Lessons From Gideon

Feature 3 – February 2022 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Lessons From Gideon

Gideon lived in the time of the Judges, a period when a great many in Israel had decided to do what they wanted rather than being obedient to the L ORD . Because of this, the L ORD was using the Midianites to bring His people to repentance, and He called Gideon to save them (Jud. 6:14).

Gideon’s Faith
Sometimes we criticize Gideon for asking for signs (vv.36-40) after hearing God’s spoken word. Certainly, we should not use his fleece as a pattern for determining the mind of the Lord in our lives. But there is a lot we can learn from his story about faith, obedience and living as overcomers despite overwhelming odds. Gideon asked for the signs of the fleece to confirm – not discern – God’s will and strengthen his faith. Although his faith was weak at this point, God included him in Hebrews 11’s great roster of faith! What an encouragement to those of us who feel our own weakness and lack of faith. Like the father of the sick boy in the Mark 9:24, we exclaim, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Even the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (Lk. 17:5 NKJV).

Gideon’s faith may not have been strong at first, but the point is he did have faith! He was the perfect candidate to be used by the LORD. The Angel of the LORD introduced Himself by telling Gideon, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor” (Jud. 6:12). By reading the chapter we can ascertain Gideon’s initial thoughts were probably like this: “What? Surely You must be mistaken! I’m the least important person in an unknown family! I’m fearful and have questions about why the LORD has seemingly forsaken us. Can’t You see that I’m threshing my wheat in this winepress because I’m afraid of the enemy You want me to conquer? I’m unqualified, or disqualified, for the position.”

“No,” was the indication from the Angel of the LORD to Gideon, “for these very points you raise make you the perfect man for the job. Go in this might of yours. Yes, go in the strength you have. Have I not sent you? Your own strength may be weak, but I promise to be with you. My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. You have already passed the first test, and out of weakness you will be made strong” (see 2 Cor. 12:9-10; Heb. 11:34). Whenever the Lord calls us to do something for Him, He also promises to be with us (1 Th. 5:24). His commandments are His enablements!

Gideon’s Altars
So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-Is-Peace. —Judges 6:24

After Gideon realized he had seen the Angel of the LORD face to face, he feared for his life. The LORD comforted him by saying, “Peace be with you; do not fear” (v.23). One of the paradoxes of the Christian life is that the Lord gives us peace that He might send us out to war! In response, Gideon built an altar to worship God, which he called YHWH Shalom: The-LORD-Is-Peace.

The same night, the LORD instructed Gideon to tear down the community altar of Baal on his father’s property and build an altar to the LORD in its place. Gideon’s first altar was a private altar of worship, and this next altar was a public altar of testimony. The order is significant. The apostle Peter wrote that we also, “as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). He went on to say that we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (v.9). We are a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood. As holy priests we enter the sanctuary of heaven by faith to worship. As royal priests we go out into the world to witness.

We cannot expect to be effective witnesses for the Lord Jesus without first spending time with Him in prayer and the Word of God. We need to be transformed ourselves if we are to reflect His image to a needy world (2 Cor. 3:18). We must be sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit in order to be vessels of honor, useful for the Master (2 Tim. 2:21). Remember when Paul and Silas were in prison? At midnight, they prayed and sang hymns to God as holy priests, and following the earthquake they preached the gospel to the jailer as royal priests! We see the same pattern when the Lord Jesus appointed the apostles: “Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him [as holy priests] and that He might send them out to preach [as royal priests]” (Mk. 3:14).

Gideon’s Testing
And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me.” —Judges 7:2

Can you imagine how Gideon must have felt when the LORD told him his army was too big! They were outnumbered 135,000 (8:10) to 32,000 to begin with – a factor of over 4 to 1. In accordance with the provision of the law, the soldiers who were fearful returned home (Dt. 20:8). Gideon lost over two thirds of his men, and suddenly he was down to 10,000. Then the LORD said that the people were still too many! We can almost hear Gideon saying, “You must be kidding, LORD! Do You really know what You are doing?” But the LORD tells us, “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways … For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isa. 55:8-9).

The LORD instructed Gideon to bring his remaining men down to the water to drink. We never know when God is testing us in the ordinary experiences of life. Almost all of the soldiers got down on their knees to drink, bringing their mouths directly to the water. Only 300 of them stayed upright, quickly scooping up the water and lapping it from cupped hands like dogs. They stayed alert with their eyes on their leader, drinking just enough to quench their thirst without laying down their arms or compromising their safety. With this small group of 300, the LORD would deliver Israel from their oppressor. Yes, God has chosen the foolish, the weak, the base and the despised things of the world to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence (1 Cor. 1:26-29).

If Gideon had remembered that with God’s help one soldier would chase 1,000, and two would put 10,000 to flight (Dt. 32:30), he could have been encouraged that 14 pairs of soldiers would be enough to defeat the entire Midianite army! “Nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few” (1 Sam. 14:6). We may also live in a day of small things, but we should always remember that the LORD of hosts says, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zech. 4:6).

Gideon’s Weapons
Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise”…Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers – they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing – and they cried, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!” —Judges 7:16-17,20

The story of Gideon should be a great encouragement to the Church in these last days – a time of ruin. God doesn’t need large numbers or especially gifted leaders to accomplish His purposes. We may not understand His plans, but we can trust His promises. After his army was reduced to just 300 men according to God’s command, Gideon equipped each one with a trumpet to blow, a pitcher to break, and a torch to burn. Strange weapons indeed, “but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:4)!

The trumpets speak of the testimony of the Word of God. In Numbers 10:1-10, the LORD told Moses to make two silver trumpets for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. These trumpets directed the children of Israel in their walk, warfare and worship, just as the Word of God directs us in every aspect of our lives. The pitchers represent our own natural bodies. Second Corinthians 4:6-7 tells us that we have this treasure – “the light” of life – “in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” Accordingly, the torches picture the light of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Another way to look at it is that the trumpets and torches represent the twofold testimony of our words and works (Mt. 10:27, 5:16). The Lord Jesus “was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people” (Lk. 24:19; see Acts 1:1), and we should strive to have this same balance in our testimony. Solomon wrote to his son, “I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths” (Prov. 4:11). Paul exhorted, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col. 3:17). Interestingly, the hem of the robe of the high priest’s ephod in the Old Testament was encircled with golden bells and different colored pomegranates (Ex. 28:33-34). The sound of the golden bells was in perfect harmony and proportion with the fruit in between!

The soldiers were to look at Gideon and copy his actions. Likewise, we look up to Jesus, the Captain of our salvation (Heb. 2:10), and follow His steps (Jn. 13:15). The sound of the blaring trumpets and shattering pottery along with the blazing torchlight caused the enemy to panic. What a picture of victory through brokenness! Only when human instruments are broken – only by humbling ourselves before God (Ps. 51:17); only through the fellowship of His sufferings (2 Cor. 4:8-12; Phil. 3:10); only by dying to self (Gal. 2:20) – can the light of Jesus shine forth through us! “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51:17).

Gideon’s Finish
So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals. —Judges 8:33

Unfortunately, Gideon’s ending was not positive. When the men of Israel asked him to rule over them following the victory over the Midianites, he said the right thing: “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you” (v.23). But while Gideon’s words were humble, his actions were not. After he rejected the throne, he lived like a king! He took many wives and had 70 sons. In fact, he named one of them, born by his concubine, “Abimelech” (v.31), which means “my father is king.” Worst of all, he set up a golden ephod in his city from the spoils of victory.

Gideon had overthrown the altar of Baal but now raised an idol of his own. His heart was lifted up through his achievement (compare with 1 Cor. 4:7, 10:12). The golden ephod represented an intrusion into the divinely prescribed ministry of the high priest, similar to the rebellion of Korah (Num. 16:7,10).

Furthermore, Shiloh was the divinely decreed place of worship at that time in Israel’s history, not Ophrah. Gideon proudly displayed the golden ephod in his hometown as a religious symbol commemorating his victory. Soon it became a national object of worship, drawing the people’s attention away from the LORD and into idolatry.

Gideon started out as a servant but then lived like a celebrity. He handled adversity better than success. In the extreme moment of battle he acted with faith and courage, but in the ordinary routine of life he did not honor the LORD. Instead of using the great victory over Midian for God’s glory, he used it for his own profit. In a sense, Israel continued serving the memory of Gideon after he died. By falling back into Baal worship they indicated that money and success mattered most of all, which was sadly the example of Gideon’s later years.

Solomon wrote “the end of a thing is better than its beginning” (Eccl. 7:8). But like Gideon, he left a mixed legacy after falling into pride and idolatry in his latter days. It is so important to end well! How we finish is more important than how we begin. Paul asked the Galatians, “You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” (Gal. 5:7). He himself was faithful to the end, always pressing on and reaching forward (Phil. 3:12-14). Shortly before his death he wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). We can summarize Paul’s life in Christ as “well won, well run and well done.”

By Tim Bouter

The book of Jude addresses the faithful and says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 20-21 NKJV). Four sweet words – “Building,” “praying,” “keep,” “looking.” “Building” – take care you do not pull down. What the Spirit prescribes here is building; this is beautiful, because Jude is describing decay and dissolution as the fruit of the corruption all around. Faith is peculiarly sweet to the eye of the Lord when all is going to ruin.

There is a resource which is competent for the state of things and enough to keep the saints joyful. Joy in the Holy Spirit is the expected and suited state of the saints always. Is it not to be the same now? Surely. As the history of God’s people darkens, God ever raises a light; the deeper the darkness, the brighter the light. This principle is sweetly illustrated in the Old Testament, showing that the greater the ruin, the brighter the light, where faith was operative. —W. T. P. Wolston (adapted)