A Fickle Choice is a Wicked Choice

Introduction

In our desire to advance our own interests we may overlook the obvious.

Judges 8:33–9:6 KJV 1900

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 Baal-berith 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 Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel. And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. And his mother’s brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother. And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him. And he went unto his father’s house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself. And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.

D. Fickle choices often point to failure to seek the Lord.

P. We ought to beware of fickle choices and seek God’s Wisdom.

James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

The men didn’t have any inclination to seek after the Lord who gave them the promised land. Thus we have a testament to fickle choices. The reason they are made is on whim and what seems best at the moment. They are forgetful, faithless, family, and foolish.

1. Forgetful choices

Judges 8:33–34 “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 Baal-berith 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:”

Explain

They didn’t remember who gave them the land in which they lived.

God had fed them forty years in the desert: Deuteronomy 8:16 “Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;”

God wanted to give them the best if they’d been faithful: Psalm 81:15–16 “The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: But their time should have endured for ever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: And with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.”

God points out his provision was attributed to idols: Jeremiah 5:7 “How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.”

They did not remember who provided for their daily needs. Matthew 6:11 “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Psalm 44:20–21 “If we have forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Shall not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.”

Argue

Deuteronomy 32:18 “Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, And hast forgotten God that formed thee.”

Illustrate: Psalm 106:12–13 “Then believed they his words; They sang his praise. They soon forgat his works; They waited not for his counsel:”

Apply

Are you mindful of what God has done for you?

He found you in your sinful state: Psalm 9:18 “For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: The expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.”

He gives what is needful for godly living: 2 Peter 1:3–9 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.”

Proverbs 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.”

2. Favor-less choices

Judges 8:35 “Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel.”

Explain

Gideon put his life on the line to rid the country of the Midianites seven year reign of terror.

Gideon ruled them well and provided a peaceful existence for forty years.

Gideon did have some bad choice, but those are not mentioned here. He apparently did well as he is also mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11:32 “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:”

Proverbs 3:27 “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, When it is in the power of thine hand to do it.”

Argue

This speaks of the nation of Israel lack of retaliation for the heartless killing of 69 of 70 of Jerubbaal’s sons.

They were up in arms about a concubine being killed in Judges 19. A civil war insued. This was in the same area. There was a lack of real principles in the men of that day.

Illustrate: The greedy kid who turns on his parents

Apply

Mark 9:19 “He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.”

John 20:27 “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.”

Does your walk with God show a lack of appreciation and gratitude for what Christ has done for you. Do you still persist in sins you know you are wrong because really in your eyes they are not that big a deal.

Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

In whose eyes do you walk rightly and favor. God’s eyes or your eyes.

The Lord’s eyes are searching

Proverbs 15:3 “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Beholding the evil and the good.”

2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.”

3. Family choices

Judges 9:1–3 “And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. And his mother’s brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother.”

Explain

I am bone and flesh: How about local not outside.

He accuses Gideon’s 70 sons of trying to rule over them which may have not been the case as they seem to have greater character than this vain Abimelech.

There is no proof for the case.

Often those who sin are guilty of what they accuse others of.

Gideon had expressed that he didn’t want his sons to reign. Judges 8:23 “And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you.”

Self-ambition

His name: My father is king

A mother who put the idea in his head.

Get’s affluent to support Him

Whether this is just the regular town’s folk or not is not all that important. What is significant is that the towns people in this are called master’s of Shechem, or Baal Shechem.

Before this all references to Baal in judges have been to a false deity. It is used of the men of Schechem as Jerubbaal/Gideon “let Baal plead” his sons are killed by a wicked half-brother.

Argue

Whether or not 70 were going to rule is beside the point. What Abimelech did was cold, calculating, and completely churlish when remembering what Gideon did for Israel.

Illustrate: Love family more than Jesus?

Apply

Familial ties: Matthew 10:37 “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

False accusations

Proverbs 18:13 “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, It is folly and shame unto him.”

Proverbs 26:28 “A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; And a flattering mouth worketh ruin.”

Fame for self

Psalm 86:10 “For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: Thou art God alone.”

1 Corinthians 3:20 “And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

Father’s of the community’s approval

Zechariah 1:4 “Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: But they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord.”

Acts 17:11 “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

4. Foolish choices.

Judges 9:4–6 “And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him. And he went unto his father’s house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself. And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.”

Explain

There is giving of gold to kill his 70 half brothers. A shekel a brother.

Similar to Haman enriching the king to slay all the Jews.

The nature of his hitmen

vain - unprincipled men - Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, And the froward mouth, do I hate.”

light - undisciplined - Ephesians 4:17 “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,”

Romans 1:21 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

These men consented to the murder of Gideon’s 70 sons and paid Abimelech and his vain, light fellows to do so.

Red Flag - financed out of a false god’s treasury

Rowdy men -

Psalm 26:4 “I have not sat with vain persons, Neither will I go in with dissemblers.”

Proverbs 28:19 “He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: But he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.”

Argue

Illustrate

Apply

Seek the Lord’s wisdom when you don’t know what to do.

James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

James 3:13 “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.”

James 3:17 “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”

Proverbs 9:6 “Forsake the foolish, and live; And go in the way of understanding.”

Ecclesiastes 7:17 “Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?”

Jeremiah 5:21 “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:”

1 Timothy 6:9 “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”