Judges 5:31b-6:32, You are never too weak to do what God has called you to do

REVIEW:


Judges 5:31–6:10 (ESV) —  31b And the land had rest for forty years.
6:1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”


• Again, we see aspects of the cycle on display, what are they?
• Peace
• Doing evil
• Giving them over to their enemies
• Oppression
• Israel cry out
• God sends a prophet
• Also, what is different about the oppressors?
• They do not stay, they repeatedly invade
• They wait until after harvest and like locusts, destroy the land and steal the harvest
• These are Bedouin nomads. They would attack, strip, and leave. This is the earliest instance of the domestication of camel recorded in the bible. It had occurred earlier in the south and east and now spread to the region of Palestine. The Israelites had probably never seen such mobility before (Bright)
• The reason Israel hid their crops in caves and strongholds was to protect them
• What is different about God's response?
• Initially, the God's messenger only corrects them rather than saves them
• Why is God's response different?
• God chastens them with words and explains why they are being disciplined
• It could mean that things were getting worse in Israel
• For some reason, the people needed to hear God's argument. Previously, people understood. Now, God repeats the argument given at the beginning of the book
• In the last section, we had women leading because none of the men would stand up
• Now no one is leading, nor does anyone understand why God is doing this
• APPLICATION: There is a broader cycle happening in the book. The sin is worse. The discipline is worse. Men have forgotten their role of leadership. Men and women have forgotten God's word (probably no one is teaching it)


Judges 6:11–24 (ESV) — 11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.


• So first of all, where do we find Gideon?
• In a winepress threshing wheat (doesn't sound very mighty)
• What does the angel call him and why?
• Maybe, mighty warrior because he was a strong fighting man, but fear kept him from being effective
• Or, mighty warrior because he was to become one
• What is Gideon's response to the Angel of the Lord?
• If the Lord is with us, why is this happening?
• Where are all his wonders we heard about?
• Conclusion: It is God who has abandoned Israel
• It is interesting that Gideon specifically questions the wonders, because he is about to party to a number of amazing miracles (wonders and miracles are a poor substitute for trust)
• God commands him to go and to save Israel, what is Gideon's response?
• He is the youngest in his family
• His clan is the weakest in Manasseh
• In other words, you've chosen the weakest and worst possible person to be the savior
• What is Gideon's focus as he argues against his ability?
• Gideon is looking at natural abilities while all the time arguing for supernatural presence
• What is God's response to Gideon?
• I, the supernatural one, will be with you
• Technically, God is all we really need, but most people don't see it that way
• How does Gideon then reply?
• Gideon asks for a sign (first of four times)
• What does Gideon do?
• He prepares an offering
• Afterwards he builds an altar (acknowledging the presence of God)
• God miraculously consumes the offering for our soon-to-be-judge (more than we know that he did for the other judges)
• APPLICATION: You may consider yourself weak or your insights not important, but a person who is available to God can be used in ways that are unimaginable. Stop thinking about what you are not able to do and start asking God what he wants you to do!
• At this point, the story always immediately goes to the person appointed by God to give his people relief, but in this case it is different ...


Judges 6:25–32 (ESV) — 25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
28 When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29 And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” 30 Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” 31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” 32 Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.


• So, instead of dealing with the Midianites, what does God call Gideon to do first and why?
• Destroy two areas of idol worship and build an altar to God
• The bull is used to tear down the altar and is used as a sacrifice
• The bull is seven years old
• Gideon does accomplish the task but with one proviso, what is it and why?
• He does it at night
• The mighty warrior is fearful
• But he did not do it completely in secret, did he?
• His ten servants would have probably told
• Nor does Gideon defend himself, who does and why?
• His father
• Possibly he did not want to face the crowd
• APPLICATION: Why is this story significant?
• Because idols and sin must be destroyed first in our life before God can use us in others
• Our own house needs to be in order
• In fact, we can't worship God until we stop worshipping other things
• Also, ultimately, Gideon must take a public stand for what he believes. While his father defends him (rather well I might add), Gideon is associated with an act against idolatry
• And, Gideon may have saved his family from idol worship as well