Tag: Judges 6

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.