Gideon
Notes
Transcript
Judges 6-7
Judges 6-7
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Mighty Warrior
God’s definition verses our definition
Ours large, strong, brave, fearless, from a powerful family, Superman !
God’s: hiding, meek weakest of the weakest family.
God makes the mighty!
The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Gideon is anything but mighty.
Gideon is championed in Hebrews for his faith, but his faith definitely started small like the mustard seed Pius described last week.
He actually tested God 3 times to prove it was him.
Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
while having a conversation with the angel of the Lord, being told exactly what to do, he still wanted more proof.
this really helps me when it comes to understanding faith, especially the faith the size of a mustard seed. Sometimes it just takes the first small step with just a little faith that can grow and blossom and God can use for great things.
But we also see God’s character here. He doesn’t get mad he is patient.
The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
Gideon was afraid that he had just put the Lord to the test. I don’t think that comes across in the story until you read what the angel said next:
But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
Gideon must have been petrified. God told me to do something but I questioned it. God just made fire come from nothing to consume my offering what is he going to do to me now? But God reassured him.
Don’t you hope that if you experienced all of this you would have followed pretty much whatever God led you to do next without question? I hope I would but Gideon still asked God for signs later on.
So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Gideon worships God and builds a physical reminder to all that God had visited them and God is Peace. This is a good reminder to us. When we encounter God, set a marker as a reminder.
“My big red chair”
it doesn’t have to be physical, and it is not an object of worship< it is a place and a reminder of God’s work in your life.
A useful tool when you are not feeling confident in your relationship with God.
“pile of rocks”
Now God starts working through Gideon. Gideon had to be in the right place with God before God could work through him, and that is the same with us. We have to open our hearts and minds to God. We need to have our faith going in the right direction then God can do amazing things through us as well.
take some time this week to ask God to get you in the right place. It probably would not be a bad idea to that daily, would it?
So, what does God do first through Gideon? He begins by working on his own people, to change their ways.
That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”
Israel needed some cleaning up. They had gotten so lost that they were worshiping Baal. Baal was one of the God’s of the Canaanites whose land God had given the people of Israel. But throughout the history of Israel, they kept falling into worship of him. These Asherah poles show up over and over. They show us that the people of Israel, constantly fell away from God, but God never left them. that is great news for us as well isn’t it?
But God did not stop the Israelites from having to live in the consequences of their sin. That is where they are today In this story. They had fallen into the hands of the Midianites and were conquered, scared and hiding. They were humbled and turned back partially to God. they cried out to him, but they had clearly not changed their ways. So God interceded.
He commands Gideon to tear down the poles. Now check this out. Gideon’s faith is growing, but it still is not where you or I would think a mighty man of faith’s would be.
So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
I love that he was obedient, but afraid. That should give us all hope and encouragement.
Gideon was right to be afraid of the people’s response.
In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!
They asked each other, “Who did this?”
When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
This shows you how far the people were from God. They wanted to kill Gideon for following God’s law, but I love this next part.
God uses Gideon’s faithfulness to awaken the hearts of others.
Watch his Dad’s response:
But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”
now we don‘t know where Joash was spiritually. We can guess that he had taught Gideon about God, but now we see Joash being bold for God.
I love it. If Baal really is a god, can’t he defend himself? That is bold. The whole community is ready to kill his son for tearing down an altar and he calls him out as a false god!
Gideon’s faithfulness awoke the faith of others!
Our faith can do the same. God goes onto call Gideon to lead an army to not just drive out the Midianites, but to destroy them. You should read all of Judges 6-9 to hear the full story of Gideon and his family. The good, the bad and the ugly.
But ultimately as a result of what God did with the little mustard seed faith of that young man in the winepress, God’s people were saved and brought back to Him. Amazing.
But we need to see how God continued to work in Gideon. Remember he kept asking God to show him signs?
He asked God for two big signs of confirmation in Judges 6:36-40
Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
Isn’t that crazy?
But isn’t even cooler that God was patient with Gideon and God is patient with us.
Please read how God worked in the rest of the story, but I want y’all to see something pretty cool that God did for Gideon.
During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”
His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”
When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”
God gave Gideon a sign without Gideon having to ask for it. That Reminds me that God has a personal relationship with Gideon and knows each of us personally. He gave Gideon what he wanted and probably needed.
And Gideon grew in his relationship with God.
God offers the same for us….
Communion and invitation.