STUDY THEME: COURAGE TO STAND FOR GOD. 3-14-04.
“OPPOSING FALSE BELIEFS” JUDGES 6: 7-10, 12-14, 25-32.
JUDGES 6: 1, 7-10, 12-14, 25-26, 27-30, 31-32.
The book of Judges begins in 1:1 with the phrase, “After the death of Joshua,” and ends with 21:25, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” Those two references form the backdrop to one of the darkest, most difficult periods in Israelite history.
Israel obeyed God while Joshua and the elders of his generation lived, but following their deaths the Israelites began to disobey God and worship the Canaanite gods. God punished Israel by allowing enemies to plunder them. When Israel called out for salvation, God sent a judge to save His people. While the judge lived, Israel served God; but when the judge died, Israel turned to other gods. God decided to leave the Sea People, Arameans, and Canaanites to test whether Israel would obey consistently.
Throughout the time of the judges, the cycle of rebellion, punishment, cry for help, salvation, and rebellion continued. Whenever the Israelites cried out for deliverance, God sent a judge to rescue them. God’s faithfulness stood in stark contrast to Israel’s unfaithfulness.
Israel had no central government, no capital, no bureaucracy, and no judicial, and religious leadership for dealing with crises, yet Israel was bound together by a common ancestery, history, and faith. The judges, including Deborah, served more as deliverers than as legal experts.
The time of the judges offers at least four contributions to our understanding of Israel’s history and God’s involvement with His people. First, Israel’s constant disobedience continued the pattern found in the wilderness wonderings that eventually led to Israel’s destruction and exile.
Second, the Book bears witness to God’s continuing plan to empower humans to accomplish His will. As God had given His Spirit to Moses and Joshua, He gave His Spirit to the judges, to Saul and David and to all Christians.
Third, the Book clearly demonstrates Israel’s need for a leader—such as a king, just as many nations do today. Israel needed to recognize the ultimate sovereignty of God and needed a central government to bring order, foster cooperation, and deal with needs.
Finally, the Book of Judges testifies to God’s amazing and steadfast love for His people. As God loved Israel and delivered them time and again and again despite their constant wavering faith, so He loves us today. In the darkness of the time of the judges, the light of God’s love shone through.
We live in a day in which it is politically correct to tolerate almost everything! But the Bible clearly teaches that God’s people are to oppose false religions, not because we are bigots but because we want to stand for the truth.
Today’s lesson studies the life of Gideon. Many may remember him as the one who won a great military victory with only a few hundred men but there is something else that is very important that Gideon did. He destroyed the idols and did away with the idolatry of his people. False religion dishonors God and needs to be exposed for what it is—the enemy of God and the enemy of people.
Today’s lesson is designed to help us live in loyalty to the one true God and challenge false gods. So we study Gideon, another courageous soldier for God, who fought a different kind of war from Barak and Deborah and on a different kind of battlefield. We all today face a similar battlefield.
TEACHER READ JUDGES 6: 1.
In last week’s lesson we read about how the Israelites had turned their hearts away from the Lord so He allowed Jabin to rule over them for 20 years. Then the Lord mercifully used Deborah and Barak to defeat Jabin, Sisera, and the army of the
Canaanites. In this Week’s lesson we find that the Israelites again turned from God and began worshiping idols. God allowed another nation to conquer them, this time Midian. When their situation became oppressive, the Israelites once again cried out to the Lord. And once again He empowered one of his own, an unlikely young man named Gideon, to destroy the idols and call His people back to Himself.
For 40 years after the ministry of Deborah, the Israelites enjoyed rest from their enemies. The term Israelites refers to all of the tribes of Israel. Before recording anything about Gideon, the author of Judges pointed out the reason for Israel’s oppression by the Midianites. They did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Judges 17:6 says that everyone in Israel did right in their own eyes. However, some of the things they called right were wrong. The consequence was that God’s judgment fell upon the Israelites. He handed them over into the hands of Midian for seven years.
The Midianites were nomads from the region east and southeast of the Dead Sea. They roamed the country, seeking grazing for their animals. These wandering herdsmen had been dealt a severe blow in Moses time (Num. 31:1-31) and still resented the Israelites. Finding Israel too weak to defend themselves, the Midianites plundered Israel.
The Midianites were probably too small in number to plunder Israel alone. So they joined with the Amalekites and other Eastern peoples and rode their camels all across Israel. Camping in various rich agricultural places, the Midianites grazed their livestock and stole sheep, oxen, and donkeys from the Israelites. They also plundered homes. Their numbers were so great that the Israelites had difficulty defending themselves. In fact, the Israelites fled to the hills and hid in the many caves that dotted the limestone hillsides. The discipline of the Lord is never pleasant, but it is inevitable when his people continue in sin.
For seven years the people of God hid themselves in caves because of fear and had their crops destroyed and livestock pillaged by the enemy. For seven consecutive harvest seasons, these desert raiders swept into Israel’s fertile agricultural areas, bringing with them their tents and families to set up permanent dwellings until all the produce and livestock were consumed. As a result, God’s people dwelled in conditions of poverty and starvation.
PLEASE READ JUDGES 6: 7-10.
The Israelites, suffering from hunger, finally came to their senses enough to cry out to God to free them from the Midianites. Israel’s problem was not the Midianites but the people of Israel themselves. Before God sent a deliverer from the enemy, He sent a Prophet to turn Israel back to the Lord.
Two questions arise at this point. First, why did it take the people seven years to realize their sins and return to the Lord? Second, when God sent them a prophet, did they say to themselves, “A prophet? We didn‘t ask for a prophet! We asked for help—for deliverance and food and to have our homes back.”
But God sent them what they needed. Their physical condition was due to their spiritual condition. They first had to repent of their sins and turn back to the Lord before they would enjoy relief from their difficult circumstances.
Because of the seeds of sin they had sowed, they reaped a harvest of negative consequences.
The unnamed prophet reminded the people that their God was the one true God---He is the Lord Jehovah, God of Israel. How could they forget His faithfulness in generations past? He delivered them from Egypt and centuries of slavery.
Speaking for God and using the first person pronoun (as if God Him self were speaking in person), the prophet reminded the people of what the Lord had done for them. He brought the Israelites up from Egypt by delivering them out of their slavery to the Egyptians. He also delivered Israel from the hand of all who fought against them and oppressed them as they journeyed to Canaan. Through Joshua, God drove out the Canaanites and gave the Israelites the land.
Vs. 10 is the crux of the prophet’s message. The Israelites had flagrantly disregarded the Lord’s admonition in Deut. 8. He warned them that after He had given them a land flowing with milk and honey and they began to prosper, they would forget Him and worship the heathen gods of the nations surrounding them. God’s prediction could not have been more accurate!
Though we don’t know his name, this faithful prophet of the Lord confronted the Israelites with their false beliefs and idolatry. All of us confront false beliefs in many different forms. For some it is the workplace; for others it is the social arena. Some even confront false beliefs in the confines of their own homes. As Christians, we all have the responsibility to challenge those false beliefs and to point people to the true God.
After giving each of the twelve tribes a portion of the Promised Land, the Lord reminded them of His covenant with them and His plans for them. God said, “I am the Lord your God.” The Lord God chose Israel to be His servant-people, and He pledged to be their God. He wanted His people to not fear or worship even one of the gods that were in the land of the Amorites. Canaan had many gods. But Israel did not listen. They should have lived in grateful obedience for all God did for them. But they did not obey the Lord. The Israelites ignored His commands and did what they wanted to do. They worshipped the idol gods Baal and Asherah. In spite of repeated periods of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance, God’s people kept on in turning to idol worship.
Through the prophet, God confronted Israel for believing in idols and worshipping them. He calls believers today to confront those who hold false beliefs and worship false gods. Some of today’s gods are money, prestige, pleasure, or earthly power. Not many people will confront these modern false gods if God’s spiritual leaders do not do it.
We might join with others or we might have to stand alone against some false beliefs. Since false beliefs lead to defeat and destruction, we must love others enough to confront them about their false beliefs and seek to turn them to the lord. Jesus expects us to confront others in the spirit of love.
We need to remember who we are and whose we are. We need to recognize the false beliefs and false gods of today. We should guard against being seduced into following one of these. They promise freedom and the good life, but they lead to slavery and death.
PLEASE READ JUDGES 6: 12-14.
After speaking through the prophet to prepare the people’s hearts for their deliverer, the Angel of the Lord appeared to a young man named Gideon. Who was the Angel of the Lord? The Hebrew word for angel means messenger. This messenger apparently took human form, for he “sat under an oak” while Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. This also indicates a small amount of grain to be threshed.
Then the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him and spoke to him. His message was in the third person: “The Lord is with thee.” Later in the conversation, the Lord spoke to Gideon and used the first person: Have not I sent thee? This is one of the several O.T. passages where the Angel of the Lord and the Lord are used interchangeably. Many Christians believe that the best explanation is that the Angel of the Lord is the second person of the Godhead, who became flesh in Jesus Christ. He is identified in vs. 16 as the Lord or Yahweh.
God found Gideon doing what all the other Israelites were doing---hiding from the Midianites and threshing his wheat in an abandoned wine vat so he would not be detected by the enemy. Threshing floors usually stood at the top of a hill so the wind could carry away the chaff. But this wine vat was at the foot of a hill, probably surrounded by other hills so the rising dust clouds would not attract the Midianite raiders.
“The Lord is with thee” is a promise often used in the Bible of the greatest reason for faith and courage and the best guard against doubt and fear. The Lord is with His people in the darkest times, even when they are unaware of His presence, as was the case with Gideon. Gideon’s response is seen in vs. 13. At that moment Gideon seemed anything but a mighty man of valor or a valiant warrior. The Lord was speaking of the potential He saw in Gideon. Fortunately, God sees us not only as we are but also as we can become.
With that introduction, Gideon takes center stage in this chapter of biblical history. For the Lord to call him a mighty warrior at this point may sound like mockery, but it really is an anticipation of what Gideon would become as God helped him replace fear with faith.
Gideon’s response to this greeting took the form of questions and a conclusion. At this point, Gideon was unaware that the stranger was the angel of the Lord. The words, Oh my Lord is a word for Lord that is not a title for God. It can be translated “sir.” Only later did Gideon realize he had been talking with an angel of the Lord. Since Gideon knew that no man could see God and live, he had to be assured that he would not die (vv. 22-23). If Gideon had known who was speaking to him, perhaps he would not have asked his questions in vs. 13.
If the Lord is with us, why then is all this befallen us? In this case, the prophet already had told why the Israelites were suffering. They had forsaken God and turned to other gods. C.S. Lewis is one who recognized that the only people who seriously grapple with the “why” question assume a powerful, loving God. Those who do not believe in such a God should not be surprised if life makes no sense. “If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning:” just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.
Here is a question we hear often today. “Is the Lord with people who have suffered so much?” Many assume that suffering is an indication that God has forsaken them. But the opposite may very well be true. Such distress may in fact be God’s gracious way of getting people’s attention and turning them from evil. I am not implying that all suffering is caused by personal sin. The example of Paul in the N.T. is clear proof that God sometimes allows hardship to lovingly conform us into the image of Christ. But sometimes God uses difficult and extreme circumstances to help us see our sins as He does.
Gideon’ doubt and fear continued. “Where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about?” They said, “Has not the Lord brought us up from Egypt?” Gideon wondered. He knew the old stories about God’s deliverance from Egypt and His care for them in the wilderness. But had he forgotten the more recent events of Ch. 4? The implication seems to be “Yes, but what has God done for us lately?”
How like Gideon we are! As long as God is operating on our agendas and in keeping with our schedules, we follow Him. But how do we respond when difficulties come?
Of course, the Lord had not abandoned or cast-off the Israelites at all. They had abandoned Him, and they had to learn that lesson the hard way—again. Gideon did like many people do today: they blame the Lord for the trouble they bring on themselves.
In vs. 14, notice the Lord did not argue with Gideon. God did not defend His reputation. He simply took Gideon where he was---doubts and fears and all---and commissioned him. Jesus did the same with Simon Peter when he had denied the Lord three times. In John 21 Jesus appeared to some disciples after His resurrection, and Peter was with them. Jesus did not criticize or belittle Peter. He simply reassured Peter where he was and eventually used him in a great way.
The Lord spoke to Gideon in vs. 14. His response is important because of what He did not say and what He did say. He did not rebuke Gideon for expressing his doubts and questions. The Lord hears such words as prayers if the person is sincere. One of the marks of Bible prayers is their frankness. People of faith asked God some hard questions. He did not always answer the questions, but He did not punish people who expressed to Him their honest doubts and questions.
Notice what God did say to Gideon. First, the Lord combined a call with a promise. “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.” The meaning of the words thy might is quite ambiguous. On the one hand, if the divine messenger is looking at Gideon from the perspective of the end of the story, that is Gideon’s conduct in Ch. 8, he may be referring to the man’s natural power with which God will invest him as he commissions him. Later the enduement with divine power will be expressed more graphically as “being clothed with the Spirit of the Lord”(vs. 34).
This call sheds light on the greeting of vs.12. God for the first time said that He was calling Gideon to be the human instrument of God’s deliverance. The distressed people had cried out to the Lord. Gideon was a key part of God’s answer to their prayer. Anticipating Gideon’s objections, God said, Have not I sent thee.?
Gideon followed in the footsteps of Moses by offering excuses. He asked for a sign that the One speaking to him spoke the truth. After the angel of the Lord gave an impressive sign, Gideon was at first afraid when he fully realized he had seen he angel of he Lord. Then after the Lord told him to fear not, Gideon built an altar to the Lord.
The practical application for us from this passage is that God will use us in a mighty way if we commit to oppose false beliefs and live for Christ. More and more deceptive trends are creeping into our lives, families, and churches. Open, obvious idolatry is fairly easy to denounce. The false beliefs and practices of cults can be combated if we know what we believe and why. But other devious and dangerous ideas are at work in our midst, and they must be resisted just as fiercely.
These ideas can be called Christian relativism and pragmatism. We often encounter people who believe in Jesus and His Word, but their reasoning goes something like this: Oh yes, I am a Christian and I love Jesus. And I know His Word says what I am doing is wrong, but… Or, “I believe the Bible is great for some areas of faith, but you can’t expect to live by it in today’s culture.” Such ideas constantly bombard the minds of our people every day through television, the secular press, the entertainment industry, and so on. We must decide if God is still God and if His Word is still true. If so, then ours is the task of both telling and modeling what it means to live in loyalty to God and His eternal Truth. This is not an easy task, and it is becoming harder and harder. But remember, in a day when people are doing what is right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25), Christians have wonderful opportunities to show unbelievers that there are absolute truths to which they can anchor their lives.
PLEASE READ JUDGES 6: 25-26.
Gideon’s experience in secret in the wine vat must now express itself in public. He was called to stand boldly for God by doing a very courageous thing. His father’s young bull was likely a sacrifice his father had planned to make to the false gods of the Midianites, as was another bull seven years old. Joash (his father) had planned to offer his best to the false gods. Gideon’s father should have known better. His name means “the Lord has given,” but here he was giving his best to a god who is no god at all. He had erected a family altar to Baal, the chief god of the Canaanites, and he had set up a place to worship Asherah beside it.
Gideon’s first step in deliverance started at home----perhaps the hardest place of all to stand for God. Gideon had to get his own house in order and tear down the places of idolatry that his father had erected. Similarly, if reformation and revival are to take place in America, they must begin in our homes. But destroying the idols was just Gideon’s first step toward realizing the deliverance of God’s people.
The instruction in vs. 26 forms an important connection between the negative work we are sometimes called to do and the positive motivation behind it. Errors must be exposed so that the truth can be more clearly seen. Rev. 2:5 tells the church at Ephesus, who had left their first love, to “repent and do the works you did at first.” Putting away sin is the first step in revival. Returning to the true worship of God is the next. This is what Gideon did. After ridding his home of these idols, he offered the choice bull to the only One deserving our sacrifices: the Lord.
Gideon destroyed the pagan site and built an altar to the Lord in its place. He obeyed the instructions given by the Lord long ago regarding the burnt offering (see Lev. 1:1-17). The burnt offering signified both repentance and total, voluntary dedication to the Lord. Israel as a nation needed to repent of her idolatry and return to following the Lord with all her heart, so the burnt offering was most appropriate. Notice the symbolism in Gideon’s act. He used the wood from the Asherah pole as fuel for the fire of the burnt offering. This was to show the impotence of Baal.
PLEASE READ JUDGES 6: 27-30.
With much courage, Gideon obeyed the Lord immediately. He took 10 of his male servants from his father’s household and tore down the altar to Baal and the Asherah pole. Because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the people of the city, he acted at night.
The pitiful spiritual condition of Israel can be seen in vs. 29. What Gideon was called to do enraged his entire household and most of, if not all, the men of the city. Imagine---not a man among them who would stand for what is right! I think we can understand Gideon’s trepidation. What Gideon did took a great deal of courage, even if it was at night.
The report of these men in vs. 28 shows that Gideon and his men did exactly what God had commanded. This bold act took faith and courage on Gideon’s part. The fact that he did this by night shows that he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city.
We are not told in vs. 30 exactly how the men’s search led them to Gideon, but they were ready to kill him when they found out. It is a sad state of affairs when people get to the point they are ready to kill for the sake of evil, but this is where we find these men where Gideon live.
Though the mob wanted to kill Gideon, his courage had finally affected someone other than the 10 men who stood with him. Joash had reason to fear because he could have been blamed for what his son had done and could have suffered the penalty of death with him. Such action would not have been unusual in those times.
PLEASE READ JUDGES 6: 31-32.
The men of the city may have expected Joash to share their outrage, if they did, they were surprised by his reaction. Joash not only refused to allow anyone to kill Gideon, but he also warned that anyone who pleaded for Baal would be put to death. Joash probably aimed this warning at anyone who tried to harm his son or who tried to turn his property back into a place to worship Baal. Joash argued that if Baal was a real god, he should be able to take care of himself.
Joash called Gideon Jerubbaal (Jehr-uhb-BAY-uhl), which means Let Baal plead against or contend with Him. In other words, it was up to Baal to punish Gideon. The fact that the nonexistent god did nothing became further evidence of his impotence. Jerubbaal became a fitting and honorable second name for Gideon.
Joash turned the angry mob’s superstition against them. He accused them of a sacrilege as bad as the one for which they accused Gideon. His words “would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him?” Could be loosely translated, “Does Baal need your help? If he is god, how could you do anything to save him?” What an insult! He continued, “You should be put to death by morning for insulting his power that way. Let him plead for himself and destroy the one who tore down his altar.”
One wonders where this kind of valor was when Gideon was growing up. Why did his father allow his family to sink into idolatry but demonstrate here the nerve to stand against it? Gideon’s actions had a profound impact on his family.
Joash was so committed to stand with Gideon that he publicly changed his name. The fact that Gideon was till alive, that this false god had not retaliated, strongly weakened the case of those who sought Gideon’s life.
How can we apply this to our lives today? How can we show the impotence of the false gods of today? This is a battle for the minds and hearts of people in our world. Thus our warfare must be in the moral and spiritual realm. It must start in our minds and hearts. Each of us must be sure that we are not worshiping any of the false gods of today.
Too many professing Christians are trying to serve God and Mammon or money. Too many join the secular world in worshiping pleasure, popularity, or power. We need the faith and courage to pull down our altars to these gods. Then we will be in a tenable position to influence our families to worship the only true God with all our heart, mind, and strength.
When our families pull down the altars to false gods, we are in a position to challenge our friends to do the same. We can find ways to join with others in influencing churches and even secular society to see false gods for what they are. Doing this take faith and courage, for false gods are deeply rooted in our culture. But Gideon’s example in Judges 6 shows how God can use one person of courage to change things.
Most Americans would probably deny that they worship false gods. They think of false gods as stone or wooden images of ancient deities. They need to recognize the gods of today as whatever is more important in their lives. God’s people need to be sure that they worship God, not any false god. We are accountable for showing others the impotence of false gods and for showing others what it means to put God first in all areas of our life.
Living in loyalty to God and challenging today’s false beliefs and gods are not much easier for followers of Christ today than they were for Gideon and the godly people of his day. Actually, through television and other media, today’s false beliefs are more widely known and proclaimed than in previous times. You are crucial to the Lord’s efforts to teach His truth and challenge the false gods of today. Consider yourself as one standing for God in the breach.
NEXT WEEK FROM DANIEL 3 WE SEE “HOW WE CAN AVOID COMPROMISING OUR FAITH IN GOD EVEN IN HOSTILE CIRCUMSTANCES.” A.V. DAUGHERTY 3-14-04