As In The Day of Midian......Part 2

 

“…the yoke of his burden, the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor - You have broken as in the day of Midian.” Isaiah 9:4

We met Gideon the end of Part 1 in this blog series. He is the “mighty man of valor” God is going to use to deliver the Israelites from the oppression of the Midianites.

As we continue our journey thru Judges 6, we learn in vs. 25 that Gideon’s own father was an idol worshipper. The same night God appears to Gideon, He tells him to throw down Baal’s altar, that his father has, and cut down the grove by it.

In this passage, I see God’s grace - no matter what your family situation, you do not have to go down the same road - you can be a repairer of the breach (Isaiah 58:12). God raised up Gideon in the midst of his own family worshipping a false god - Israelites, God’s covenant people, breaking the first commandment (Exodus 20:3).

vs. 6:26 - God tells Gideon to build an altar to Him in the same place - beauty from the ashes (Isaiah 61:3). Another thing to note, Gideon obeyed immediately. Whatever altar you have been bowing down to - it is time to tear it down and Break Free - ‘now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation’ (2 Corinthians 6:2)

vs. 6:27 - Wow - there is a lot that could be said here - ten men went with Gideon to destroy the pagan altar. Remember 6:1, “the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord” - but here we have ten men going with Gideon - can we believe at least these ten men had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18) since they were loyal to Gideon and willing to assist him in the destruction? A good friend reminded me this week of when Abraham prayed for the righteous in Sodom & Gomorrah; in Genesis 18:32, Abraham asked the Lord if only ten were found, would He not destroy it for ten’s sake and the Lord answered He would not. We are right smack in the middle of another election year and it seems the plumbline is becoming more and more evident as each one passes. Read Mark 13:12 about brother betraying brother, fathers their sons, and children rising up against their parents; in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, we are told there will be a “falling away”. I think we read these passages without realizing what this is going to look like or how it is going to hurt; I think we also assume it is going to “just happen”, but I believe it is going to be gradual and before we realize it we are here. We have read and acknowledged 2 Chronicles 7:14 but have we really grabbed hold and settled it deep within our hearts the responsibility of God’s people humbling themselves - it is not about prosperity, economy, jobs, our agendas, or even what we think is best, - it is a call to PRAY, to SEEK our God, and REPENT from whatever does not line up with God and His word.

I think Judges 6:27 also shows the importance of having people in our lives of the same faith in whom we can confide in and walk with so they may encourage and minister to us - do not forsake gathering together (Hebrews 10:25). Keep reading and you will see because they “feared his father’s household and the men of the city…they did it by night”.

In 6:12, God called Gideon a “mighty man of valor” yet here we see him scared, hiding once again, as he goes about doing what God has called him to. I take comfort in this verse - God knows I am scared to death sometimes, trembling and full of fear - we will see God’s grace again in the midst of fear when we get to 7:10.

vs. 6:28 - the men of the city rose EARLY in the morning and realized what had happened to the altar of Baal and the grove by it; they also noticed the sacrifice on the altar built in its place. Can we assume here that these men set out to start their day with their false god? Oh, I pray, I will have the same strong conviction and desire to start my day with the one and only true and living God.

vs. 6:29 - the men start enquiring who has done this atrocity and it is reported Gideon. Had word gotten out? Did one of his 10 friends say something? Were they seen? Or could it be, that Gideon was known to be different - peculiar - others knew he served God because of his character, his speech, his heart. People saw this in Peter and John also, Acts 4:13 says, ‘now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.’ We have heard it said, we may be the only Bible some people read - may they see Jesus in us.

vs. 6:30-32 - the men of the city go to Gideon’s father and demand him to hand Gideon over to be killed because of what he has done. Joash spares his son’s life by posing a question to his persecutors, “Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him? If he be a god, let him plead for himself, for it is his altar that has been cast down”. Love this! I love that God says they make idols with their own hands, idols that can not see, nor hear, they can not speak, nor move (Psalm 115:4-8) - our God DOES see, DOES hear, DOES speak, and DOES move. Amen! He also tells us the battle is His (2 Chronicles 20:15) - when the enemy comes against us and proclaims lies about our God - it is our God he is blaspheming and we are His redeemed being oppressed. Read Isaiah 37, an evil king was devising a plan to destroy God’s people and was telling them their God was no different than any of the other nations’ gods he had set out to destroy - there was no one to save those people and there would be no one to save them now either. Psalm 71:10-11 tells us it is the enemy that says God has forsaken us and there is no one to deliver. In Acts 5, a wise teacher of the law spoke regarding Peter and the other apostles, saying ‘if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.’

vs. 33 - “THEN all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel”. This reminds me of the Israelites as slaves in Egypt crying out for deliverance - Moses comes on the scene and then the Egyptians make the situation worse for the Israelites causing them to beg for Moses to let them be. How many times do we also see our circumstances as getting worse so we pray against the very thing God is going to use in our deliverance? God had heard the cry of His people (vs. 6:7-8) and came to Gideon with His plan (vs. 6:14). Gideon was quickly obedient in doing what the Lord commanded as we just read, but now the enemy has gathered together, come over, and pitched right next to them. Doesn’t it seem like the same thing happens to us? We do something good for God and things seem to immediately get worse - so what is the point? What is going on? Why does it have to be so hard all the time? Press on! PERSEVERE! Beth just addressed this in our last video session - she spoke of it being ‘hard’- ‘hardest’ - ‘easier’ - ‘under my feet’. DO NOT grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we DO NOT give up. (Galatians 6:9)

vs. 34a - ‘the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon’ - one of the commentaries I read spoke of this ‘coming upon’ like being ‘clothed’ and gave an example of putting on the full armor of God mentioned in Ephesians 6. Our pastor has recently been preaching on this in a series titled, ‘This Means War’.

vs. 34b-35 - ‘and Abiezer was gathered after him’. I may be wrong, but I think Abiezer is speaking of a ‘people’ and not necessarily an individual; I get this in part from 6:11 and the names of the tribes mentioned in vs. 35. I also believe these are the same people who sought to kill Gideon for tearing down their idolatrous altar (see 6:24), but now they are gathering after him, supporting him in his cause.

vs. 36-40 - the miracle of the fleece - I could not find a whole lot regarding the significance of this, at least that made sense to me. One commentary mentioned it being in line with Mark 9:24, ‘Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief’. Another talked about this going against the laws of nature that God has set in place; therefore, proving He is truly Lord of all and NOTHING is impossible for Him…..

…..INCLUDING OUR DELIVERANCE!