Broken Vessels: Gideon

We have a lot of ground to cover, so we will get right into the story of Gideon, in Judges chapter 6.

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. – Judges 6:1-6

As we have seen the past few weeks, the Book of Judges chronicles a 400-year period in Israel’s history in which history repeats itself again and again. The people abandon following God and become progressively more sinful until God sends an opposing people to suppress and rule over them. Although some of the previous situations lasted for a greater number of years, this sounds like an especially harsh situation. Their lands, and most critically, their crops, were overrun and overtaken. The situation was not just that they worked so hard to plant the crops and tend them only to watch others come in and take over; it was a situation of potential starvation, a matter of survival. Meanwhile, the people continued to sin and forsake the Lord. It was apparently only after the seventh straight year of this that the people cried out to the Lord, asking for deliverance.

When the Israelites cried to the Lord because of Midian, He sent them a prophet, who said, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to Me." – Judges 6:7-10

If the Israelites had heeded the warnings given by Moses, they would have known that their situation was exactly what they were told would happen. Even just paying attention to the previous judges would have taught them this lesson.

Thankfully, our God is a merciful god. Even though God delivering the Israelites in the past did not lead to lasting change – the people only stayed more or less committed to God as long as the then judge lived – and even though God knew that the outcome would not be different again this time, He once again provides a way of deliverance.

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. – Judges 6:11

Ancient wine presses, many of which remain to the present day, consisted of two large holes cut into rock at a depth of 2 or 3 feet, one higher than the other, connected by a channel. Because they were below ground level, they could be used for hiding the fact that one was threshing wheat. But what a humbling state of affairs! To have to hide while doing the most basic of tasks! To constantly live in fear, worrying that you won’t have enough food to make it through the next winter! This was not just Gideon’s state but that of the entire Israelite people.

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." – Judges 6:12-13

What an opening greeting! What a contrast between Gideon as he appeared and Gideon as he was addressed! I can picture Gideon, crouched down low, trying to keep quiet, threshing his wheat, startled by this messenger (I don’t think Gideon yet realizes who and what this messenger really is), being greeted as a mighty warrior.

And presumably once he gets over his shock, he replies angrily, resentfully, his resentment directed against God Himself. And as people are prone to do, he remembers and quotes only part of the story. He does not remember (or chooses not to remember) the warnings God gave through Moses, the blessings and the curses. We can be like this too. I’m certainly not implying that all bad things that happen are a result of our sin, but quite a few bad things are. We can be quick to blame God when we fail a test, for example, even though we didn’t study until the last minute. Or we can blame God for financial difficulties when we have not followed the wisdom of Proverbs with regards to money. Unfortunately, it is just human nature to blame God for all the bad things but take personal credit for the good.

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?" "But Lord," Gideon asked, "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 together." – Judges 6:14-16

Gideon now starts to understand who may in fact be talking to him. I am struck by how Gideon doesn’t apologize for his earlier remarks and how God does not bring it up either. Instead, he tells Gideon to go, because He is sending him. Gideon’s response, talking of his weakness, personally and as a clan, is in fact a kind of rebuke to God’s statement that He is sending him. We do this too, when we balk at doing the things we are told to do in Scripture. What we are really saying when we do this is not pretty. We are either telling God that He isn’t as knowledgeable as He thinks He is, or that He isn’t as powerful as He thinks He is. Ouch! But again, God is patient and doesn’t directly respond to these attacks on His character. I think we have no idea how often by our words and actions we say and do things that are extremely impertinent and offensive to God. And just as people tend to be more rude in email than in person because they just don’t realize what they are doing without the face-to-face encounter, we do the same thing. I think our prayers would sound quite different if we saw God right before us listening to us!

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." Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak. – Judges 6:17-19

Gideon is still unsure who is talking to him, and I think this is OK. Going to lead Israel in battle is not something you can just go and do in your own strength. I’m not exactly sure why Gideon chose this particular method to seek a sign, leaving the messenger to wait what must have been a fairly long time as Gideon basically prepares the fastest dinner he could prepare. I would have liked to peek in to see him madly working to make this meal. I am also a little puzzled why he brought the food out to him rather than having him come in. But regardless, the meal is ready and it is brought out to him.

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. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread. 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, "Ah, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!" But the Lord said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." – Judges 6:20-23

I don’t know what shocked Gideon more – the fire from the rock or the disappearance of the angel. But the response we see over and over again in Scripture – when one comes face to face with the presence of the Lord, one is undone. They know that their sins deserve death, that they are not worthy to come before the One who is the Holy of Holies.

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. – Judges 6:24

Jehovah-Shalom is the Hebrew for “The Lord is Peace.” Some commentators have seemed surprised that, for one called a mighty warrior and who is called to lead a battle, the choice for the name of the altar would be The Lord is Peace. Some suggest that by faith Gideon was looking ahead to a future day when there would again be peace in the land. But I think there is a much more simple (and less flattering) explanation. Look back at the previous verse. What did the Lord say after Gideon exclaimed his fear? “Peace.”

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." - Judges 6:25-26

So now the Lord and Gideon have made their acquaintance, so to speak, and now the Lord has a first task for Gideon: destroy his father’s altar and other symbols of worship to false gods. This is not a minor request. The results of doing this will be public and cause public outrage, and in addition, it will “dishonor” his own father (at least from a worldly point of view). Recall that one of the 10 commandments is to honor your mother and father. Do you think this really dishonors his father? I don’t think so. Obeying a direct command of the Lord supersedes anything else, and ultimately, I believe it honors his father. It is not honoring someone to ignore the sin in their lives.

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime. In the morning when the men 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! – Judges 6:27-28

I’m not going to blame Gideon for being afraid and doing this at night. This had to be an incredibly hard thing to do. But he did it! He obeyed the Lord.

They asked each other, "Who did this?" When they carefully investigated, they were told, "Gideon son of Joash did it." The men 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." – Judges 6:29-30

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 that day they called Gideon "Jerub-Baal," saying, "Let Baal contend with him," because he broke down Baal's altar. – Judges 6:31-32

It’s as if Gideon’s father has suddenly woken from a long trance or sleep – far from wanting to punish his own son, he suddenly realizes that he was wrong to have family idols and so he defends his son. And Joash’s argument won over the crowd, and they too began to wake from their slumber. This one act seems to have been the catalyst to reawaken Israel, to make them remember Whose they are. Gideon earns a nickname, “He’s Baal’s problem.” His very name is a mockery of Baal! Every day that he continues to live, he shows Baal to be powerless.

Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them. – Judges 6:33-35

In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit would come on a person for a period of time and then leave. The Spirit came upon Gideon, and he acted like the “mighty warrior” he had been called, gathering an army to meet the combined army of the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people opposed to Israel.

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. – Judges 6:36-38

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. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew. – Judges 6:39-40

Apparently, the Spirit left Gideon, and, now that he had gathered an army, he had severe doubts. And so despite the visit of the angel, the angel’s disappearance, and the burnt up offering, Gideon wants more assurance. Again, God is patient with Gideon, and delivers the exact signs – yes, two signs – he asks for. Note that a fleece is not really a sign of faith, but of doubt. It is also putting the Lord to the test, something we are told in Scripture not to do. There are no guarantees, if you make a fleece, that God will honor it at all. But in this case, God does give Gideon his signs.

Now, because our time is limited, I am going to summarize events from the next chapter, so that I am sure to have time for the third chapter, one that is rarely taught on, I believe. Basically, despite gathering the greatest army that he could, the Israelites are greatly outnumbered, from other verses, about 135,000 to 32,000, or about 4 to 1. So what does God do? He tells Gideon to tell his army that anyone who is afraid is free to leave “so that Israel may not boast that its own strength has saved it.” More than 2/3 leave, leaving 10,000, so now Israel is outnumbered more than 13 to 1. So now what does God do? Whittle them down further by only taking those “lap the water with their tongues like a dog” at the river’s edge. Other than some of my children at young ages, I do not know of anyone who drinks at the river’s edge by lapping water like a dog. But, amazingly (or is it depressingly?) there were some men who did just this, 300 of them. For those keeping score, we 135,000 divided by 300 is 450. So they were outnumbered 450 to 1! How would you feel about those numbers if you were one of the 300?

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 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." – Judges 7:8-12a

Which option do you think Gideon chose? #2, of course. Purah came along. Gideon heard a man tell a dream about a loaf of barley bread striking the camp. Miraculously, his friend interpreted the dream to say that it represented the sword of Gideon whom God would use to defeat the Midianites. Gideon responded by worshiping God and immediately, upon returning to camp, getting his men together to attack. They were put in groups of 100, and given trumpets and empty jars with torches inside. Following Gideon’s lead, they went to the edge of camp, blew their trumpets, broke their jars, and shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” The Midianites awoke and cried out in confusion, started to flee, and turned on each other with their swords. As the army fled, Gideon called on other Israelites to join them and pursue them, including the Ephraimites, who then pursued and captured two military leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. Now something I did not mention is that when Gideon had first had the Spirit of the Lord come upon him and he called together his army, he did not call people from every tribe, but only some of them. The Ephraimites were one of the groups he didn’t call.

Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, "Why have you treated us like this? Why didn't you call us when you went to fight Midian?" And they criticized him sharply. But he answered them, "What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren't the gleanings of Ephraim's grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer? God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?" At this, their resentment against him subsided. – Judges 8:1-3

To me this is the high point of Gideon’s life. He has just seen God deliver them, and he truly is humble about it. When the grumpy Ephraimites complain that they didn’t get to join in from the beginning, he says that they have had a better adventure than he has had, that they have done more. This is masterful diplomacy as well as a proper view of himself – a view in which God gets the glory.

Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. He said to the men of Succoth, "Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian." – Judges 8:4-5

There are 15,000 Midianites left (this is in Judges 8:10), down from 135,000. There are 300 Israelites left, down from … 300.

But the officials of Succoth said, "Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?" Then Gideon replied, "Just for that, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers." From there he went up to Peniel and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Succoth had. So he said to the men of Peniel, "When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower." – Judges 8:6-9

What is going on here? Why would the men of Succoth and Peniel refuse to support their 300 troops? I believe the reason is that they think it is insane to pursue 15,000 soldiers with only 300. Judges 8:15 says that the people in these towns taunted them.

Is Gideon’s response overly harsh? I’ll come back to this question when we get a few verses later and see how this turns out.

Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and fell upon the unsuspecting army. Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army. – Judges 8:10-12

Again, this part of the story is rarely told. But God finished what He began. There was now complete victory despite what anyone would call impossible odds.

Gideon son of Joash then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres. He caught a young man of Succoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven officials of Succoth, the elders of the town. Then Gideon came and said to the men of Succoth, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, 'Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?'" He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Succoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers. He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town. – Judges 8:13-17

So was this an appropriate reaction on the part of Gideon? It is difficult to judge, since we have limited information. If Gideon’s primary motivation is anger in response to the taunting, then I have my doubts it is an appropriate reaction. I think about God’s extreme patience and mercy with Gideon and his doubts, his tests, and his fleeces. I think of the parable of the ruler who was forgiven a great debt who went on to not forgive relatively tiny debts from those who owed him. In the parable, God was not pleased with this man.

Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?" "Men like you," they answered, "each one with the bearing of a prince." Gideon replied, "Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the Lord lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you." Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, "Kill them!" But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid. – Judges 8:18-20

“A boy” meant 12 or younger. Why was Gideon insisting that a child kill these two adult kings? Again, the primary motivation I see here is anger. Given that Gideon’s own family, his brothers, have been killed by these two men, I can understand why Gideon is angry. This anger, though, seems to be a repeated theme in Gideon’s life. Even when he was first met by the angel, his response was angry – he was angry at God. Even though God has used Gideon in a mighty way, Gideon can still sin. And of course this applies to us as well. We are never immune from the temptation to sin. And areas of weakness, areas in which we are prone to sin, are things we must be always vigilant over. Just because we see God do something miraculous in front of us, or even through us, doesn’t change this at all.

Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Come, do it yourself. 'As is the man, so is his strength.'" So Gideon stepped forward and killed them, and took the ornaments off their camels' necks. The Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian." – Judges 8:21-22

Now what the Israelites are asking for here is not a judge, in the sense of the previous judges of Israel, but a king. They want someone to rule over them, not just make wise decisions and settle disputes. And not only do they want a king, but a succession of kings from his lineage.

But Gideon told them, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you." And he said, "I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder." (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.) – Judges 8:23-24

Now, I have to admit that Gideon’s answer sounds really good. This idea of kings and sons of kings being kings was not how things God had told the Israelites to live at all, but simply copying what they saw in the heathen nations around them, going back even to Egypt. Gideon is right to reject this request. What they needed was another judge, one who lived a life of righteousness, and with wisdom settled disputes and conflicts. One who helped the people to re-establish the role of the priests and the various practices of worship proscribed in the law given to Moses. Sadly, as we will see, not only did Gideon reject the role of king, he also rejected the role of judge.

And we need to talk about this request. This is a request not for an equal share of the plunder, but for much more. If at a Clemson football game you asked and received $10 from everyone there, you would have about a million dollars. This request is not one a judge would make, but one that a king would make. He may say he doesn’t want to be king, but he wants the wealth of one.

They answered, "We'll be glad to give them." So they spread out a garment, and each man threw a ring from his plunder onto it. The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels' necks. Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. – Judges 8:25-27

This is sad to read. Gideon was now very rich. From the gold he made an object of worship. Even if he meant it for worshipping God, he was violating God’s rules when he made it. Exodus 20:25 says that altars should be made of unfinished stone. Why? To prevent exactly what happened here. We are to worship the Creator, not our creations. So instead of leading the Israelites into holiness, he led them into idolatry and sin.

Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years. Jerub-Baal son of Joash went back home to live. He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech. Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. – Judges 8:28-32

Gideon did not live the life of a modest judge, but the life of a pagan king. He had a harem, a large number of wives. There could not be any real love here. Every time he saw an attractive woman, he added her to his “collection.” And do you know what Abimelech means? For a man who says he didn’t want to be king, the name of his son is shocking. Abimelech means “My father, the king.”

No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They also failed to show kindness to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for them. – Judges 8:33-35

With some of the past judges, the good ones, it was clearly the Israelites’ fault for turning back to idolatry. But here, I almost can’t blame them. I’m certainly not surprised. Living the “high life” like a king, setting up an idol, not re-instituting the following of the law of Moses, not serving as a righteous judge – all these things certainly contributed to Israel’s sad state. And the results in Gideon’s own family were especially tragic. Abimelech tried to live up to his name and become king himself, and in the process he murdered all the rest of his brothers! Eventually Abimelech was himself killed. Gideon’s line was wiped out. This is what the picture above shows.

When I think about lessons from Gideon, I am drawn to this last sad chapter. Gideon did not follow God despite the amazing way God had used him earlier in life. We too can be sidetracked by the desire for power, the desire for riches, the desire for fame. Our desire should be for Jesus – for knowing Him better, for serving Him, for helping our families to know and love and serve Him. Sunday mornings should not be a “wake-up call” for us; we shouldn’t feel like “Oh, yeah. God. Jesus. Yes, I need to follow Him” on Sunday morning. If we feel this way, this is a sign that we are not really devoting ourselves to Him during the week. This is walking down the path of Gideon. Let us instead follow the One who said again and again in the gospels, “Follow Me.” His path involves denying oneself and taking up one’s cross, but yet His yoke is easy and His burden is light.