. The first was a request to remain till he should bring Him a present and set before Him. And that was an offering of“a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak and presented it.“And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.“Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight” (Judges 6:19-21).This is the first miracle in evidence.
No wonder Gideon built an altar and called it Jehovahshalom. Nor is it any greater wonder that in that same night Gideon took his “father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old”, the first one having been snatched by the Midianites, or by his infidel father sacrificed on the altar of Baal, and with the strength of that second bullock he pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the grove that was by it, and built an altar unto the Lord his God on the top of that rock, as the Lord had commanded.This resulted inTHE OF GIDEONFirst, he was challenged by a host of opponents.“When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.“And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing?
And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.“Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it” (Judges 6:28-30).The shock seems to have brought the father to better senses. His speech revealed the fact that his sympathies went with the faithful lad, and the new name that he gave his son indicated the same. But the host of the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the cast were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.“But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abi-ezer was gathered after him.“And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them” (Judges 6:33-35).The effect of a miracle is soon forgotten. The consuming of the flesh and meal at the touch of the angel’s rod would have seemed to be enough. Not so! That was yesterday. Every day demands a new manifestation of the Divine. Our memories are short-lived, our faith soon fails and must be oft refreshed.Gideon puts God to a double test. “I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said.
And it was so” (Judges 6:37-38).Did that suffice? No!
Wool has a tendency to gather moisture. It might be natural—not supernatural. So Gideon turned it around and said, “Let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground” (Judges 6:39-40).That’s God! He will meet even the demand of the unbelieving. When poor doubting Thomas said, “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe * * * *, Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:25; John 20:27).
God with you, you can go forth against a host.He was challenged by God’s command. The one phrase that occurs again and again in this study is, “The Lord said unto Gideon”.
He is not starting a war, then, on his own account, but at God’s command. He is not calling Israel together, then, on his own account, but at God’s command. He is not ready to pitch against the Midianites on his own account, but at God’s command. Where God commands He has also a right to control. “The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me”.Alas, how long, how long has God sought to teach man, “It is not by might, nor by power”? How long has He sought to impress upon us the truth, “Not by works lest any man should boast”? How long and how ardently has He sought to show that it is all of grace, and all of God, lest we vaunt ourselves against Him?“And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand”.
How contemptible a crowd to go against the mighty army of the Midianites! And yet,“the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many: bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.“So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.“And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.“And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.“So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley” (Judges 7:3-8).God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.
His methods are not man’s methods, because His thoughts are not man’s thoughts. This brings us to the fact thatThe faith of Gideon was challenged by the implements appointed. Three hundred men against an army that “were like grasshoppers for multitude”— what folly from the human standpoint! But greater folly follows. These three hundred men were divided into three companies, and a trumpet was put into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers, and they were sent forth to war with instruments that had never been employed successfully in any battles of the past. Then implements are not of first consideration. “God with us”, is the final and only essential element in success.Read, then, the remainder of the chapter and witness the utter rout, the overwhelming defeat, of the Midianites.
Who shall stand against God and Gideon? The three hundred could have been sent home, and Gideon alone could have defeated the Midianites.
But while God can work without men, His method is to work with men. What a great New Testament truth is here! What an absurdity exists in the very sentence of the great commission itself, and yet, what sanity is introduced when, at the end of the same, Christ says, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”?One of the hardest lessons for poor, proud man to learn, and one that this egotistical age needs as no age ever did, is recorded in 1 Corinthians 1:25-31 :“Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;“And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:“That no flesh should glory in His presence.“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:“That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord”.THE AGAINST GIDEONIt is a singular thing to follow this reported conquest with multiplied complaints. When was it ever otherwise? When I hear some leader in Israel, oft condemned and condemned in unsparing speech, I know that he has done something of the unusual sort. Spiritual nobodies excite few criticisms.First, Ephraim complained of civic discourtesy.
There are plenty of people who, when a war is over, will tell you how much bigger and better the battles would have been had they been invited to bear important part in the same. Such was Ephraim!“And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledest us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites?
And they did chide with him sharply.“And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abi-ezer?“God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.“And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.“And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zal-munna, kings of Midian” (Judges 8:1-5).Succoth and Penuel complained of national enmity.“And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army?“And Gideon said, Therefore when the Lord hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.“And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.“And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.“Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword.“And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host was secure.“And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host” (Judges 8:6-12).It made no difference to them whether or not God was with Gideon. He was not of their nation, and consequently should expect no assistance from them. There are plenty of people who can have little or no sympathy with those who are not of their kin, their color, their nation, their denomination. This is and has always been the evil ground work of international complications.
We may not approve Gideon’s method in this matter, but, whether we approve it or not, we practice it. When nations war, neutrals become extremely unpopular.
And often, when war is at an end, the attitude of the neutral is not forgotten.Finally, God complained of his help to a new idolatry.“And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earnings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)“And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey.“And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels’ weeks.“And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.“Thus was Midian subdued before the Children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.“And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.“And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.“And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.“And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abi-ezerites.“And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the Children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.“And the Children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:“Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerub-baal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel” (Judges 8:24-33).It is very doubtful if Gideon intended idolatry when he gathered the gold earrings, and when out of that gold he made an ephod. But there is nothing on earth so easily excited as false worship. “And all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house” (Judges 8:27). This thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house.One of the strangest things in the world is here recorded. It is strange to see a young man rise up, and, in the Name of the Lord, tear down false altars, as the young man Gideon tore down the altar of Baal, and then, after a long and useful life, in utter loyalty to God and His Word, turn in his old age to Baal worship again.
But such men we know, and in America they are a multitude. When Israel was triumphant, they were Israelites.
But when Baal became popular, they became Baalimites. When Fundamentalism was the only faith of the fathers, they stood fast for it. But when the sons of those same fathers turned to Rationalism, and succeeded to ecclesiastical control, they turned to worship at this new shrine. I can forgive a young man for his infidelity, but I find it difficult to have even sympathy with an old man who, after having tested and tried and proved God, turns from Him and despises His Holy Word.But in the interest of fairness, let us hope that Gideon never so intended his ephod, and that Israel’s defection from the faith was in sheer consequence of Israel’s folly, and that natural infidelity which pulls on the souls of men as the law of gravity drags at plants, and so accept the thought that while Gideon lived, God was the only God in Israel, but when Gideon was gone, the Children of Israel turned again to Baalim as the children of true believers are turning today to rationalism and atheism.