Judges 9: A Man Killed by a Millstone by a Woman

“Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” ‭‭James‬ ‭1:15‬ ‭NASB‬‬

The verse above would be very suitable for this strange chapter. The chapter had no judge and no external enemy. The name of the LORD God was mentioned only once to state the wickedness was properly paid (Judges 9:56). Abimelech, who was Gideon’s lustful legacy, created a series of chaotic events, which included many city-level strife within Israel that began and ended in vanity.

Content Summary

Gideon passed away, and Abimelech was one of his sons from a concubine. Abimelech came back to Ophrah with reckless and worthless fellows to murder almost all seventy sons of Gideon.

While Abimelech was ruling over Israel for three years, a civil war broke out between the men of Shechem, who became discontent with Abimelech’s rule, and Abimelech. Abimelech defeated the insurgents in Shechem, destroyed the tower of Shechem, and captured Thebez. When he walked near to the tower in the center of Thebez, however, he was hit by a millstone thrown by a certain woman and died. Thus, God paid the wickedness of Abimelech.

Escalation of Sin

Gideon took a concubine from Shechem (Judges 8:31), an action that opposed the command of God on kings (Deuteronomy 17:17). Lust was conceived in Gideon’s heart, and the result was Abmelech. Not being content with his current status as an outsider despite being one of Gideon’s sons, Abimelech came back to Ophrah with many worthless and reckless fellows, financed by an idol temple of Baal-berith (Judges 9:4), to slaughter all the rest Gideon’s seventy sons. The word of God through James, “when lust has conceived… when sin is accomplished, it brings death (James 1:15)” literally took place in the household of Gideon with the Abimelech’s killing of the seventy sons.

Incompetence of Seventy Sons

In some perspectives, Abimelech’s killing of seventy sons of Gideon was extraordinary. On one hand, Abimelech must have hired very competent worthless and reckless fellows to implement a quick, efficient murdering of the seventy sons (Judges 9:5). On the other hand, this event also portrayed a collective incompetence of the seventy sons of Gideon who remained in Ophrah. How can all the seventy sons be killed by one son of concubine?

Perhaps, those seventy sons were pampered under Gideon’s “care,” growing up feeble and willy-nilly, not knowing how to defend themselves. Back in Judges 3, God left other nations in order for the new generation of Israelites to learn how to engage in warfares (Judges 3:2). Being able to fight both physically and spiritually was quintessential. Because they were unprepared, when a single man, Abimelech came with a murderous intent, they all paid the ultimate price with their lives.

Meaningless, Meaningless, and Meaningless.

With seventy sons of Gideon dead, Abimelech was the ruler. During Abimelech’s three-year reign, however, the men of Shechem started to deal treacherously with him. Abimelech mobilized, ambushed, attacked and overpowered the insurgents led by Gaal in Shechem, and destroyed the tower of Shechem. Afterward, he camped against Thebez and captured the city. Abimelech’s force was unstoppable.

Then, when Abimelech approached the entrance of the tower in Thebez to fire it, an upper millstone thrown by an unnamed woman hit him to crush his skull (Judges 9:53). Because he did not want to be known to be the man killed by a woman, he hurriedly ordered his armor bearer to skill him – and the young man did. Ironically, because of this episode, we will forever remember Abimelech as the man slewed by a woman who threw a millstone.

The three-year reign came to an end with a millstone thrown by a certain woman.

The death of Abimelech was comical in some sense – and utterly meaningless.

Conclusion

The chapter vividly depicts the literal effect of lust in the long-term that spanned across two generations. Gideon took a concubine, and their son, Abimelech created much mess in Israel. Nothing in this chapter shows holiness that Israel was supposed to display as a nation called by God.

Lesson? Let’s guard our heart.

Judges 8: Absolute Power Corrupts

This chapter made me sad. Empowered by the Spirit of the LORD, Gideon indeed rose as a valiant warrior in Judges 7, pulling out a miraculous victory over the Midian army. In Judges 8, however, Gideon showed many alarming behaviors, such as taking personal revenge against small cities and building a ruling system which was no different from that under pagan kings.

This chapter somewhat reminded me of the Federalist Papers No. 50, which I had a chance to read when I was a graduate student. The country’s founding fathers, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, emphatically stated the danger of power concentration, therefore, arguing for establishing checks and balances system in the Constitution. Absolute power absolutely corrupts. Sadly, Gideon underwent this experience.

Summary

Gideon with 300 men continued to pursue fleeing Midianites. In his pursuit, he asked for food at Succoth and Penuel, two cities in the Gad tribe, but were rejected. Nonetheless, Gideon continued to pursue and captured Zebah and Zalmunna, two remaining leaders of the Midiantes, and routed the rest of the Midianites army. On his way back, Gideon revisited the two cities, Succoth and Penuel, to punish them severely by killing the men of the town and destroying their major tower. After Gideon killed Zebah and Zalmunna, two remaining heads of the Midianites, he was asked by the men of Israel to rule over them. During his reign, although Israel had 40 years of peace, he had many wives and nearly seventy sons, and the people of Israel played harlot with an ephod that Gideon made.

Gideon Servile to the Strong…

The men of Ephraim (one of the largest Israel tribes) came to Gideon in anger because he did not call them during the early stage of war against the Midianites. In response, Gideon mitigated their anger tactically by giving the tribe of Ephraim a key credit to the overall war (Judges 8:2-3). Therefore, the men of Ephraim subsided their anger.

Gideon’s tactical response can be viewed either positively or negatively. In a positive perspective, he genuinely gave a full credit to the Ephraim tribe for achieving key victory against the Midianites – indeed, Ephraim, although participated late in the war, played a key role in capturing the two first kings of the Midianites (Judges 7:24-25). In a negative perspective, he was subservient to the strongest tribe of Israel, just to avoid the escalation of altercation.

Gideon, but Harsh to the Weak…

Let’s see how Gideon responded to a weaker tribe of Israel. On his way in pursuing the remaining Midianite leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna, he stopped by two cities, Succoth and Penuel in the Gad tribe, asking for food for his weary men. The two cities rejected Gideon’s request, and Gideon responded harshly by promising for vengeance (Judges 8:7-9). When Gideon returned, after capturing the two Midian kings, he came back to the two cities to punish and kill them (Judges 8:16-17).

I would like to note two observations.

First, Gideon’s harsh response and actions to the two cities in the Gad tribes point to two contradictions within the condition of his heart. On one hand, he showed a full trust in God what God would achieve in his statement, “when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna” into his hand (Judges 8:7). On the other hand, however, he fully vented his anger by killing the men of Succoth and Penuel. This is ironic.

Second, we see little unity among the Israel tribes – even when facing a common external enemy. Succoth and Penuel choose not to offer any help to Gideon and 300 men when they were pursuing the Midianites, the common external enemy. The division and mistrust still seemed to linger between the Israel tribes on the west and east side of the Jordan River (Joshua 22 depicts this condition as well). Even though Israel was called to represent the Kingdom of God, the book of Judges showed a fragile national unity.

Gideon, the Ruler like a Pagan King

After defeating the Midianites, Gideon was asked by the men of Israel to rule over them (Judges 8:22). Notice that the men of Israel failed to perceive that the true source of victory was God the LORD. All they could see was a human, Gideon, who delivered them out of the enemies.

Gideon responded correctly, but failed to live up to his response. Gideon said to them that “the Lord shall rule over you (Judges 8:23),” but he collected a large sum of money (Judges 8:26) and made an ephod, which was supposed to belong to only the Levitical priests. The ephod eventually became a troubling source of Israel’s idol worship. In addition, just like a pagan king, Gideon had many wives and nearly seventy sons (Judges 8:30-31).

He failed to live up to his statement, “the Lord shall rule over you.”

Gideon, Still Man of Faith?

Let’s jump to the New Testament, specifically the book of Hebrews. Gideon was one of those men of faith (Hebrews 11:32), and this designation still puzzles me.

However, it reminded me that God’s perspective and our perspectives can differ significantly. God still saw the good that Gideon had done to Israel despite his flaws and mistakes (Judges 8:35).

This chapter was a sad one because we saw a man who had fallen from his peak. However, still God designated him as one of the men of faith.

Something more for us to ponder the meaning of faith.

Use of Noun-led and Verb-led Sentences to Give Life

Please read the two sentences, which share identical meaning, in the two bullets below. For lack of terminology, let’s say that Sentence A is a noun-led statement. Sentence B is a verb-led statement.

Sentence A (noun-led): Mr. Smith is a murderer.
Sentence B (verb-led): Mr. Smith killed someone.

How did you react/response to these two sentences? What were your initial thoughts on Mr. Smith based on Sentence A and Sentence B? Are they similar, or different? If they are different, why do you think they are different?

To Sentence A, people tend to react with judgement. People tend to judge early and decisively that Mr. Smith was a bad person, a person to be deservedly sentenced to many years in prison. To Sentence B, however, people’s reaction was different. People were more curious than judging. They wondered why Mr. Smith killed someone. Although identical in meaning, the verb-led statement seems to evoke different reactions from the noun-led sentence. This is one of the insights shared by Professor Kim, a psychology professor in Ajou University in South Korea.

How God uses noun-led and verb-led statements

His short lecture gave me an “aha!” moment and a new insight on how God perceives and evaluates His people despite their flaws and failures.

Here are a few examples of how the Bible uses the noun-led statements.

Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3).
God labeled David, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).
Gideon was a valiant warrior (Judges 6:12).
Jephthah was a valiant warrior (Judges 11:1)
Jesus designated Peter as the rock upon which He will build His church (Matt 16:18)

Notice that these are noun-led statements and all highlight good positive aspects of that person. For positive qualities, God uses the noun-led statements for people to make a quick, decisive judgement on their goodness.

In contrast, we have never seen these statements in the Bible, although they are true.

Moses was a murderer (Exodus 2:12).
David was an adulterer and murderer (2 Samuel 11).
Gideon was a corrupt king (Judges 8).
Peter was a betrayer of Jesus (Luke 22:54-62).

Instead, the Bible uses verb-led sentences to describe the flaws and failures of these men of God, but never makes a decisive noun-led claim on their negative aspects. For Moses, the Bible describes why Moses killed the person (not to justify). For David, the Bible narrates David’s act of committing adultery with Bathsheba and of craftily killing Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, in the battle field – this allows the readers to wonder, question, and learn, instead of making a premature condemnation. The Bible also depicts the situation in which Peter denied Jesus three times, but never labeled Peter as a betrayer – so that we can read and meditate on the shortcomings of Peter, and reflect our limitations and flaws to focus more on the grace of Jesus Christ.

In summary, God labels great quality of His people by noun-led statements. For flaws and failures of His people, God narrates those events in verb-led statements for the readers to meditate, ponder and learn both the depravity of people and loving-kindness of God.

How do you use noun-led and verb-led statements?

I pray that you will use them in an apt manner as God did to His people. You will shine like stars in the sky in this crooked generation (Phil 2:15).

Judges 6-7 Part 2: God turned Weakness into Strength

Have you experienced an event or time when what you considered your weaknesses turned out to be a key strength? Even after numerous direct confirmations provided by God, Gideon was hesitant to take the lead to fight against the Midianites. However, his deliberate, careful personality played a key role in the later part of war against the Midianites.

Gideon: The History Maker at Night

Many of the important events that transformed Gideon took place at night.

First, he took ten men to demolish the altar of Baal at night. Although his did this at night because because he feared other poeple who served Baal, he still obeyed the LORD (Judges 6:27). Second, God soaked and dried fleece at Gideon’s request over the night (Judges 6:36-40). Gideon was in a desperate need of God’s confirmation before going against the Midianites, and God responded to his request by showing the soaked and dried fleece over the night. Third, when Gideon led 300 men to cause a great confusion by the sound of trumpets and breaking of jars to the Midianite camps, it happened at night (Judges 7:16-21). This night was the harbinger of Gideon’s colossal victory over 135,000 Midianites.

God’s Delicate Walk with Gideon

From chapter 6 and 7, we see how God walked very delicately to build up Gideon’s trust in Him. Gideon was a very careful man who was in absolute need of certainty. However, God fully made the most of Gideon’s character and customized God’s lead over Gideon based on his character. In fact, Gideon’s deliberate, careful personality turned out to be his strength later in the battle. Let’s go over how the LORD God led Gideon in his pace to confirm numerous times that the LORD would give him victory over the Midianites.

The LORD sent his angel to Gideon to tell him that the LORD was with him (Judges 6:12, 14, and 16)
God confirmed that He would deliver Israel through Gideon by providing clear signs of fully soaking fleece and fully drying fleece (6:36-30)
The LORD confirmed that he would give the Midianites into Gideon’s hands with 300 men (Judges 7:7)
The LORD gave courage to Gideon that He would give the Midiniates into Gideon’s hands and told him to go down to their camp with his servant Purah (Judges 7:9)
The LORD allowed Gideon to hear the dream by a Midianite soldier that Gideon would turn the Midian camp upside down (Judges 7:13-14)

After these confirmations, Gideon in his own volition, finally, responded in worshipping God (Judges 7:15). It took at least five strong confirmation by the LORD for Gideon to soak in God’s promise of delivering the Midianites into Gideon’s hands. This whole process showed the patience of God and God’s willingness to work through Gideon’s weaknesses and hesitation.

Similarities between War with the Midianites and War with Jericho

There are some similarities between the conquest of Jericho by Joshua and the war with the Midinites by Gideon. The first element is the source of final courage from the enemy side. When Joshua sent two spies to Jericho, it was confirmed that the entire Canaanites were in fear of the Israelites as Rahab said. The extra morale boost came from the word of Rahab, an inhabitant of Jericho. Similarly, Gideon’s final courage was mustered when he personally heard the dream interpretation by the Midianites solider that Gideon would turn the Midianites camp upside down. The LORD used unexpected sources to confirm His deliverance and injected extra doses of courage to the Israelites leaders: Joshua and Gideon.

The second similarities between the two are the use of sound wave to defeat the enemies. Joshua’s Israel used the shouting to collapse the wall of Jericho. Gideon used the crashing sound of empty jars and sound of trumpet to instill confusion to the enemies into killing themselves.

What’s notable is how Gideon come up with this idea of confusing enemies by the sound of trumpet and breaking empty jars. God never gave this specific instruction, yet Gideon used this tactic. Was Gideon reminded of what Joshua did in his battle with Jericho? We do not know for sure, but it remains a possibility.

Swiftness of the Overall Process

Note the timeline of this entire process. The assembling of the armies took place in the morning, and the reduction of the army down to 1/100th of its original size probably happened over the next few hours. At that same night, Gideon and 300 men confused the enemy into harming each other and they started to flee. Gideon and 300 men started to pursue them.

Most of the important actions, events and turning points all took place within 24 hours. When God decided to deliver His people, His action was certainly very swift.

Why did God chose Gideon?

God was the ultimate source for Gideon’s victory. However, we can still learn a few important lessons from Gideon’s actions, especially what he did after the Midianites started to flee from the initial “sound” attack that caused confusion.

He seemed to be a man of meticulous planning, in which his military prowess shined. When the Midianites started to flee, he quickly assembled people from Naphthali, Asher, and Manasseh, probably knowing that 300 men would not be enough to finish them off (Judges 7:23). In addition, he quickly sent a message to the men of Ephraim to position themselves in strategic locations near the Jordan River to cut off the escape route of the Midianites (Judges 7:24).

Gideon’s quick summoning of the rest of Israel prompted a question. When did he plan to assemble the rest of the Israelite tribes to attak the fleeing Midianites? Did Gideon come up with this plan after Midianites started to flee? Based on the character that Gideon displayed from chapter 6, I think Gideon formulated multiple scenarios and contingencies between day and night time (from verse Judges 7:8 and 7:9), after finalizing 300 men and before the same night when the LORD started to speak to him again. In this time gap, from afternoon to night, Gideon may have devised many scenarios in which God will deliver the Midianites, and possibly during this time, Gideon planned to assemble other Israelites tribes to finish the enemy off.

Conclusion

God walked with Gideon according to Gideon’s pace and trust level. God made the best of Gideon’s character of meticulousness, which seemed to shine at the later part of the war with the Midianites. Let’s find comfort in God who makes the best of our character and personality in accomplishing His great works.

Judges 6-7 Part 1: What is the Condition of Your Heart?

What is one of the traits that great men and women of history have? Although there are many, I think the ability to self-examine objectively is one of them. In order to examine oneself, the person needs to have the right condition of the heart. These chapters, Judges 6-7, teach, indirectly, about the importance of self-reflection – that is the heart open to accept rebuke and repent.

Condition of the Heart of the Israelites: Unresponsiveness

Chapter 6 begins with a familiar phrase in the book of Judges, “Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,” and the following response from the Israelites shows the alarming condition of their hearts.

Notable was the extent of the hardened heart of the Israelites as a nation in chapter 6. Back in chapter 2, when the LORD sent an angel from Gilgal to Bochim to rebuke the Israelites for their disobedience, the Israelites, at least, responded in some form. They reacted by lifting up their voices, weeping, and sacrificing offerings to the LORD (Judges 2:4-5) – even though their actions did not turn out to be genuine repentance. In chapter 6, God sent a prophet to rebuke the sons of Israel with a very similar message with that in chapter 2 that they had not obeyed the LORD despite His extraordinary deliverance of them from Egypt (Judges 6:7-10). However, in chapter 6, the Israelites showed no response whatsoever to the rebuke by the prophet even when they were severely oppressed by the Midianites. Despite having experienced God’s deliverance by Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak, from chapter 2 to chapter 5, the Israelites hardened their hearts and became totally unresponsive to the Word and rebuke of God.

Condition of the Heart of the Israelites: Blame Shift

Despite unresponsiveness of the Israelites, God did not give up on them. He sent his angel to someone who would, at least, respond – and that was Gideon in Ophrah (Judges 6:11). The conversation between the angel of the LORD and Gideon reveals deeper issues within the heart of Israel (Judges 6:12-13). The angel of the LORD told Gideon that the LORD was with him (6:12). Then, Gideon responded this way:

13 Then Gideon said to him,
“O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?
And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying,
‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’
But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Judges 6:13 NASB

Here are four deeper issues within the heart of Israel that can be inferred from Gideon’s response.

First, Gideon’s response showed his incomplete understanding of the meaning of “the LORD being with us.” He assumed that the oppression of Israel by the Midianites was the sign of the LORD’s absence. The LORD God was not absent. That He sent His prophet (Judges 6:8-10) was a sign of the presence of God. That the angel of the LORD visiting Gideon was the sign of the LORD’s being with Israel (Judges 6:12). The outcome of the Israelites’ current condition being brought very low under the Midianites (Judges 6:6) was due to Israel’s collective sin, not the LORD’s absence. Gideon’s answer to the angel implicitly accuses the LORD for Israel’s misery.

Second, the LORD being with Israel does not always equate to prosperity. Detueronomy 28, Moses’ last public message to Israelite before crossing the Jordan Driver, clearly stated that Israel’s deliberate disobedience would result in tragic outcomes that were similar to what the Midianites did to Israel. Gideon clearly forgot about other parts of God’s promises. The promises of curses were still the promises of the LORD. When sins were committed, the LORD allowed curses and other difficult trials to bring suffering to the lives of His people – that was still the sign of the LORD’s presence with His people. Blessings and cursings both were packaged into God’s Word declared by Moses – clearly in Deuteronomy. We are not to cherry pick the Word of God that sounds good in our ears.

Third, Gideon’s response showed the overall condition of the heart of the Israelites that was prone to a “blame shift.” Gideon’s response “if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” showed a tinge of resentment. His response may be an overall attitude of the Israelites, who did not at all respond to the rebuke by the prophet (Judges 6:8-10) right before. In other words, the Israelites, whether consciously or unconsciously, resented the LORD their God for their misery. If they had a soft heart, they would examine their heart first and mourn. Jesus said that the blessed were those who were poor in spirit and those who mourn – these conditions reflect the soft condition of the heart that mourns over their sins. On the other hand, the Israelites demonstrated a hardened heart that shifted blame to the LORD for their misery instead of their evil act. Gideon’s response in 6:13 reflected the overall condition of the Israelites’ heart although they were committing evil acts by serving Baal and Asherah.

The fourth lesson from Gideon’s response is that the knowledge of the LORD God is not enough to live a life worthy of representing the holiness of God. Here, I am using the word knowledge to merely represent the cognitive recognition of the events that the LORD had done and His character. Personal relation with the LORD and wholeheartedly following the LORD, as Caleb did (Joshua 14:14), are required for a complete transformation. Gideon’s response showed that Israel knew well that the LORD brought their forefathers out of Egypt in a miraculous way (Judges 6:13). Although this seemed to be a common knowledge in the nation, knowing these did not transform Israel into serving and following the LORD. Nor did that knowledge empower Gideon to live out a life worthy of being called a man of God – as his household had an altar of Baal (Judges 6:25).

Many lessons can be learned from Gideon’s response from the answer. We must examine the condition of our heart. We must examine whether we are shifting blame to someone else, including God. We must examine whether the knowledge of God is transforming into a life of serving and following the LORD

Internal Battle must be Won Before Engaging in External battle

Back in Judges 3, God tested the Israelites internally and externally. Internally, God tested the condition of the heart of the Israelites to see if they would serve the LORD. Externally, God wanted Israelites to train to be able to battle against the surrounding nations. When God raised Gideon in Judges 6 and 7 to deliver Israel from Midian, Gideon underwent these two tests.

Before empowering Gideon to fight against the Midianites, the external enemy, God made Gideon undergo the test to examine the condition of his heart. This internal test was the first step of pulling down the altar of Baal, which belonged to his father (Judges 6:25). The test had three parts: 1) destroy; 2) rebuild; and 3) dedicate. Destroy the idols of Baal and Asherah by pulling down their altars, followed by building an altar to the LORD in an orderly manner. Then, offer a burnt offering. Gideon had to gather his courage and did this at night. His identity changed from Gideon to Jerubbaal (“Let Baal contend against him”).

After undergoing this internal transformation, then God poured His spirit on Gideon to summon people from Naphtali, Asher and Zebulun (Judges 6:34). In this external test, God wanted to see the obedience of Gideon. The initially summoned army of 32,000 was dwindled to 300 men. Although witnessing the army size down to 1/100th of the original size must have been a frightening experience (Judges 7:1-7), Gideon fully obeyed and did as the LORD told him. God used 300 men with Gideon to cause a great confusion into the enemy, and God delivered them into the hand of Gideon (Judges 7:17-22).

Gideon underwent both internal and external tests posed by the LORD God. Internally, he demolished the idol, built the altar to God, and dedicated himself to Him. Externally, against a vast army of Midianites, despite being fearful and hesitant from time to time, Gideon placed his trust in the LORD to pull out a miraculous victory.

Conclusion

This concludes the first part of Judges 6 and 7. Although the book of Judges mostly depicts the shortcomings of Israel, many great lessons are embedded. This post focused on the condition of the heart, and internal/external battles. I hope the post will motivate us to examine the conditions of our heart and identify wisely our internal and external battles and engage them according to God’s principle.