LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF GIDEON PART 6: The Water Test

Picture this: a gang of 450 men invade your neighborhood. You go out to meet them, armed with a flashlight and a band instrument! As ridiculous as this sounds, it is precisely what God was about to instruct Gideon to do. He would take a band of three hundred men against one hundred thirty-five thousand.

A substantial force of thirty-two thousand men had arrived to join Gideon against the Midianites and their allies. God told Gideon there were two many men to give Midian into their hands, so He had Gideon instruct all those who were fearful to go home. (Judges 7:1-3) Two thirds of them, twenty-two thousand soldiers packed up and left for home. There were now 10,000 men left.

Again, God told Gideon that the force was too numerous. This did not represent, as one might suppose, multiple attempts by God to whittle down the forces until He got a number He could live with. This was for Gideon’s sake. Obedience, resulting from faith and trust, was being learned.

The account of the water test to reduce the force of Israel has often been used to encourage Christians to be alert, courageous and obedient, but was this the point of the test? Much has been written and preached about why God chose the men who lapped over the men who knelt to drink.

WAS IT BECAUSE THEY WERE THE MOST ALERT AND COURAGEOUS?

The alert guys, in my mind were the ones who, as they were in plain sight of the enemy, knelt down low to drink, not the ones who, ignoring their enemy put their hands to their mouths to drink. This concurs with Josephus, an Israeli general and historian who indicates that the most observant and alert knelt down out of view of the enemy and the others were tumultuous in their drinking. [Antiquities, Book 5, Chapter 6]

WERE THEY THE ELITE?

The argument that they were the “special forces unit,” falls short because they were outnumbered 450 to one. What difference would it make if they were the elite force against those odds? The elite forces concept would be contrary to God’s plan to remove boasting. The LORD needed these men to do something, and initially at least, fighting was not it.

If we read carefully the description of how the three hundred were to go into battle, we see the following picture: one hand would hold a jar with a torch in it. With the other hand, a trumpet (ram's horn). How would the sword held? As we will later see, in the first part of the battle, when God was delivering the Midianites into Israel’s hands, there was no need for fighting. The battle belonged to the Lord.

DID GOD NEED TO “FIND OUT” WHO SHOULD GO AND WHO SHOULD STAY?

This often gets overlooked: God told Gideon, “I will test them for YOU there.” This was God’s demonstration to Gideon of His sovereignty over the affairs of men. Otherwise, are we to think that God didn’t know how many men there would be that lapped the water? Could we argue that God would say to himself, " I hope we get the right number of men doing the right thing, you know, the elite guys. I'd hate to have to repeat this.”

WERE THE MEN MAKING A CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO BE A PART OF THE SMALLEST GROUP?

It had to take some time to water 10,000 men at the Spring of Harod. I wonder if the men saw Gideon separating out this small band of men who had been lapping the water, thinking that those men were going home while the large force would fight. If I was going to fight, I'd want to be a part of the larger division of soldiers, not the smallest. If I was Gideon, I would be tempted to say, "Guys, be careful how you drink!"

GOD AND HIS LITTLE BAND

A close look at the entire battle reveals that after God destroyed the largest force and the Israelites afterwards had joined the battle, the 300 who were with Gideon were tired, yet pursuing. They went on pursuing even though the people in two different towns refused to give them food and water. This took remarkable courage and stamina. God chose a few men who LATER demonstrated obedience, fearlessness and stamina.

WHAT IS THE REAL LESSON?

In trying to use the account of the water test to say something about the men God chose, we lose sight of the real lesson, which is not about the men, but about GOD.

It could be said that God chose the best and most courageous from the non-fearful 10,000; but not because of what was being demonstrated by how they drank. The test was not for God to find out anything about these men. He wanted a small force so the Israelites would not be able to boast. He got the exact number He wanted; no more, no less.

He allowed men to know the joy of having a part in His plan, but this was GOD’S choice, God's deliverance and God's victory brought about by His own supernatural means, for His own glory.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission

LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF GIDEON PART 5: THE SIGN OF THE FLEECE

Background

As a result of his encounter with the Lord, Gideon did two things: one negative, and one positive. First, he got rid of the idols; then he built a proper altar to the Lord. There is a principle illustrated here supported throughout scripture: we must not just turn AWAY from sin; we must also turn TO God. One without the other means certain failure.

It is at this critical time, after Gideon turns away from the worship of idols and establishes the One true God in his heart, that all of the enemies of Israel (and Gideon) prepare to attack. Now, at the right time to accomplish His purpose, the Spirit of the LORD comes upon Gideon and he blows a trumpet to summon the rest of his clan to follow him. He then sends messengers throughout the area of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him. (Judges 6:33-35).

Notice the difference in the responses to the two summonses. I believe it has a bearing on the reason for Gideon’s unusual request we know as the “Sign of the Fleece”.

Gideon’s own clan answers the trumpet to FOLLOW him. They were already aware that something was happening between him and God because of the affair with the Baal idol. The others in Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali probably knew nothing of this. They came to MEET with him in response to his messengers.

“35He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.” (v6:35)

Why the sign of the Fleece did not put the LORD to a foolish test

First of all, it is doubtful that the residents of these tribes would then follow some unknown man into a battle against a far superior force just because he sounded an alarm. For all they knew, he could be an opportunist intending to sacrifice himself and the armies of the Israel in a deluded effort for self glorification.  Secondly, remember the Spirit of the Lord had come upon Gideon.  Are we to think that with the Spirit of the Lord upon him, he would put God to a foolish test?

Now, with 32,000 men present, Gideon seeks a sign from God to prove to all present that He will indeed deliver Israel through him. In this famous request for a sign, Gideon first proposes to put a fleece (a tanned sheepskin with the fleece left on) on the threshing floor:

“36Then Gideon said to God, ‘If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, 37behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.’ 38And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water.

39Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.’ 40God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.” (Judges 6:36-40)

The men needed this. Gideon needed this. I believe God granted the sign to confirm Gideon before the people, and because from the beginning, this was part of His plan; not Gideon’s or Israel’s. God was the supreme commander, not a consultant. He was gracious to Gideon and the men with him, understanding their fear, and rewarding their willingness.


How much more empowered, rewarding and successful our lives would be if we would seek to pull along side God and accomplish His plan, rather than asking Him to bless ours!

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission

LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF GIDEON: PART 4

Letting God Make Our Lives Count


There are some sure signs that God is involved in an endeavor with us:

• Our doubt turns to belief and fear to courage.
• Things we depend on, or things that take the place of Him in our lives start getting removed.  God doesn't let us do great things in his Name while we are giving time and honor to other gods, whatever they may be. They don’t get second place. They get no place. 

Ancient Winepress.  Photo from Biblewalks.com, used by permission.

Doubt
     We find Gideon in a wine press, not sure of who he is speaking with. Whoever this is turns toward him from where he sits under the oak tree, and instructs him to go in the strength he has and save Israel from Midian. Gideon then rightly asks, “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the Least in my family.” (Judges 6: 15, NIV).

Belief
     The LORD tells him that He will be with him, and that Gideon will strike down all the Midianites together. But Gideon, still skeptical, asks God for a sign that it is really Him speaking with him. Gideon asks the Angel of God to wait while he prepares an offering. Once he brings the offering back, the Angel of God instructs him to put the unleavened bread and the meat on a rock and pour out the broth. When the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the bread with the tip of his staff, fire came up from the rock and totally consumed the meat and bread. NOW Gideon is convinced: “ ‘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.’ So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace…”(v. 22-24).

Fear

     So, now Gideon was ready to go off and defeat the Midianites, right? Not quite. There was the matter of the family idols, the false gods, still standing in an honored place there. God instructed Gideon to tear down his father’s alter to Baal and to cut down the Asherah pole that was standing beside it, and to build a proper alter to God in their place.

 Gideon did so, but at night because he was afraid of the men of his family and the men of the town. He had reason to be fearful. In the morning when the men of the town got up, they found Baal’s alter demolished and the Asherah Pole cut down, and there in its place was a newly constructed altar with a sacrificed bull lying on it!

Courage

     The night operation was successful, but the stealth operation failed. Apparently there were a few witnesses, because when the men of the city investigated, someone told them that Gideon was the culprit. They then demanded of Gideon’s father that he hand him over to be killed for this sacrilege. But Joash, Gideon’s father, perhaps taking courage from Gideon’s almost-brave act, answered:

“ ‘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.’ ” (v.31).

     After this courageous and obedient act, Gideon is now ready to go deliver Israel from the Midianites!….right? Well…not quite…

-Surefoot

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

A Few Essentials

• Offending a brother and then telling him it's because of his pride that he noticed, is like throwing a puppy in the creek and then whipping him for getting wet. 

• If you've read the Old Testament, you should know that you do not want to be the one whose unjust actions God uses to "prune", "discipline" or "break" another brother. Your time will immediately follow.

• I heard this today: "You cannot serve God according to your will; it must be according to His.

• Are you discouraged or frightened by your circumstances? God told Gideon to do the equivalent of confronting 450 weapon wielding gangsters in his neighborhood by himself...and with only a flashlight and a band instrument!

• Don't wait until the dragon is trying to toast you to try to dig your sword out of the saddlebag.

-Surefoot

LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF GIDEON: PART 3

Things May Not Be What They Seem

A fable was tossed around the Internet about a blind lady who had her seeing eye dog with her on a flight. The flight was diverted and delayed. Once on the ground, she was asked by the pilot if she would like to disembark briefly. She told the pilot no, but her dog might like to stretch his legs. So the pilot, in his sunglasses, takes the seeing eye dog for a little walk. This was not well received by boarding passengers.

The situation in Israel was dire. Food and livestock were scarce because of the seven-year Midianite and Amalekite oppression. Gideon is threshing wheat (pounding the stalks of wheat to separate the grains from the outer shell and stalks) in a wine press to prevent the Midianite raiders from discovering him and separating him from his food and his head from his body. They had already killed his two brothers at Tabor.

The Angel of the Lord appears, sitting under an oak tree near the city of Ophrah, where Gideon is threshing, and says “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” (Judges 6:12, NIV). At this, Gideon, not realizing who he is speaking to, cynically answers,

“…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 6:13, NIV)

Gideon was one of at least three sons of Joash, a man of some wealth and standing in Ophrah (within the tribal allotment of Manasseh), who had an altar to Baal and an Asherah pole beside it. The people of the city came to this altar at Joash’s house to worship these idols.

God had just sent a prophet to inform the Israelites of the reason He had given them over to their enemies. From the beginning, God had told them the He was their God, and that they were not to worship the Amorite gods; but they had not listened. And here is Gideon, whose father has an idol worship center at his home, bitter and complaining that God, if He ever did do any miraculous things, certainly doesn’t now, isn’t with them, and has abandoned them to these Midianites.

Can we see anything in this that applies to us? Any similarities in the way God deals with us as His family? Ever been a father? Ever had to discipline your kids? Did you ever wish your kids would realize that you had their well-being in mind when you instructed them? Do you ever blame God for your circumstances? Here are a few things that come to mind from this account:

In Israel’s hopeless condition, when they cried out to God, even while some were still worshiping idols, God reached out to deliver. He did this for His own Name's sake and out of love for them. God's dealing with Israel is instructive to us and serves as a reminder of His first loving us with a love so deep and profound that it culminated in His offering up His only Son for our sins when we had no hope or desire for Him:

“ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8 NIV. See also Ephesians 2:11-12)

When the Angel of the Lord hailed Gideon as a “mighty warrior” He was not being sarcastic, but knew what Gideon was to become in a few days. This was actually an encouragement. Our paths can be radically altered by trusting in God, especially in the midst of fears and doubts.

It is easy to blame God when bad things happen, especially if we are in a condition where He is somewhere near the bottom of our “to-do” list rather than in the preeminent position He deserves. This way we don’t have to face our own condition before a Holy God and deal with the question of whether or not the source of the problem lies within us.

We are going to see that contrary to the way things seemed to Gideon, God was acting for His own Name's sake and out of love for His people and had not abandoned them. We will see Him patiently working with Gideon, a cynical, skeptical, fearful man to radically change his life. The result would be the emergence of a fearless trust in God and the deliverance of an entire nation.

-Surefoot

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF GIDEON: PART 2

Setting the Stage

It had been nearly two hundred years of cycles of idolatry, oppression by neighboring enemies and God's deliverance, followed by times of peace. God accomplished these times of deliverance through four judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar and Deborah.

Then, Israel again left off serving the Lord and "did evil in the eyes of the Lord" (Judges 6:1) and was now being savagely oppressed by the Midianites. The Midianites, descendants of Abraham through his second wife Keturah (Genesis 25) had been almost completely destroyed by Israel while the nation was still wandering in the desert. Undoubtedly, the Midianites had not forgotten even after two hundred years.

The biblical account (Judges 6: 1-6) tells that raiders from Midian in alliance with Amalekite raiders (Exodus 17: 8) and other eastern peoples, would enter the territory after the crops had been planted specifically to ravage the land; to ruin the crops and destroy all the livestock, not leaving anything for the Israelites to use for food.

"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." (Judges 6: 4-5, NIV)"

Once rich from the produce of the land God had blessed them with, they were now reduced to severe poverty. The wealth they had gladly accepted from God (while refusing to acknowledge and worship the source of those blessings) was now, over a period of seven years, being utterly destroyed by those whom God had originally intended to dispossess. Midian sent Israel into such poverty that the Israelites finally (it took seven years of this?) cried out to the Lord for help. So God sent them a prophet to explain the situation.

"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, NIV).

"I said.....but you have not listened to me." We can bring many sorrows on ourselves by not obeying what God has said in His Word. We can find many instructions in His word to guide us in our everyday lives, but the foremost, on which all others depend, is to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. (Mark 12: 28-34 and Matthew 22: 36-40) The Israelites were demonstrating their lack of love for God by casting their cares as well as their sacrifices on the altars of idols. We can do the same.

Even as christians, we can sometimes delude ourselves into thinking that we are doing what God wants. We work hard, we persevere, we do not tolerate wickedness, we are so knowledgeable about doctrine that we can immediately spot a fake, and even endure hardship for the name of Christ. These are good things, but, if they don't spring from our Love of Him, we have fallen from the high ground. Take a look at Revelation 2:1-5:

1"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."

Our Love for Him comes first; the rest follows. Let's get our focus where it belongs. Love Him. And yet, it's critical that we realize that even our love for God originates with Him, and is a result of His first loving us:

"This is love: not that we loved God, but he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4: 10, NIV)

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Image, Baal Ugarit_Louvre (2006)

LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF GIDEON: PART 1

"Where Am I and How Did I Get in this Hand Basket?

Israel had served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Moses’ servant, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, the General of the armies of Israel. After that entire generation had died, a most amazing thing happened: the Bible says that the next generation after Joshua died grew up with NO knowledge of the LORD or anything He had done for Israel (Judges 2:10).

How is this possible? How, in only one generation (think of the lifetime of your father) could all knowledge of God and his great miracles in Egypt and the Red Sea and Jericho be completely forgotten? The answer is simple and sobering: they didn’t listen to God’s command to teach their children the things of God (Deuteronomy 6:1-20; e.g. v4-7, NIV).

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Wouldn’t it have been a simple thing to tell their kids about the great God, the LORD, and teach them His commands? Yes, but the things of God were not on their hearts; they became preoccupied. The Jewish historian Josephus put it this way:

After this, the Israelites grew effeminate as to fighting any more against their enemies, but applied themselves to the cultivation of the land, which producing them great plenty and riches, they neglected the regular disposition of their settlement, and indulged themselves in luxury and pleasures; nor were they any longer careful to hear the laws that belonged to their political government: whereupon God was provoked to anger, (Antiquities, Book 5, Chapter 2).

As a result of not being taught by their parents about God, that generation began to worship the only gods they knew anything about, the ones served by and talked about by the people that were still in the land that God had intended for them to dispossess. God was angry with the Israelites because of this and actually fought against them when their enemies attacked.

The object lesson for Christian families today should be obvious. The LORD must be mentioned and discussed in our homes with our children; the stories of His miraculous works told and re-told; his Law, accounts of His intervention and involvement in our own lives and the assurance of His love for us in Christ Jesus recognized, lived out and taught daily. -surefoot

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved