“His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Certainly God can help us by working with or even through us. But did you know that He can help us and the people around us by working in spite of us? He can use our character flaws and failings to His glory. Read the rest…
“As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The epitaph for Gideon is presented as an indictment of the people of Israel. They were so incorrigibly wicked that they turned away from God at the first chance they had and didn’t honor the memory of this great leader. But, I tend to see this as more of an indictment of Gideon himself. He may have fulfilled the calling God placed on him to free the people from the oppression of the Midianites, but he was a terrible leader and not a very good person to boot. Read the rest…
“Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Gideon’s fleece has become synonymous with testing God. And that’s exactly what Gideon was doing. But, far from anything praiseworthy or worth imitating, this was an act of faithlessness by a man who was a coward. Read the rest…
“And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.’ And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The story of Gideon is one of my favorites. This isn’t because of why you might think. It is often presented to highlight the faith and courage of Gideon as he takes his army of 300 and defeats the thousands of Midianite soldiers in a decidedly non-traditional fashion (God seems to excel at devising…creative…battle plans to make sure He gets the glory for the victory). While perhaps Gideon was courageous and faithful in that moment, I tend to see his story as evidence of God’s willingness and ability to work through anybody to accomplish His plans, even a whiney coward. Read the rest…
“So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The Lord is a father and the people of Israel were His children. (He’s also a bridegroom and they were His bride which is kind of an odd mixing of metaphors, but both are nonetheless appropriate at different times to describe our relationship with Him.) When they refused to stay on the path down which He was leading them, He disciplined them. What this summary description of how the rest of the book of Judges is going to go reveals is that once the people were settled in the land they struggled mightily with faithfulness. Read the rest…
The Nexus 