1-10 The Midianite Oppression
- After Deborah, the Israelites return to evil, and God gives them up to Midian for 7 years.
- When Israel plants seed, Midian and Amalek come in and destroy their crops.
- Israel calls to God for help.
- God sends a prophet who reminds them of what God has done for them, but they have not given up the gods of the Amorites, where they live.
- An angel appears to Gideon as he is "beating out wheat in a wine press," with the greeting "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." A strange place to thresh wheat -- perhaps a way of hiding it from the Midianites. The greeting is also interesting. He appears to be a farmer, not a soldier.
- Gideon: If the LORD is with us, why are we oppressed by Midian?
- The LORD (not an angel now): I commission you to deliver your people. I will be with you.
- Gideon: I need a sign. He prepares a meal, which the angel burns up with the tip of his staff, then promptly vanishes.
- Gideon calls to God for help: "I have seen the angel face to face!"
- God: Don't be afraid; you won't die. And Gideon builds an altar there.
- God tells him to tear down his father's altar to Baal and replace it with an altar to God, and offer a bull on it. With the help of 10 servants, he does so, but by night, because he fears the reactions of his family and the townspeople. Isn't that typical? Here he's seen an angel, received instruction by God to do something, yet because of fear he feels like he has to sneak around to do it.
- When townspeople see altar to Baal torn down and discover who did it, they demand that Joash bring out his son so they can kill him.
- Joash defends his son's actions: Let Baal fight his own battles.
- Gideon's name changed to Jerubbaal - "Let Baal contend against him."
- As Midianites and Amalekites gather against Israel, Gideon sounds a trumpet and calls Abiezrites as well as tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali to follow him.
- Gideon again asks for verification from God with a fleece of wool - in the morning, dew on fleece, dry ground around it. It has always amazed me that God complied with these "tests" that Gideon requests.
- That's not enough -- another test, this time, dew on the ground, dry fleece, just in case the previous one was a fluke. Maybe God complied either because of Gideon's attitude "Do not let your anger burn against me..." or because it also served as a sign to Gideon's followers that God was with him.
1-8 God Chooses Gideon's Army
- The troops Gideon has gathered camp south of Midian's camp
- God to Gideon: Too many troops. The credit needs to be given to me, not to them. Send home the fearful. Out of 32,000, Gideon is left with 10,000.
- God: Still too many. Another test: Take them to the water. Those who lap like dogs, put to one side; those who kneel, drinking out of their hands, put to another side.
- God: Those 300 who lapped are your army. Gideon sends the rest home but keeps their jars and trumpets.
- God to Gideon: I have given the Midianite camp into your hand. But just to assure you, take your servant Purah and go spy on the camp.
- The Midianites are "thick as locusts," but Gideon hears one Midianite recount his dream to another of a cake of barley bread toppling a tent in Midian. Another interprets it: This is the sword of Gideon; God has given Midian into his hand.
- Gideon worships, then returns to camp with the good news.
- He divides the 300 into 3 companies, each having a trumpet in one hand, and empty jars in the other, with torches inside them.
- As they approach the camp, following Gideon's lead, they blow their trumpets and break the jars at the same time, confusing the Midianites, who turn on each other then flee, pursued by the army.
- (If I understand the geography) Gideon calls on the Ephraimites to "head them off," and they capture and behead Midianite captains Oreb and Zeeb.
- They bring their heads to Gideon.
1 - "O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; now restore us!"
11 - "O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless...." A prayer applicable to the Israelite's during Gideon's time.
1 Corinthians 14
1-25 Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues
- Pursue love most of all.
- It is good to pursue spiritual gifts. Of them all, prophecy (teaching) is the most profitable for others. Again, Paul's emphasis on doing and desiring what is most beneficial for others, not for yourself.
- The gift of tongues is useless for communication -- like the indistinct sound of a musical instrument -- unless you have an interpreter.
- Seek for the spiritual gifts that can be used to build up the church (not yourselves).
- Better to speak 5 words in a language others can understand than 10,000 words in a tongue.
- Don't be childish. The purpose of tongues is not for show, but for the purpose of showing God's power to unbelievers. If you're all speaking tongues to each other, unbelievers who come in will think you're mad. But if you're teaching in languages that can be understood, unbelievers -- and believers -- will benefit.
- Let ALL things be done for building each other up.
- This means:
- Let there be only 2 or 3 speaking in tongues -- one a a time -- and with an interpreter.
- If there is no interpreter, let the tongues be silent.
- God is a God of peace, not disorder.
- Women should be silent in the churches, thereby showing their subordination. (Another way of maintaining the order.)
- In summary, what I've said is from the Lord. Be eager to teach, while not forbidding speaking in tongues.
- Do all things decently and in order.
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