When we look into the book of Judges we find the same old story repeated over and over again – the same cycle of disobedience, woe and deliverance. God had brought his people into the Promised Land, and for a generation they followed his ways. But after the death of Joshua “another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10)
You could say the same thing about Canada. Over a hundred years ago we had revival, but now most people do not believe in Jesus or go to church at all. And people turn away to the worship of all sorts of other things. Some worship money, others success, others celebrity culture, others fashion and others sport. Some turn away to actual religions and philosophies which deny the Christian Gospel. Well that’s what happened in ancient Israel – the people turned from the Lord and worshiped the Baals, the pagan gods of Canaan. (There was one god named Baal but also lots of local gods called Baal. The word simply means Master in the Canaanite language.) So the Israelites worshiped the Baals and took part in orgiastic pagan worship, and gave their daughters to marry pagan men, and their sons to marry pagan women. Soon there was hardly anyone in the land worshiping the Lord. Then the Lord allowed Israel to be overcome by their enemies, the nations of the surrounding lands. And these nations had the upper hand until such time as the people turned back to the Lord and cried out to him for help. Then God would raise up from among them a rescuer, a hero, who would lead the people to victory. Once they had defeated their enemies they would return to the worship of the true God – for a generation! And then the whole sad story would be repeated. This happened time and time again, and the leaders who rescued the people were known as the Judges. At this time they were the only authority in the land – there was no king and the priests were weak. So the whole period became known as the time of the Judges. It was generally a time of lawlessness in which “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6) which was not the same as that which was right in God’s eyes. We see a parallel in our society. People pay no respect to authority – instead they go their own way.
And so, after Joshua, there came various Judges to lead the people to victory. First there was Othniel, then Ehud and then Deborah, an amazing woman. And if you think it is unusual that such a patriarchal society as that of ancient Israel should be led by a woman, then what about the next judge, Gideon? He was an even more unlikely leader – a fearful man, severely lacking in self-confidence, aware of his own frailty. He was the least important of his clan, which was the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh, which was one of least important tribes. The very first time we meet Gideon he is hiding from the enemy. The Midianites had invaded the land and devastated it – like some vast swarm of locusts. They were desert nomads who arrived on camels and swooped down on all the settlements of Israel – pillaging and ravaging the land. They were rather like the Vikings in our own history (only the Vikings came by boat, not camel!) They did not spare anything – they took or destroyed all crops and animals. The Israelites fled to mountain caves and strongholds where they almost starved. When the people cried out to the Lord, he heard their prayer and sent an angel to prepare the rescuer he was going to raise up. That Judge, that hero, was none other than Gideon. And where was Gideon when the angel found him? What was he doing? Was he training and preparing himself to fight off the enemy? No, he was hiding in a wine-press and threshing grain, to keep it from the Midianites. A very unlikely hero – to be skulking away in fear of the enemy! You may be wondering how on earth you can thresh grain in a wine-press! ( Other translations have “wine-vat” but that seems to be just as improbable. I have even seen a picture in which Gideon is shown peeping out from behind a jar of wine.) Clear all such images from your mind! In those days a wine-press was simply a depression cut into the rock. You filled it with grapes and trampled them with your feet. When the angel came to him Gideon was at the bottom of the empty pit threshing, and fervently hoping the Midianites would not see him. The angel said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” (Judges 6:12-16)
Gideon must have been astounded to be asked to lead God’s people to victory over their enemies. How could he, who was so weak and fearful do that? But God told him, “I will be with you.” And as one wise man said, “One with God is a majority”. The whole story of Gideon is about how God can take a weak person and transform them, or take a desperate situation and turn it around. By God’s grace Gideon was to become what the angel had said, a mighty man of valor – even though he didn’t look like one at the time! But Gideon felt he needed a sign. “Show me you really are from God,” he said to the angel, “accept an offering from me.” And so he went off to slaughter a goat and prepare it as an offering. Gideon cooked the meat and, some hours later, returned with it in a basket, along with loaves of unleavened bread and the broth from the meat in a jar. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” (Judges 6:20-23)
That night God spoke to Gideon – ordering him to destroy his father’s altar to the god Baal and the sacred pole of the goddess Ashera which stood next to it. Gideon’s family had obviously forsaken the Lord and were worshiping idols. But God had called Gideon, even though he was from a family of idolators. Sometimes we write people off because of their background. But we should never do that. Don’t write off the pagan, or the atheist, or the Muslim or the Hindu or the member of any other religion. God can change them. He can reveal his truth to them and convert them. By his encounter with the angel Gideon was converted back to the God of his ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the one true God. And the Lord put Gideon to the test. He made him do something which was very difficult, particularly for a timid soul like Gideon. He had to nail his colors to the mast. He had to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord. He had to oppose the worship of Baal head on, before he could be used to lead Israel to victory. He had to be extremely courageous. And what about us? Do we dare stand up for Jesus? Do we dare risk unpopularity or opposition because of our faith in him? There are Christians in this world today in certain counties – countries like Pakistan, and Sudan, and Burma, and North Korea – who risk their lives for the sake of Jesus. Some indeed lose their lives. Gideon did what God told him to do. But he was still afraid of his family and neighbors – so he did it by night. He took the second-best bull from his father’s herd. Then he went, with ten of his servants, and demolished his father’s altar to Baal. Then he chopped down the sacred pole. Then he took the stones and built a new altar to the Lord. Gideon chopped up the wood of the Ashera pole and placed it on the altar. He sacrificed the bull and burnt it there as an offering to the Lord . In the morning, the people of the town came past and they couldn’t believe their eyes – Baal’s altar had been desecrated, and there was a new altar, still smouldering with the fire of the sacrifice to the Lord. “Who did this?” They demanded. Some sneak told them it was Gideon and they went off to confront Gideon’s father Joash. The men of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” ( Judges 6:30)
But wily old Joash said, “If Baal really is a god he can fight for himself when someone breaks his altar!” This defused the situation and they left Gideon alone. Perhaps they even felt guilty about their worship of Baal. Anyway, Baal didn’t take revenge on Gideon, so perhaps Joash had been right. Perhaps Baal was not a god. From that day the people of the town gave Gideon the nickname Jerub-baal, which means, “Let Baal contend”, because he had destroyed Baal’s altar. This act of courage marks the start of Gideon’s work of deliverance for his people. God was going to do great things through him. But first Gideon’s faith, devotion to the Lord, and trust in God had needed to be tested in his own family. And it’s true, isn’t it, that it is often in our own family that our faith is most tested. They are the ones who see us as we really are. They will quickly see if our faith is real. In the chapters which follow we see several occasions where Gideon’s faith seemed to waver and he requires a sign from God to strengthen him and keep him going. But possibly the greatest test in his life was this first one, where he had to stand up and go against his father, his family and his neighbors. He risked his own safety in order to stand up for the true God who had revealed himself to Gideon.
Well, if we are followers of Jesus then we will need to be like Gideon. We will have to swim against the stream, because the stream is not going God’s way. Our society is full of false gods and unworthy objects of worship. We have to stand out against them. Courage, brother! do not stumble, Though thy path is dark as night; There’s a star to guide the humble: Trust in God and do the right.
For the young person “trusting in God and doing the right” might mean being regarded as uncool because you will not join with your peers in wrongdoing – taking drugs, dishonest actions, immorality. For older people it might mean not compromising your integrity in work, acting honestly when all around are dishonest or maintaining Christian standards of family life. We all have times when we have to “contend with Baal”, as it were. But remember, “It’s the bird which flies against the wind that flies the highest” (old proverb). If we are true to God he will give us the strength to overcome our fears, just as he did for Gideon. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross; Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory His army shall He lead, Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.
You could say the same thing about Canada. Over a hundred years ago we had revival, but now most people do not believe in Jesus or go to church at all. And people turn away to the worship of all sorts of other things. Some worship money, others success, others celebrity culture, others fashion and others sport. Some turn away to actual religions and philosophies which deny the Christian Gospel. Well that’s what happened in ancient Israel – the people turned from the Lord and worshiped the Baals, the pagan gods of Canaan. (There was one god named Baal but also lots of local gods called Baal. The word simply means Master in the Canaanite language.) So the Israelites worshiped the Baals and took part in orgiastic pagan worship, and gave their daughters to marry pagan men, and their sons to marry pagan women. Soon there was hardly anyone in the land worshiping the Lord. Then the Lord allowed Israel to be overcome by their enemies, the nations of the surrounding lands. And these nations had the upper hand until such time as the people turned back to the Lord and cried out to him for help. Then God would raise up from among them a rescuer, a hero, who would lead the people to victory. Once they had defeated their enemies they would return to the worship of the true God – for a generation! And then the whole sad story would be repeated. This happened time and time again, and the leaders who rescued the people were known as the Judges. At this time they were the only authority in the land – there was no king and the priests were weak. So the whole period became known as the time of the Judges. It was generally a time of lawlessness in which “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6) which was not the same as that which was right in God’s eyes. We see a parallel in our society. People pay no respect to authority – instead they go their own way.
And so, after Joshua, there came various Judges to lead the people to victory. First there was Othniel, then Ehud and then Deborah, an amazing woman. And if you think it is unusual that such a patriarchal society as that of ancient Israel should be led by a woman, then what about the next judge, Gideon? He was an even more unlikely leader – a fearful man, severely lacking in self-confidence, aware of his own frailty. He was the least important of his clan, which was the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh, which was one of least important tribes. The very first time we meet Gideon he is hiding from the enemy. The Midianites had invaded the land and devastated it – like some vast swarm of locusts. They were desert nomads who arrived on camels and swooped down on all the settlements of Israel – pillaging and ravaging the land. They were rather like the Vikings in our own history (only the Vikings came by boat, not camel!) They did not spare anything – they took or destroyed all crops and animals. The Israelites fled to mountain caves and strongholds where they almost starved. When the people cried out to the Lord, he heard their prayer and sent an angel to prepare the rescuer he was going to raise up. That Judge, that hero, was none other than Gideon. And where was Gideon when the angel found him? What was he doing? Was he training and preparing himself to fight off the enemy? No, he was hiding in a wine-press and threshing grain, to keep it from the Midianites. A very unlikely hero – to be skulking away in fear of the enemy! You may be wondering how on earth you can thresh grain in a wine-press! ( Other translations have “wine-vat” but that seems to be just as improbable. I have even seen a picture in which Gideon is shown peeping out from behind a jar of wine.) Clear all such images from your mind! In those days a wine-press was simply a depression cut into the rock. You filled it with grapes and trampled them with your feet. When the angel came to him Gideon was at the bottom of the empty pit threshing, and fervently hoping the Midianites would not see him. The angel said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” (Judges 6:12-16)
Gideon must have been astounded to be asked to lead God’s people to victory over their enemies. How could he, who was so weak and fearful do that? But God told him, “I will be with you.” And as one wise man said, “One with God is a majority”. The whole story of Gideon is about how God can take a weak person and transform them, or take a desperate situation and turn it around. By God’s grace Gideon was to become what the angel had said, a mighty man of valor – even though he didn’t look like one at the time! But Gideon felt he needed a sign. “Show me you really are from God,” he said to the angel, “accept an offering from me.” And so he went off to slaughter a goat and prepare it as an offering. Gideon cooked the meat and, some hours later, returned with it in a basket, along with loaves of unleavened bread and the broth from the meat in a jar. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” (Judges 6:20-23)
That night God spoke to Gideon – ordering him to destroy his father’s altar to the god Baal and the sacred pole of the goddess Ashera which stood next to it. Gideon’s family had obviously forsaken the Lord and were worshiping idols. But God had called Gideon, even though he was from a family of idolators. Sometimes we write people off because of their background. But we should never do that. Don’t write off the pagan, or the atheist, or the Muslim or the Hindu or the member of any other religion. God can change them. He can reveal his truth to them and convert them. By his encounter with the angel Gideon was converted back to the God of his ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the one true God. And the Lord put Gideon to the test. He made him do something which was very difficult, particularly for a timid soul like Gideon. He had to nail his colors to the mast. He had to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord. He had to oppose the worship of Baal head on, before he could be used to lead Israel to victory. He had to be extremely courageous. And what about us? Do we dare stand up for Jesus? Do we dare risk unpopularity or opposition because of our faith in him? There are Christians in this world today in certain counties – countries like Pakistan, and Sudan, and Burma, and North Korea – who risk their lives for the sake of Jesus. Some indeed lose their lives. Gideon did what God told him to do. But he was still afraid of his family and neighbors – so he did it by night. He took the second-best bull from his father’s herd. Then he went, with ten of his servants, and demolished his father’s altar to Baal. Then he chopped down the sacred pole. Then he took the stones and built a new altar to the Lord. Gideon chopped up the wood of the Ashera pole and placed it on the altar. He sacrificed the bull and burnt it there as an offering to the Lord . In the morning, the people of the town came past and they couldn’t believe their eyes – Baal’s altar had been desecrated, and there was a new altar, still smouldering with the fire of the sacrifice to the Lord. “Who did this?” They demanded. Some sneak told them it was Gideon and they went off to confront Gideon’s father Joash. The men of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” ( Judges 6:30)
But wily old Joash said, “If Baal really is a god he can fight for himself when someone breaks his altar!” This defused the situation and they left Gideon alone. Perhaps they even felt guilty about their worship of Baal. Anyway, Baal didn’t take revenge on Gideon, so perhaps Joash had been right. Perhaps Baal was not a god. From that day the people of the town gave Gideon the nickname Jerub-baal, which means, “Let Baal contend”, because he had destroyed Baal’s altar. This act of courage marks the start of Gideon’s work of deliverance for his people. God was going to do great things through him. But first Gideon’s faith, devotion to the Lord, and trust in God had needed to be tested in his own family. And it’s true, isn’t it, that it is often in our own family that our faith is most tested. They are the ones who see us as we really are. They will quickly see if our faith is real. In the chapters which follow we see several occasions where Gideon’s faith seemed to waver and he requires a sign from God to strengthen him and keep him going. But possibly the greatest test in his life was this first one, where he had to stand up and go against his father, his family and his neighbors. He risked his own safety in order to stand up for the true God who had revealed himself to Gideon.
Well, if we are followers of Jesus then we will need to be like Gideon. We will have to swim against the stream, because the stream is not going God’s way. Our society is full of false gods and unworthy objects of worship. We have to stand out against them. Courage, brother! do not stumble, Though thy path is dark as night; There’s a star to guide the humble: Trust in God and do the right.
For the young person “trusting in God and doing the right” might mean being regarded as uncool because you will not join with your peers in wrongdoing – taking drugs, dishonest actions, immorality. For older people it might mean not compromising your integrity in work, acting honestly when all around are dishonest or maintaining Christian standards of family life. We all have times when we have to “contend with Baal”, as it were. But remember, “It’s the bird which flies against the wind that flies the highest” (old proverb). If we are true to God he will give us the strength to overcome our fears, just as he did for Gideon. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross; Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory His army shall He lead, Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.
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