It is hard to believe how far people can fall in their lives. We are certainly able to watch it in the lives of celebrities who seem to have it all only to lose so much due to their foolish ways and sinful decisions. But this is not a problem that only afflicts those who are without God. There are many people in the scriptures who are recorded for us to show the great fall that they experienced so that we would learn from them. Unfortunately, Gideon is one of those men whose life takes a catastrophic turn to spiritual disaster. In our last two lessons we have seen the rise of Gideon by the power of the Lord. We were introduced to Gideon as a man hiding in winepress, threshing wheat in order to hide it from the Midianite invaders. We concluded Judges 7 with Gideon taking 300 men by the power of the Lord and defeating the 135,000 Midianite army with only trumpets and torches.
The majority of Judges 8 records Gideon and his men chasing those who had escaped from their attack. The story of the first 21 verses of Judges 8 is a sad story. As Gideon and his men are in pursuit of the Midianites, the Israelite towns will not support Gideon. Gideon and his men ask for bread and the towns refuse to help or support them. When these Israelite towns refuse to support Gideon, Gideon responds that when he comes back after obtaining victory, he is going to tear down their towers and judge them. Now it is easy to think that Gideon is being harsh and is doing wrong. But I want us to think about a foreshadowing that is being offered. God’s deliverer and his men have come to deliver Israel from their oppression. Rather than supporting God’s deliverer and his men, they mock him and refuse to help. The deliverer proclaims that he is going to achieve the victory without their support and when he returns he will come in judgment. This is exactly what you see Jesus doing when he came. We have seen this in our study of Matthew. Jesus comes as God’s deliverer and Jesus came with his men. Rather than supporting Jesus, they mock Jesus and refuse to join him or help him. So Jesus tells those Israelite people that he will still achieve the victory. But when he comes back, he will judge them for their refusal. This is the warning given to Israel.
The Danger of Success (Judges 8:22-23)
When Gideon comes back to his tribe and his town, he is received like a hero. Notice what the Israelites say to Gideon in Judges 8:22. They want Gideon to rule over them as their king. You can see that they want a new king dynasty to come from Gideon. We want you (Gideon), your son, and your grandson to rule over us because you have saved us from the Midianite oppression. What a turn around in Gideon’s life! From being a nobody hiding in a winepress, now Gideon is being asked to be their king.
By the way, I want to take a moment here to make the point that this is how God operates. God does not take great people and work them. God takes the rejected and the nobodies of the world, changes their lives, and works through them. The people that we think about as faith heroes and faith patriarchs were all nobodies that God used and are now remembered forever. David was the least in his father’s house whose family did not think he could be a king. But God raised up David and made him one of the greatest earthly kings because he was a man after God’s own heart. Jesus chose 12 unknown men to be his apostles and entrust the future of the kingdom and the salvation of the world into their hands. I am just wanting to highlight that we too often think that God cannot use us because we are insignificant and lacking talents. Yet these are the people God choose to do his work. Gideon is a clear example of how God can use us and bring great success for God’s own glory and purposes.
But this puts Gideon in a dangerous position. Now the people want Gideon to be their king and rule over them. Now the people want a dynasty to start from Gideon. Look at Gideon’s answer in verse 23. Gideon says that he will not rule over them and we are not going to start a dynasty. He will not rule over them and his children will not rule over them either. Listen to what Gideon says at the end of verse 23. “The Lord will rule over you.” The Lord is your king! I am not your king! I am not in charge. The Lord is your ruler. This is the right answer. The people have it all wrong. Gideon did not save Israel. God did. God did all the work. God had brought their salvation. God has simply used Gideon but Gideon was nothing more than an instrument in God’s hand.
I want us to think about that this was the very concern that God had. Why did God only send Gideon with 300 men to fight the Midianites? God’s purpose was so that no one would think that Gideon could have done this (cf. Judges 7:2). God’s purpose was so that no one would think that they had delivered themselves. God wanted this impossible victory to cause people to seek God. But rather than the people doing so, they seek Gideon. Rather than drawing closer to God, they are drawing closer to Gideon.
The Failure From Success (Judges 8:24-35)
After giving the proper answer to the people’s request, Gideon has an unfortunate request. Gideon asks for everyone to give him a gold earring from the plunder. Unfortunately this is not just some trinkets to keep as trophies of victory above the fireplace. The amount of gold collected would amount to about 43 pounds. This is an unbelievable amount of wealth. So Gideon says he will not be their king but he starts to act like a king. Requesting gifts is a symbolic gesture of submission to a king, like asking for tribute. The amount he receives is certainly a king’s ransom. To underscore this, we learn something insightful at the end of Gideon’s life. We are told in verse 30 that Gideon had 70 sons because he had many wives. This also looks like he is a king accumulating wives for himself (cf. Deuteronomy 17:17). This is confirmed all the more by the name of one of his children. In verse 31 he names one of his children, Abimelech, which means, “My father is king.” So Gideon says he is not a king but he is acting like one and thinking like one.
But I want you to see what he does with all the 43 pounds of gold. Gideon makes a gold ephod. Now an ephod is something that a priest would typically wear. However, Gideon makes this gold ephod and erects it in his hometown. Unfortunately, this was not a statue to remind the city and the people about all that God had done to deliver them from the Midianite oppression. Rather, it turns into an object for idolatry. The people of the city prostituted themselves by worshiping it and it was a snare for Gideon and his family. This is a near repeat of what happened at Mount Sinai when Aaron asked for the people’s gold to form a calf for worship in Exodus 32.
Now do you see the stunning turn of events? God started with Gideon by having him tear down his hometown idols to Baal and Asherah. The idol was so massive that two bulls and ten men were required to tear down these idols. Then God leads Gideon to victory to free the people from oppression only for Gideon to turn around and reestablish an idol in his hometown, leading the people back into idolatry again. Listen to the sad conclusion to this matter at the end of Judges 8.
As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel. (Judges 8:33-35 ESV)
It all seems like a waste, doesn’t it? The idolatry has returned. The people have returned to Baal worship. The people of Israel did not remember the Lord who had delivered them. They did not even show steadfast, loyal love to the one who had delivered them as a return for all the good that he done for them. The forty years of rest that was accomplished through Gideon by God’s gracious work did not cause the people to turn their hearts fully to the Lord (cf. Judges 8:28).
Messages
So what is God trying to teach Israel and us by recording this catastrophic failure of Gideon and the people? I think one of the key points we are being shown is how easy it is to undo our spiritual progress. The temptation to turn away from the Lord does not stop. There is never a point in our spiritual journey where we have achieved some level by which we no longer have to be careful of temptations or watch out for our souls. There is a constant need for spiritual vigilance. Listen to how the writer of Hebrews gave the warning.
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. (Hebrews 2:1 ESV)
I want us to think about what the writer says. We must pay very close attention to the gospel or else we will drift away from it. The threat to fall back is real and always there. Unfortunately, if you have been a Christian long you have probably seen this. You have seen people that appeared to have great spiritual strength fall back, drift away, or fall away. We are shocked when we see this happen. We are shocked when we see spiritual leaders like elders, preachers, and teachers who know God’s word and are doing God’s work suddenly fall victim to the sins of the flesh. It happens far too often than we want to count. We are left wondering, “What happened?” The answer is that we will drift away if we ever let up. We will drift away if we do not pay even more attention to what we have received in Christ. Listen to what the apostle Paul instructed the Corinthians:
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)
Paul says that we need to check ourselves to see if we are in the faith. I think our initial reaction would be, “Of course we are in the faith!” But Paul says you better examine yourself and make sure that this is true. This is a daily question. We need to see Christ in us or we are failing the test. Paul warns the Ephesians in a similar way.
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk — not as unwise people but as wise — making the most of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16 CSB)
Paul was even concerned about this for himself. He is concerned that he would become disqualified even as he goes around preaching the gospel to the world. He speaks about being careful with his body, disciplining it and practicing self-control so that he does not come up short.
Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:25-27 CSB)
How sad to experience the grace of God and the transformation of his love only to drift away because we did not continue to press forward! Satan is going to work to disqualify us. The temptation to is to not pay close attention to ourselves and to the word of God. Do not lose focus. Do not lose sight of why you are here and where you are going. Do not forget that Satan is trying to deceive us into spiritual laziness. Keep running this race with intensity so that you do not come up short. Do not compromise your faith so that your whole effort in Christ turns out to be for nothing.