Judges 7.docx
Notes
Transcript
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