RISK

7/22/2012

1.     DEALING WITH INFERIORITY FELLINGS (JUDGES 6:1-24)

·         The Midianites were descendants of Abraham by his wife Keturah

Genesis 25:1-2

1 Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 And she bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah.

NASB

·         The are the known oldest nomads and lived along the edge of the desert, probably in the northwestern portion of the Arabian peninsula.

·         They raided the bordering arable lands taking livestock and pillaging villages.

·         This was also true of the Amalekites, descendants of Esau who lived in the Sinaitic peninsula.

·         Sometime in the twelfth century B.C., the Midianites domesticated the camel, turning the animal into a weapon of war.

·         At some point during the period of the judges, the Midianites poured into the land of the Israelites.

·         Apparently in their sin-weakened state, the Israelites could not withstand this wild onslaught.

·         The Midianites made no attempt to settle the land, for they simply wanted to steal the crops, cattle, and pillage the people.

1A. SHIFT YOUR FOCUS (JUDGES 6:11-16)

11 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior." 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." 14 And the LORD looked at him and said, "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" 15 And he said to Him, "O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house." 16 But the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man."

NASB

 “…Gideon was called to be the deliverer of Israel through an appearance of the angel of the Lord, to show to him and to all Israel, that Jehovah, the God of the fathers, was still near at hand to His people, and could work miracles as in the days of old, if Israel would only adhere to Him and keep His covenant.”

(from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

2.     DEALING WITH FEAR (JUDGES 6:25-32)

·         Even with God's commission, Gideon is still hesitant and God has to overcome his fear.

·         God has to develop courage and faith.

3.     DEALING WITH DOUBT (JUDGES 6:33-40)

34 So the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him.

NASB

·         The blowing of the trumpet meant war.

·         The moment he blew the trumpet, his people knew it meant war against the Amalekites, and they began to gather around him.

·         Then Gideon got cold feet and went back to the Lord with a proposition.

4.     ACTING IN FAITH (JUDGES 7:1-23)

·         Gideon had 32,000 men, and the thought in Gideon's mind is, "These are not enough."

·         But God said to Gideon, "You have too many men."

·         But with 10,000 men left, God still said that was too many men.

4A. ACCEPT GOD’S PRESCRIPTION FOR ENCOURAGEMENT (JUDGES 7:9-11)

9 Now the same night it came about that the LORD said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands. 10 But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, 11 and you will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp. "So he went with Purah his servant down to the outposts of the army that was in the camp.

NASB

No doubt the vast multitudes of Midianites, etc., which came merely for plunder, were wholly unarmed; but they had a guard of armed men as all the caravans have, and those guards were on the outside of the multitudes; it was to these that Gideon and his servant came.

(from Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Biblesoft)

4B. ACKWOLEDGE GOD’S GRACE (JUDGES 7:13-15)

13 When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, "Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat."

Some read, a trembling noise of barley bread: meaning, that one of no reputation would make their great army tremble.

(from Geneva Notes, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

 14 And his friend answered and said, "This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand."

15 And it came about when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, that he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, "Arise, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hands."   NASB

5.     DEALING WITH ANGER (JUDGES 7:24—8 :21)

·         The Israelites are being blessed for the first time in a long time, and they are so grateful to Gideon for all that he has done that they want him to rule over them.

·         God raised up Gideon to perform an extraordinary task.

·         It teaches us that any man or woman that God uses has to be used on God's terms.

·         Gideon has many wives and a concubine besides.

·         He had a total of 71 sons.

·         This will be a problem for Israel which we will see in the next chapter.

Judges 8:27

27 And Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

NASB

The ephod was that particular part of the high priest's dress which was necessary to be worst when he inquired of God by Urim and Thummim. It seems that Gideon being now the civil ruler, desired to have an ephod of his own, kept in his own city, to he worn by the priest whenever Gideon might summon him to inquire of the Lord for him. His relations with the tribe of Ephraim probably made him unwilling to resort to Shiloh.

(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

The exact nature of the ephod is uncertain. It was the name given to a part of the attire of the high priest (Ex 28:4). On occasion it was consulted as a source of divine guidance (1 Sam 23:9-12; 30:7-8). Perhaps for this reason it developed into an object of idolatry. It is possible that Gideon had an idol made, wearing an ephod similar to that worn by the high priests. And all Israel went thither a whoring after it. Gideon's ephod became an object of idolatry. Its erection marks the tragic end of the career of a truly great man. Gideon and his family suffered as a result of it. In Judg 9:5 we read of the death of most of Gideon's sons because of the desire of one, Abimelech, to be king. This tragedy may be traced to the idolatry that resulted from the construction of Gideon's ephod.

(from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)

The germs of Gideon's error, which became a snare to him and to his house, lie unquestionably deeper than this, namely, in the fact that the high-priesthood had probably lost its worth in the eyes of the people on account of the worthlessness of its representatives, so that they no longer regarded the high priest as the sole or principal medium of divine revelation; and therefore Gideon, to whom the Lord had manifested himself directly, as He had not to any judge or leader of the people since the time of Joshua, might suppose that he was not acting in violation of the law, when he had an ephod made, and thus provided himself with a substratum or vehicle for inquiring the will of the Lord. His sin therefore consisted chiefly in his invading the prerogative of the Aaronic priesthood, drawing away the people from the one legitimate sanctuary, and thereby not only undermining the theocratic unity of Israel, but also giving an impetus to the relapse of the nation into the worship of Baal after his death. This sin became a snare to him and to his house.

(from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)