Breaking Badly 8: The Book of Judges

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Speaker 1: Well, Welcome to Breaking Badly Episode eight Gideons Victory and Adrift, Part two. What happens when people who once to do God slowly forget him and actually abandoning him, not all at once, not necessarily open rebellion. They still identify with God as people of God, but from God's point of view, they're abandoning him. Little compromises, how it starts, quiet idols and decisions that seem reasonable. Welcome to the world of Judges. The Book of Judges is the story of broken people, bad choices in most cases, and a God who refuses to walk away. He pursues unworthy people. Last time we met Gideon, a frightened man hiding in a wine press, just like the rest of Israel, a man who blamed God for Israel's suffering, probably just like the rest of Israel. And yet a man whom God unexpectedly calls a mighty warrior. There's no reason to think that Gideon had been to the temple the tabernacle, right he is hiding. I wouldn't call him a faithful man, as I said, probably not an elder of your church. Well, today we watch what happens next, and Gideon's story becomes one of the most fascinating and tragic stories of the entire Book of Judges because Gideon's life unfolds in three stages, and those stages tell us something profound about the human heart. Yours and mine, Welcome to Gospel Rant podcast and doctor Bill Sinord YouTube channel. I'm your host, Doctor Bill Sinyord. We're free wherever you get good podcast and of course on YouTube as well, so please subscribe as always, or get a message to me Bill at gospeldaessh app dot com and let me know what you think. Love the feed back. One of the fastest ways you can help us grow is by leaving or sending your comments. Thank you sincerely. Also, thanks for making Gospel Rant podcast one of the top ten percent in the world. Thank you for listening every week. We hope that it helps to regularly hear about God's love for the unlovable like me, unloved like me, unlovely like me, unworthy and likely like you and me, and that's all of us. Right Well, I want to get into this. After a brief word from our sponsors, we'll be right back. The first Gideon stage we saw last week. God told Gideon to do something he could do on his own strength, tear down his father's altar to bail, destroy the Asherra pole, build a proper altar to the Lord. It was risky, oh, by the way, I should point out that, you know. And obviously it wasn't working. The Midianites were still coming, so so much for Bail and Astra, but they were a little more popular some reason than yahweh. Anyway, but the action, the command to tear down the altar was within Gideon's capacity. He could do it, and he obeyed to his credits. I mean he did it at night, I mean, not in the open, still afraid, still cautious, but he did it Stage one, Stage two. Now we move into that stage two. Judges six tells us, then the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. Now this phrase is easy to skim pass, but it's incredibly important. In the Old Testament, the spirit coming upon someone doesn't necessarily mean the same thing we think of today when we talk about salvation or spiritual maturity or acts. Chapter two. Old Testament scholar Bruce Walke describes it as quote an urgent, compulsive force by which God operates at an individual close quote. In other words, it's God's empowerment for a specific calling, a specific mission, a specific quest, not necessarily a mark of morality or moral superiority or faith. We see this elsewhere in scripture. The spirit came upon Baalim, the spirit came upon King Saul, and neither man ultimately walked faithfully with God. So here the spirit think, power, capacity, capability comes upon Gideon for a specific purpose, and in this case it was holy war. Suddenly this timid man hiding in a wine press becomes something else entirely. He blows a trumpet, but he got si. He calls his clan to arms. Again, what was he thinking? Messengers go throughout the tribes Vanessa, asher Zebula, Napthali, and astonishingly, I mean really, thirty two thousand men gather to follow him. I think God had to be involved with that, because, I mean, the first time you get this message is like, who what tribe? Think about it? For a moment, this unknown farmer from a tiny plan has suddenly rallied an army of tens of thousand. Again, that's not charisma, that's the spirit of God. So the plan is coming together, moved and designed by God. It's a quest, but even now, Gideon is still struggling with faith. He asked God for confirmation twice. This is the famous fleece test First, he asked God to make the fleece wet and the ground dry. Parl trick. I mean, it's pretty shameful, but God does it. Then Gideon reverses the test ground wet, fleece dry. God does it again. It almost feels embarrassing and a little pathetic, and yet something remarkable happens here. God accommodates Gideon's weakness. He didn't have to, but he does. I mean, that's mercy, that's grace. God does not abandoned people simply because they struggle with faith or because they lack faith. He still pursues people. Actually, faith is a fruit of the spirit in the New Testament. So he's got a shot here. So you're saying, we've got a chance. Oh my, that should be deeply comforting to many of us. Now the real surprise begins. God looks at Gideon's army of thirty two thousand men. I mean, God's always teaching right, and he says something unexpected. You know, Gideon, you got too many soldiers. What God, have you seen the minion knites and their camel. That's not what Gideon wanted to hear. And God explains why, in order that Israel may not boast that her own strength has saved her. Wow. So God refuses anything that would cause Israel to miss the message. He's going to get credit. So Gideon announces anyone who is afraid may go home, and twenty two thousand men leave immediately. I mean, oh my goodness, that's embarrassing. That alone tells you something about Israel's condition after years of oppression. I mean, that's human nature, I get it. But still, that's that's that's quite a story. But God didn't finish. So now you got the brave ones, right, the ones who are willing to stick around and fight. He tells Gideon to take the remaining soldiers to a stream. Some kneel and drink directly from the water. Others scoop water with their hands. Only three hundred men drink from cupped hands, and God says they are the three hundred, So send the other nine thousand, seven hundred home. Wow. I bet Gideon's head was reeling his reaction. I mean, from thirty two thousand to three hundred against an army had described as locust in number. Well, God knows Gideon is still afraid, so he gives this guy I one more reassurance. I mean really, I'm impressed. He tells Gideon to sneak down to the enemy camp, and there Gideon overhears a Midian Nite soldier describing a dream. A loaf of barley bread rolls into the camp and knocks over a tent. Another soldier interprets the dream, this can only mean the sword of Gideon. Well, that's strange. When Gideon hears this, something finally changes. He worships God. Right, he worships God. That's a miracle. That's a spirit not just giving him capacity, He actually gave him a sense of God's glory, and so he did something. For the first time we see Gideon respond properly. Well. The strategy for the battle is bazarre. Three hundred men surround the Midi Nite camp at night. Each man carries a torch hidden inside a clay jar. At the signal, they smash the jars, and suddenly three hundred torches blaze in the darkness. The men shout, the trumpets sound, the Midianites wake up in total confusion, and in the chaos that you get attacking each other, the entire army collapses. God wins the battle, just as he promised. And this is the pattern we see again and again in scripture. God calls a human someone to attacks that is impossible, and they eventually step forward in faith, eventually, and then God does what only God can do. He wins, and the victory belongs to him, and we tell the stories even today, but he graciously shares the glory with his people. At this point, we might expect something beautiful. Surely, Gideon will lead Israel back to God. He's going to lead the nation to Shiloh to worship God where the tabernacle stands. Right, He's going to restore worship in the land. But no, because a Gideon's heart hasn't changed. Stage three, doing what seems right Judges. Chapter eight marks the beginning of Stage three. Gideon crosses the Jordan River, chasing the middy night Kings. Now that sounds reasonable, that sounds harmless, but it actually reveals something, a fatal flaw in Gideon and maybe most of us. Gideon and his three hundred men exhausted, yet keeping up the pursuit came to the Jordan and crossed it Judges eight four. It seems like a minor thing, but in this huge God's charge to Israel and to Gideon, this is God was very clear. All judicial decisions must be taking seriously into the letter. Remember, there were seven nations that were under God's specific absolute death sentence. This was a specific judgment against specific tribe. The Midianites were not on that list. Now, since they entered the land, they were to be defeated, but not destroyed the Harem. I talked about that in an earlier podcast. The Harem judgment is from the lips of God. It is not to be expanded. Apart from that, there are reasons in God's mind alone. Nevertheless, Gideon does what sometimes leaders do. He crosses the Jordan River in pursuit of the kings to destroy them beyond the charge given, beyond the empowerment of the spirit, apart from the direction of God. And notice that the leadership charisma that was his for his task is no longer there. He goes to the cities and the tribe of God brother Israelites. They don't help here, reacts in anger and violence, vengeance. He says to the men of Sukkote, give my troops some bread. They're worn out, and I'm still pursuing Zeba and Zalmuna, the kings of Midian. But the officials of Sukkote said, do you already have the hands of Zeba and Zalmuna in your possession, Why should we give the bread to your troops. Remember, bread was scarce because of the Minionites. Then Gideon replied, just for that, when the Lord is given Zeba and Zalmuna into my hands, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and barriers. From there he went up to Penniel and made the same request of them, but they answered as the Minnsicot did so, he said to the men of Pinniel, when I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower as Judge is eight five to nine. He ends up slaughtering the Mediannite kings right shaming his son in the process. He then turns on the cities of God, brother Hebrews under the protection of God, and in one case punishes and shames the city elders, and in another case he kills all of the men. This was not the directive of God. We get a clue to one thing that motivates Gideon's angers. It turns out that the Midianites had killed his brothers. These types of things can only be truly dealt with in Shiloh, in the presence of God, in that miraculous staging area, in front of God's face where I must look directly into His justice. Dwells there. Forgiveness dwells there, Mercy dwells there. Vengeance never works unless it's from God. So, metaphorically speaking, Gideon has crossed the Jordan. He's no longer listening or obeying God, no longer filled with the spirit of God directing him, giving him capacity. He's not saying not my will but yours be done. No, he is an angry, vengeful man with a fatal flaw. He's going to do what is right in his own eyes. He's not transformed. It's crazy how quickly victims Gideon become harsh victimizers if given power but not a new heart. Contrasts get in with Deborah, who did not step out of her God given charge and boundaries. Gideon's victim status has been replaced with anger, vengeance, and now the desire for legacy. They will not heal his inner wounds. Only God can. Something shifts the supernatural leadership charisma disappears. The man, once empowered by the spirit, now acts out of anger and wounded pride. After the victory, Israel gives Gideon an offer rule over us. Well, what do you think is going to happen? You and your son and your grandson? In other words, become a king. Gideon says the right words, I will not rule over you. The Lord will rule over you. Yeah, doesn't that sound kosher? But watch what he does next. He asks the people for gold ear rings from the war plunder, and they give him a huge amount, and Gideon uses it to make something shocking, an ephod. An ephod was part of the high priest sacred garment. Right, but Gideon places this ephot in his hometown, right, not at Gilgal, not where the tabernacle is, And the text says all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it, see the fatal flaw. Gideon refused the crowned, but he quietly took something more powerful. He became the religious authority. Now people came to him instead of Shiloh. He had become a spiritual center. Boy we have those in the world today, and people flock to them. He became a rival priesthood to Shiloh, and it's irony. Remember how Gideon's story began tearing down his father's altar, destroying idols, but now Gideon has built his own. Gideon's life ends in tragedy. He father's seventy sons, one of them, a Bimelech, kills sixty nine of his brothers. A Bimelech briefly becomes king and eventually dies violently when a woman drops a millstone on his head, and the cycle of chaos continues. The real problem is Gideon experienced the power of God, he experienced the spirit of God, he experienced miraculous victory, but he never truly lived before the face of God. He never returned to Shiloh, and without that ongoing relationship, he was the same man where God found him in the wine Press, just a more powerful version of himself with a bigger fatal flaw that likely happens often with religious leaders today. Don't you think I'll let you consider that yourself. At the very end of this story, the Bible quietly introduces another family, a family that does go to Shiloh, year after year, even when life feels unfair, even when prayer seem unanswered. This will be the book a woman named Hannah. She comes to Shiloh barren and broken, but she refuses to turn to idols, and from her prayer comes a child, Samuel, the prophet who will lead Israel back toward God. Final lesson Gibeon shows us something important. Miracles don't change hearts. Power doesn't change hearts. Victory doesn't change hearts. Transformation happens in the presence of God. People are only changed at Shiloh before the nose of God, in a posture of submission, in that staging area, right before God's face, where they must look up into his merciful, compassionate eyes, and we're changed. Dramatic victories don't change people. Parlor tricks, magic tricks don't change people. It's being in the presence of God in Shiloh, where empty, fractured cups get filled. What do we do there? We just receive. In Shiloh, we at last find security, worth, sexual identities, glory beyond anything we have ever earned, relationship ships that do not fail. Maybe your relationship with God is based upon a past parlor trick or a past emotion, but nothing since. Well, come as you are, throw up empty hands and plead for more. Come right up to his face, Look up and receive more humanity than you even who existed. Yeah, what's next, I'll let you know after this brief word from our sponsors. Well, that new book is getting great reviews. Good enough parent, it's really hard. Good enough Christian parents feel like so often they're messing things up. Did you know that your child subconsciously is asking two questions twenty four to seven? Don't you want to know what those questions are? Well, i'll tell you. Plus, I've pulled together eighteen biblical, neuroscientifically informed, very doable tips that can help, no shame, no lecturing. Look, take two or three of those tips and run with them. Let me know how it goes. Bill at Gospeldest check it out. Get copies to your church, your youth group, book club, Bible club. They're gonna thank you well. The next episode, we continue exploring the downwards firal of judges and how God continues to pursue his hard hearted people even as their hearts grow harder. We will look at the tragic story of Jephtha, thanks for listening to Breaking Bad. Take Heart, Child of God.