By Faith: Gideon and the Judges

We have been going through Hebrews Chapter 11, the Hall of Faith

Abel - Gave his all

Enoch - walked with God

Noah - feared the Lord

Abraham - Believed God’s promises

Jacob - Fought For God’s Blessing

Joseph - Trusted God’s Gifts

Moses - Overcame Fear and Failure

Joshua - Conquered with God’s power

Rahab - Was redeemed by her faith.

Hebrews 11:32 ESV

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—

The list goes on and on,

I could go through the entire old testament, but that would take a long time, and I would like to eventually move on to another series,

So heres what is going to happen, We are going to look through several of the judges

Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah

Then i’ll do a sermon on David

As a representation of the Kings of Israel and Judah

Then we will focus on Elijah and and the Prophets

and the Final sermon in this series will focus on Daniel - Who has his own category.

So the Judges:

The Judges were primarially military leaders who then became de-facto leaders in Israel.

and What would happen time and time again is that ISrael would turn its back on God, start worshipping idols, etc,

and then God would allow Israel to be overtaken by their enemies, the moabites, the amalekites, the canaanites, and the philisitines

Then once Israel repented God would raise up an individual who would drive out Israel’s enemies, and then be the person Israel followed for that generation.

The First was Othniel,

He was the nephew of Caleb - the only other person besides Joshua, to have left egypt in the Exodus and enter the promised land.

So he knows what it means to have Faith, because of uncle Caleb.

He Saved israel from the invading king of Mesopotaimia - Babylon

Then there was Ehud, who was left handed,

When israel was under the rule of the Moabites, Ehud came bringing tribute, and because he was left handed, he wore his sword on his right side, not his left like everyone else would, and he was able to get passed the guards of the King, and stab him, freeing Israel from the grasp of the king.

Its doesn’t say if he had, faith, but he sure acted as if he did, using his unique abilities to take out Israel’s enemies.

Then we have shamgar, who only has one verse dedicated to him,

Judges 3:31 ESV

After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.

Next Came Deborah and Barak, which Hebrews chapter 11 mentions Barak had faith, but his faith was reliant upon Deborah

Judges 4:1–10 ESV

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?” Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

Deborah was a prophetess, she could hear and proclaim what God was saying ot the Israelites, and she summoned Barak and said - Go fight Sisera and you will win.

Barak could have just said okay, but instead he asked her to go with him.

Yes Barak had faith, but it was faith in Deborah, in God’s prophet, rather than in the Words God had spoken through her.

and so she goes, but she says, Sisera will be put into the hands of a woman.

Church: do not put your faith in leaders or prophets or pastors.

we are just people like you

Put your faith in God and in His Word,

because otherwise you may miss out on all that God wants you to have.

Barak gathers a huge army, 10,000 men, against 900 chariots.

Chariots carry 2 men, and 2 horses and are faster and deadilier

Judges 4:14–16 ESV

And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

The battle starts, and it takes place near mount tabor, which sits over the valley of Meggido, which back then was a swamp.

the chariots get stuck, so the men of the Canaanites have to flee on foot, suddenly they are very outnumbered.

Judges 4:17–22 ESV

But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

So Barak freed israel and he and deborah ruled over it for many years.

But because his faith was placed not in God, but in Deborah, he missed out on truely defeating Sisera

But Israel turns away again and again and is conqured by Midian

NExt was Gideon, and Gideon was the opposite of Barak

Barak was a warrior and a natural leader, who inspired 10,000 men to follow him into battle.

Gideon was from the smallest family in the smallest clan in his tribe.

Judges 6:11–16 ESV

Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

When God calls Gideon, an angel appears to him, and says “Im sending you to conquer midian”

The angel proves he is from God with a series of signs.

Judges 6:17–21 ESV

And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.” So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.

Judges 6:36–40 ESV

Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

Gideon learned that an angel was sent to him because we he brought the angel a snack it went up in flames like a burnt offering.

THen Gideon wanted to make sure

So he asked God to do a simple thing

Dry ground wet fleece

then apparently he realized that that could happen naturally

so then he asked God for an impossible sign

Dry fleece wet ground.

Church it is okay to try and verify what God is asking you to do, and to ask for a sign.

Gideon is not the only one to do this, and God usually offers the sign himself in the Bible.

But it does not show a lack of faith to ask God for a sign, to help you know what he wants you to do.

Now Gideon knows he is supposed to deliver Israel from under the thumb of the Midianites, so he gathers an army together

Judges 7:1–8 ESV

Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’ ” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.” So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

Gideon readies an army and God says “you have too many people.”

So Gideon sends home everyone who was afraid,

Maybe for the best.

and now he has 10,000, like Barak had

And God says “you have too many”

So now God gives the people a test

If they kneel down to trink water from the sping then they are to be sent home.

if the get on their hands and knees

making themselves vulenerable

But if they scoop up the water in their hands, and brink it to their mouths, where they can drink it while still being ready for battle, those ones stay

Gideon is left with 300 men.

God desires those who follow him be ready for whatever fight there is to come.

Judges 7:9–14 ESV

That same night the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.” And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.”

Gidian spies out the Midianite camp, and they have allied themselves with the Amalkeites.

And they are having dreams, about a loaf of barley crushing their camp.

Judges 7:15–23 ESV

As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.” And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ ” So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.

Gideon defeates the midianites not like Barak, who fought with numbers and with the land,

But like Joshua, blowing trumpts and shouting,

and it confused the Midianites and the Amaletkites, who then turned against each other when they sat that they were surrounded by the men of Gideon.

Gideon’s men were not even holding swords,

they had a torch in one hand and a trumpet, in the other.

Gideon’s faith was so heroic, so much like joshua that the people of Israel tried to make him their king.

Judges 8:22–23 ESV

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.”

Now this sounds great, but what ends up happening leads only to more trouble

Judges 8:24–27 ESV

And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. 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.

Gideon takes the earrings of the Midianites - melts it down and makes it into an Ephod, a device used for trying to determine God’s will,

1,700 shekels of gold is 75 lbs ~ $1,700,000

and the people begin to use it in pagan rituals.

Gideon says that God will rule over Israel, and then he tries to build a device that will help Israel follow God

But they twist it and use it for other things.

Church while you can try to share your faith, it is ultimately up to each person to come to fiath in God, you can do everything you can to guide them, ultimately it comes to their decision.

Hebrews 11:33–34 ESV

who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Church if we learn anything from the judges is that God uses broken imperfect people to carry out his will.

Barak had misplaced faith, and God still used him though he missed out.

Gideon had faith, but he allowed others to take the good things God had done and use them for ill.

Church wen it comes down to it the only thing you are responsible for is your faith.