Old Testament Survey – Page 28 – Thoughts on the Old Testament

1 Samuel 1-2

The book of 1 Samuel is a continuation of the book of Judges with Samuel being the last and greatest judge. There are few others as venerated in Israel as is Samuel.

The book of 1 Samuel presents great stories involving Samuel, Saul, and David all the while presenting a portrait of the greatness of God.

First Samuel 1 presents us with problem concerning yet another barren woman. She is loved by her husband, despised by the others, and living a life of misery because she is unable to bear children. We think of Sarai and Rachel as examples of this nature.

Her husband loves her, even though she is barren. She continually goes to the house of God at Shiloh seeking an answer to her prayer. One time she is in the house of God and she is weeping so hard that Eli, the priest, thinks she has been drinking and is drunk. He reprimands her. All through this story Hannah is being reprimanded by her husband, his wives, and, now the one who is to support her in her time of need, the priest. Whom do we know like this? How do we react to them?

After noticing she was weeping due to her barrenness, Eli pronounced a blessing of birth to her. She had a son, named him Samuel, raised him as a nazarite (remember Samson), and delivered him to work in the house of God at age twelve (according to Josephus). It was then and there that God called him to be the last judge over Israel.

As you read through 1 Samuel 2.1-10, read through Luke 1:46-55. The prayer of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2 is very similar to the Magnificat sung by Mary in Luke 1:46-55 with regard to the birth of Jesus.

Directly after Hannah’s song, Eli’s wicked sons are introduced. Here their sin was to extort meals from the sacrifices. Later they attempt to offer a sacrifice that God rejected. From these incidents, God will destroy them on the same day.

What are we doing that is offensive to the Lord? Why hasn’t He destroyed us?

The end of chapter 2 sets the stage for the priest who will be faithful and that priest will be Samuel.

Ruth 2-4

There is so much in the little book that it overwhelms my thinking more than the book of Judges. I fear not doing a satisfactory job and thus belittling the book. To that end, I will finish the book today and pick up the material at a later date yet to be determined.

Ruth shows her work ethic and, after being noticed by Boaz for her determination (and/or beauty), is recognized for her diligence. He then blesses her with privilege in the field giving her permission to go beyond the laws of gleaning, which state the owner of a field is not to pick up pieces that have fallen nor to reap all the field but to leave them for the poor to gather and care for their families. Why don’t we have this law today? I do realize that it would be difficult in this age of technology to have someone pick up our leftover ideas, but it still is worth thinking through. We have the BofA ploy of taking the change and placing it in our savings, why not have those who desire to, whom own businesses, do the same for the poor.

Back to Ruth. Naomi recognizes that Boaz, the man who recognized Ruth’s work ethic, is attracted to Ruth and is a candidate to marry Ruth as a kinsman-redeemer. This is so rich a topic, Jesus is this for us, that I will have to pick up this thought later. Naomi tells Ruth what Boaz already said to her: Stay in his field! She does and God works through her obedience.

Chapter three is fascinating. The cultural aspects of courting are interesting. Basically, Boaz and Ruth plan to marry in this chapter.

Chapter four presents the legal ritual to allow Boaz to marry Ruth. The throwing in of the sandal is a signal of giving up one’s rights to a matter.

Because of God’s work in Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi, the lineage of David is presented. When time allows, I will do justice to this book.

Ruth 1

Ruth provides the era of the judges as the setting for the book. Some have mentioned that Ruth is provided to show that not all was bad during the time of the judges. However, some interesting undertones are found in the first chapter. The first question we need to ask is why the man from “the house of bread” was leaving Israel to live in Moab to find bread.

Moab was cursed by God (research for the source) and for an Israelite to dwell there was restricted. Elimelech takes his family there. This implies he was relying on what God had forbade to provide for him instead of relying on the God who calls Himself “Jehovah-Jireh” (I will provide). Hopelessly he turns to sin for the answer to his dilemma. How often do we lose hope in what God has called us to and search for His answer in our sin?

He leaves due to the famine in Israel. If this were his only reason, he would not have stayed as long as he did. From all appearances, he allows his son, named Sick and Sickly, to marry non-Israelites, another taboo. Interestingly, the three males die and the three women are left to fend for themselves. Because they are not in Israel, there is no one to care for them. She hears the land in Israel is again prosperous and heads back home. Her two daughters-in-law follow her. I wonder if they were ostracized from their people for marrying Israelites?

One of the women, Orpah, returns home and the other woman, Ruth, goes with Naomi.

There is much symbolism in this book that points to what Christ did for us. The rich history of Israel is also enveloped in this book. I am not doing either justice at this point. I will return to the book of Ruth to consider these points in more depth.

Judges 19-21

Today it is my goal to finish Judges with another strange story. I wonder when people read the newspaper two-hundred years from now if it will sound like this.

The book of Judges ends with the logical conclusion to the way it began, that is disobedience, life without a ruler, doing what was right in their own eyes. The last two chapters presented personal idolatry becoming national idolatry. This also sounds like the State of the Union address last night. These next three chapters present another Levite, more civil unrest, and the close annihilation of a tribe. It all began with a family squabble with another family residing in Ephraim (Samaria). It seems as though this is the beginning of a horror movie. Read Judges 19.1-21 in light of that because what follows is horrific. This is what happens when man is left to himself.

The Levite’s concubine, think a wife here, leaves her husband and goes home to Bethlehem because of she was angry. He loves her, chases her, and desires to bring her back home. After some time with her family, they return home. Instead of staying the night in Jebus (later called Jerusalem) because it is populated by the Jebusites, they travel onto a safer city, one that is populated by Israelites.

They arrive in Gibeah, of the tribe of Benjamin. The people show no hospitality, which is a sin. Late into the evening an old man puts them up for the night. This is the setting.

The nation of Israel, at least this group of Benjamites, is practicing homosexuals and ones who wantonly rape male travelers. I will have to research this portion of the Old Testament a bit more because it is, on the surface, hard to explain. The men of the city attack the man’s house in order to rape the Levite. The man would have nothing to do with this. Instead, he offers his virgin daughter and the concubine for the men to rape. This also happened at Sodom and Gomorrah. The men did not want the women but clamored for the Levite. The Levite threw his concubine, think a slave here, to the men who abused her through the night so much so that she died in the morning.

The Levite carried her home, butchers her into twelve pieces, to represent the twelve tribes, and mailed a piece of her to each tribe with a threat.

Chapter 20 describes a sorrowful Israel bringing justice upon the Benjamites. The attempt was to discipline and purge the nation of the sin that was committed in Gibeah. God says to destroy such people from the nation of Israel. What would have happened if the church was living out what God had called her to live out during the last century? Would our nation be different? I believe so. We, the church, are at fault for not standing on God’s Word, doing what He has called us to do. I am not stating that we should have killed all homosexuals. I am stating that if we established orphanages, reached out to homeless, widows, impoverished (Matthew 24-25), that when the time of the sexual revolution began, the voice of the church would have been honored.

Back to Judges 20. Instead of punishing the men who committed the crime, the Benjamites thought it better to go to war against their brothers. Four hundred thousand men fighting against one tribe. Benjamin loses. During this horrific time, the other tribes kept going to God asking Him what to do. In order to discipline and purge, He commanded they keep fighting. Only six-hundred men survived.

Chapter 21 is the ultimate in dating. Since no one who fought could give wives to the surviving men, the tribe of Benjamin would no longer exist. One city did not fight. Because of this, they were to be killed (another item to research). Since they had four-hundred virgins there, these would survive and they could be given to the six-hundred Benjamites. Doing the math, there are two-hundred more men than women.

The plan was to send the remaining uncoupled men to Shiloh to “kidnap” a wife for themselves. This way the tribes would be blameless because they did not give the daughters to them. So, the Benjamites survived.

The telling verse is verse twenty-five: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” When I read this, I read the people did not desire God, so they did what they thought was right, which led to destruction.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to destruction (Proverbs 14.12). What path is our nation, our family, yourself taking right now?

Tomorrow Ruth.

Judges 17-18

Here we go with another strange story from the book of Judges.

Here are two maps to help you see the places: Israel in Canaan and The Kingdom Years.

Here we go with another strange story from the book of Judges.

Here are two maps to help you see the places: Israel in Canaan and The Kingdom Years.

Judges 17.6 reminds us of the times–there was no king in Israel and the people did what was right in their own eyes. I think this is a sad commentary on those days and for these days. We, in areas of our lives, live as if there were no ruler. Not just as individuals as Judges 17 expresses but as a nation as Judges 18 evinces. We live as if there is no God and if we express belief in a god it is a god we have chosen to worship, which can contain aspects of the true God. These passages overwhelm me with grief knowing how far we have fallen personally and nationally. What gods have we created? What do we place above the true and living God? What truth have we distorted?

On with the story. Micah, evidently an Ephraimite, was given silver by his mother who also built him an idol. He took this idol, made his son his priest, and began to worship this idol in his house. Ephraim is what we would know as Samaria. This becomes important when the kingdom is divided. Micah creates his own religion and brings his family into it with the thought that God will bless him because he is worshiping. To validate the religion Micah hires a wandering Levite as his priest. This must mean he fired his son. He believed that someone who calls themselves a priest, even with the lineage, can bring respectability to what is being done. It doesn’t matter, according to Paul in Galatians, if an angel were to come and participate in this religious effort. Paul states flatly that the participants are condemned. No amount of religiosity can validate what God has already condemned. What are we trying to validate that God says to walk away from in His Word?

To make matters worse, the Danites who did not take their land (Judges 1) are now attempting to capture land. They see this idol and this priest and believe that God will bless them in their efforts as long as they have a religion. In the end, they worship this idol and create a shrine to it and worship it as a nation for centuries. This is in the city of Dan north of the Sea of Galilee and will play a large role in the divided kingdom.

There is more to this story that can be expressed: treaties and weakness and bullying, etc. I may cover these in an updated writing.

Judges 15-16

If you remember, the cycle from yesterday was incomplete

Relapse: The people did evil in the eyes of God
Retribution: the Philistines ruled over the Israelites for 40 years
Repentance: Manoah and his wife called out to God for a child. God gave them Samson

Today we will complete the cycle in our study of Samson’s life.

Judges 15 presents the childish side of Samson. In Judges 14 it appeared as if Samson was spoiled in his demand for a Philistine wife. It seemed as if God uses that behavior and turns it for His glory for it accomplishes His purpose. Judges 15 shows Samson throwing a fit because he could not return to the woman he had almost married in chapter 14. When he returned to the bride, her father turned him away because Samson abandoned her. He gave her to the best man, as we see her and at the end of chapter 14. The reason for this may be cultural. I need to look into the cultural back ground for this.

God will also use this tantrum to accomplish His work. Sometimes God uses our sins to accomplish His work. Remember Joseph in Genesis who stated what his brothers intended for evil God used for good. Or, remember Paul’s reminder in Romans 8 that God causes all things to work together for His good (glory).

Samson accomplishes the defeat of the Philistines by burning the fields of the Philistines using torching foxes and setting them loose in the fields. The Philistines retaliate against his almost wife and father-in-law. In the eyes of the Philistines they were married. Samson swears vengeance on them for doing so a thing to his family.

Samson allows the men of Judah to bind him and turn him over to the Philistines as a means of killing them. When he was in the midst of them, he slew one thousand of them in the power of God with the jawbone of a donkey. It is here that the amount of years Samson ruled is given. Notice, though, that it does not state the Israelites were at rest. To finish the cycle:

Relapse: The people did evil in the eyes of God
Retribution: the Philistines ruled over the Israelites for 40 years
Repentance: Manoah and his wife called out to God for a child. God gave them Samson
Rescue: Samson led Israel for 20 years
Rest: None stated

I don’t think the Israelites rested due to the apparent spoiled nature of Samson. He never went to war to defeat the Philistines to remove them from power, he merely threw tantrums and killed many of them. Yet, he is listed in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 and 1 Samuel 12. God can be glorified despite us.

Judges 16 introduces the sin that led him into captivity and his “greatest” victory over the Philistines. He allowed his lust to control him, again, and visited a prostitute. He then “fell in love” with a woman named Delilah. The Philistines use her to find the source of Samson’s strength. The pity of this is that she did what she was asked and that Samson gave into her, even after he realized what she was doing. It appears his pride overwhelms his senses. The other item to pity is that Samson believed his strength was in his hair, not in his God. The Hebrew of verse 19 states that Delilah began to torment him then his strength left him. I wonder what that means.

Because of his sin, the Spirit of God left him. This is unique to the Old Testament. The New Testament shows us that the Holy Spirit is our guarantor of salvation and will not leave us. Here, however, the Spirit leaves Samson and he is powerless. Even for us, who have the Spirit dwelling in us, if we refuse to maintain our fellowship with God as He commands, we are not living in the power of the Spirit and are weak and helpless before our enemies.

Verses 23-31 of chapter 16 presents Samson’s greatest victory and that was in his death. God gave him strength as he called to Him. Although he did this out of revenge, God used it to accomplish His goals.

What would Samson’s life had been like if he used God’s presence in his life in a godly manner instead of a self-centered manner? Would the Israelites have found rest? What about us? What would our lives look like if we submitted more to the Word of God and made our daily, moment-by-moment, decisions in light of Him? Would our area of influence be holier?

Thoughts to ponder.

Judges 13-14

Since I am not covering all the life of Samson today, the cyclical pattern of his life will be seen as complete today and completed tomorrow.

Since I am not covering all the life of Samson today, the cyclical pattern of his life will be seen as incomplete today and completed tomorrow.

Relapse: The people did evil in the eyes of God
Retribution: the Philistines ruled over the Israelites for 40 years
Repentance: Manoah and his wife called out to God for a child. God gave them Samson

Samson takes more space in the book of Judges than any other judge. He is mentioned only in 1 Samuel 12 and Hebrews 11 after chapter 16 of Judges. For a man of such importance and great life lessons it seems odd that he is not even used as an example of what happens when syncretism pervades a person’s life.

Here is a map to help see where the Judges ruled.

Under Jephthah the Israelites had six years of peace. Then came forty years of oppression at the hands of the Philistines. God appointed these people to rule over His people as disciplinarians. If we remember, God allowed the Israelites not to destroy all the people just for this purpose.

When the Old Testament mentions “the angel of the Lord,” as it does here, it is referring to a pre-incarnation of Christ. This is called a Christophany. Read verses 15-23 to see this played out, remembering that only God is to be worshiped and only God’s name is too wonderful. The angel of the Lord informs a barren woman that she will have a son and he should be separated or made holy (a nazarite) to God who will be raised for a specific purpose and that is to deliver Israel from th hand of the Philistines. Wouldn’t it be great if God did this for every mother? He does, but not so specifically. He tells us that we are made to bring Him glory, to choose to let His light shine through us so others will know Him better. Very great calling. How are you doing in your area of influence?

When Manoah, the husband, asks the angel of the Lord what to do, He gives a simple command: don’t drink alcohol and to watch what she eats. I know I would want to know what to do and would question the simplicity of this command. I would question why the command God gave was so basic. We do this today, don’t we? God commands us to read the Word and pray to grow closer to Him. We feel there must be more that we need to do to accomplish fellowship with Him. He tells us that belief in His Son is all that is needed for salvation and the works will follow because we are in His Word and in prayer [in fellowship with Him]. We seem to think we must do something else to be saved (the basis for many cults in this world) or that we must do something beyond what He has done to “keep” ourselves saved when it is He who does all this. Oh, that we were like Manoah and his wife and believe the simplicity of the commands of God.

The story continues in Judges 14 with Samson getting married to a non-Israelite. At first it appears as though Samson is spoiled and demanding. However, we read that God placed this act in the heart of Samson as a pretext to begin the destruction of the Philistines through Samson. In doing this Samson breaks many laws found in the Torah. He marries outside his nation, he touches a carcass, and he eats food from the dead carcass. There are probably more, but I just haven’t seen them yet.

All seems fine until he starts partying too much at the wedding. Is he drunk or what possesses him to make such a wager? Remember, he is not to drink alcohol either for he is a Nazarite. His riddle is good and he is right that no one should have known the answer. The result is the deliverance from the Philistines begins. Samson goes to a nearby Philistine town and kills the inhabitants, takes their clothes, and gives it to the inhabitants of Timnah.

Because his wife proved unfaithful in his eyes, he left her and his best man married her. This will play out in the next chapters.

Sometimes we are called to do strange things that God has called us to do. None of the things Samson was called to do were immoral. They broke ceremonial laws but not moral laws. When God asks us to do things, it will be within His moral laws. We will be mocked and ridiculed by our own group of friends or family because they may see that we are breaking their moral code. We need to realize that we need to obey Him and His Word not that of those around us.

Judges 10-12

The next two judges are not listed with mighty actions but are listed as judging for a combined total of 45 years which is mighty enough. Tola is mentioned as a mighty warrior in 1 Chronicles 7 and Jair is mentioned in a list of importance later in 1 Chronicles.

Judges 10.1-2: The pattern that produced Tola is incomplete. There is an implied relapse, retribution, and repentance due to the sending of Tola.

Rescue: God raised Tola to save Israel
Rest: 23 years of peace

Judges 10.3-5: The same pattern holds for Jair. It is incomplete with an implied relapse, retribution, repentance, and rescue.

Rest: 22 years of peace

In looking at Jair’s method of judging, I see wisdom. He uses his thirty sons as circuit judges ruling more than thirty towns or territories, which allow Jair to judge/rule over all the area without the burden. This is reminiscent of what Moses’ father-in-law Jethro advised him to do in Exodus 18.

A period after these two judges presents the Israelites returning/relapsing to idol worship. This time it is so bad that God washes His hands of His people and refuses to rescue them. He reminded them of what He had already done for them then informed them that He would not do the same again.

They repent, remove their idols, and cry out to God. God hears and brings a deliverer, a judge, to rule over them. Second Chronicles 7.12-22 reminds us that God listens to those who are repentant and will supply a ruler. It also states that He will bring judgment on those who refuse to follow Him. Where does our nation stand? Where does the church in America fall? What about your life?

Judges 10.6-12.7: Jephthah is mentioned as a hero of the faith in 1 Samuel 12 and Hebrews 11. He is a different judge in that he was a social outcast, rejected by his family do to his father’s promiscuity. He was told he was worthless, so he behaved as someone who is worthless would be expected to behave. What we tell others can influence them to become like those whom we described. If I tell my daughter she is a godly girl and full of virtue, she will tend to walk that way. If I tell her she is not smart, she will tend to believe that as valid, whether it is true or not. What are the implications from this in our daily dialogue with others?

When the leaders of the tribes recognized their troubles and Jephthah’s gifts, they called on him. To Jephthah’s credit, he turned to God for help and recognized that his victory would come from God.

Jephthah recounts the history of Israel as his defense to the king of the Ammonites. He knows what God has done for His people. Do we know what God has done for us and through us for others? Do we remember His greatness?

Jephthah’s logic is well-thought. The Ammonites have no basis for attacking the Israelites. So, Jephthah asks the king why he would do this. The king does not answer and is defeated.

The vow Jephthah made should remind us not to make rash vows. We need to take every thought captive to determine if it is alignment with God’s Word (2 Corinthians 10.4-5). He promised to offer whatever came through his doors as a sacrifice, a burnt offering to the Lord, if God gave him the victory. Having only one child, a daughter, who did he think would come through the door? Also, isn’t human sacrificing forbidden by God? Many commentators grapple with this passage and attempt to make it less horrific. We need to remember the beginning of chapter 11. Jephthah is born from the actions his father took with a prostitute. It is commonly held that she was a foreign woman. Jephthah did not live in Israel but in the land of Tob (Syria) where human sacrifices were common. He, in the situation he found himself in, called on God in light of how he was raised to know god. So, it seems as though he did offer his daughter as a burnt offering. This passage states what he did, it does not claim he was right in doing what he did.

Jealousy is evident in Judges 12.1-7. Because of this jealousy, the Ephraimites are almost destroyed. The remainder of Judges contains accounts of judges that are based in the territory of Ephraim. When a study is conducted, at a later date, of Ephraim, it will show that this tribe was the cause of much trouble for Israel. When you picture Ephraim, picture Samaria.

Relapse: the people served the Canaanite gods
Retribution: Philistines and Ammonites oppressed Israel for 18 years
Repentance: The people acknowledged their sins and cried out to God.
Rescue: The son of a prostitute led the people to victory
Rest: 6 years of peace

After all these years and all these troubles the Israelites found themselves in due to their rebellion, you would think they would learn. However, the book of Judges continues and so does the cycle. Judges 12.8 introduces three judges and twenty-five years of time. Each ruled in separate territories, Elon in the north (Galilee), Abdon in the middle (Samaria), and Ibzan in the south (around Jerusalem/Bethlehem). This chapter is the only mention of these three judges in the Scripture. There is no mention of relapse, retribution, repentance, nor rescue. All are implied because a judge was sent.

What can be said of your life? Which portion of the cycle are you in? Are you returning to old ways, being judged because of them, in a period of repentance, is God rescuing you from your sin, or are you in a period of rest? What state do you find yourself in? Tough questions.

Judges 9

Judges 9 reintroduces one of the seventy sons of Gideon (called Jerubbaal here) who is Abimelech (Judges 8). He is listed shamefully in 2 Samuel 11. It is interesting that when something bad is occurring Gideon is called Jerubbaal.

He is conniving and deadly. His desire is to do the one thing his father refused to do. He wanted to be king over Shechem (think Samaria). He brought his mother on board (did James and John do this in the New Testament?) to aid in this plot. She convinced her clan that her son was the best son of Gideon to rule. Abimelech then began the extermination of his brothers. All died except one, Jotham the youngest. God always seems to bring the one back to haunt those who exterminated the others.

Abimelech becomes the name of a Philistine ruler and Jotham is the name of a good ruler of Judah and an ancestor of Jesus (Matthew 1).

Continuing with the story, Jotham pronounces a curse on Abimelech and the cities that promoted him. The curse is interesting to me because Jotham is asking us if we are serving the purpose for which we were created or are we attempting to be something we are not. Or, to quote the Wizard from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, “Be what you is, not what you is not. Folks that are what is, is the happiest lot.” The bramble bush made promises it could not keep. The common method of destroying them was to burn them, thus the curse.

The conclusion of the matter in Judges 9 is that the curse of Jotham is completed as stated. Those who allowed Abimelech to have power were consumed by fire and he would die.

When we attempt to live outside of the purpose for which God made us, our lives are lived for less greatness than He designed. Are you living in the purpose of God? If you do not know what that purpose is, read through passages that offer commands such as Romans 12.1-2, 1 Thessalonians 4.3f, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, etc. Ephesians 6 commands that we do the will of God from the heart.

When we do the known will of God, He reveals more of His purpose and will for our lives.

Judges 6-8

Judges 6 introduces us to Gideon who is only mentioned outside of Judges 6-8 in Hebrews 11 before Barak. However, his alias “Jerubbaal” is mentioned in 1 Samuel 12 along with Barak and this name is used in reference to the next judge, his son Abimelech. Gideon comes onto the scene after “the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” again. The phrase, in the NRSV, “was evil in the sight of the LORD” eight times in Judges, thirty-four times in the history of the kings (mostly in the northern kingdom), and once in Jeremiah. A common phrase that does not occur in the New Testament. I guess we will find out what that is when we get there.

What was the evil? It seems they were worshiping the gods of the Amorites (verse 10). The Midianites and Amalekites were cruel people who would allow the Israelites hope for a season and then would crush that hope by removing from their hands all they had worked for during that season. God is a jealous God who does not allow people to replace Him with that which is not a god at all. His reply in verse 10 to the Israelite’s plea in verse 7 is interesting. He basically tells them that they call to Him as God and yet worship other gods and, it is implied, that He will not listen to their pleading because they do not listen to His. However, they do repent and then He listens. This is something we need to understand as we go through the Scriptures. God hears our pleas/prayers when we are in right fellowship with Him. In order to have fellowship with Him, we need to be in right relationship with Him too. We cannot have fellowship with someone we do not have a relationship with and we cannot have meaningful relationship with someone we are not getting to know on a personal level. This is why, I believe, Gideon went through the measures he did when God called him. If we are in fellowship with someone we know and are getting to know better, when they speak we will recognize their voice. Jesus tells us that His sheep know His voice.

Gideon is wondering who is speaking to him. If you notice, in verse 11-18, he is asking about those things he remembers his ancestors doing. He wants to know where the God of those adventures is and why He is not present with the Israelites. He wants to create his own adventures to remember. God is gracious and gives Gideon a sign and a command to tear down the altar his father has to Baal. This is Gideon’s first test to see if he fears man more than God.

What area of our lives are we being tested to see whether we fear God or man?

To his credit, he accomplishes the task (although under the cover of night).

Gideon then tests God. This is an anomaly in the Scripture. It is not suggest we “throw out a fleece” to determine what God has called us to do.

Judges 7-Throughout the book of Judges, God is intent on letting the people know that He is the one who delivers not the people. Zechariah tells us that it is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit that God produces much. In this section, God hones the army of Israel down from 32,000 to 300. He then commands Gideon to give them trumpets and lamps for battle. With these men and these tactics Gideon conquers and kills more than 100,000 men.

Judges 8 is a strange chapter. People refused to help Gideon in fear of the men he was pursuing. He vows to destroy them for not caring for him and does so after he is victorious over the Midianites. He then asks his youngest son to kill the kings but he does not because he is too young. There is much taunting in this passage.

Gideon is called to be the king. The people ask him and his sons and grandsons to rule over them. He refuses and gives credit to God. The next judge, his son, attempts to be king. Gideon then makes an altar that was not to God. He rules, dies, and the people turn to Baal once more.

The cyclical pattern we see in these chapters is as follows:

Relapse: The people did evil in the eyes of God
Retribution: 7 years of captivity to the Midianites
Repentance: After great persecution, the Israelites finally cried to God for help.
Rescue: God used Gideon to deliver the nation
Rest: 40 years of peace

What do we make a stumbling block for ourselves? How do we prostitute ourselves? When we are gone from our sphere of influence, what legacy will we have left? Who will have drawn closer to God and who will walk away?