As I read this chapter today, I wondered about the interpretation of the Midianite’s dream by his friend. What explanation was there for a round loaf of bread knocking down a tent being representative of the defeat of the Midianite’s army by Israel? So I did some further reading.
It turns out that in the original language, the round loaf of bread is a barley cake that hit the tent so hard that it turned it upside down and lat flat.
What’s the difference? It’s subtle, but I think it matters.
Barley was thought of as the food of poor people and animals. The Midianites had long terrorized the Israelites and had most likely destroyed any of the crops that Gideon had been known to tend. So they had been reduced to having to eat barley. Also, the way in which a barley cake was probably prepared was that just a little of the barley flour was mixed with water to make the batter, and then thrown on the coals, producing a not very desirable, very humble meal. And the thought that such a humble little cake could tumble down a hill and hit a Midianite tent with such force that it could overturn and flatten it would seem unlikely and miraculous.
Makes a little more sense now, doesn’t it?
And we know that God prefers to use the humble and unlikely to accomplish His goals. Knowing what you now know about the humble barley cake, take heart if you, dear listener, feel less than qualified to be used by God. In fact, that is right where He wants you. When He calls you, He will enable you, just as He did this tiny group of 300 men willing to follow God.
Don’t you just love hearing the Word of God and digging just a little deeper? I know I do.
You gotta love Gideon. God comes to him, and the first thing he does is question Him.
Excuse me, but if the Lord is with us, why are we having so many troubles?
Pardon me, but how can I save Israel? I’m the youngest one of the weakest family in the tribe.
If it’s not too much trouble, prove to me that you’re really the Lord.
So then God proves that He is God, and Gideon panics! “Oh, Lord God! I’ve seen God face to face!” And God lovingly calms him down. So much so that Gideon builds an altar on that spot and names it “The Lord is Peace”.
You’d think that would settle it, right? Nah. Just before going into battle, the battle that God had told Gideon that He (God) would give him victory in, Gideon asks God for proof that He would indeed bring him victory. Not once, but twice(!) he asked.
We look at Gideon as we read this chapter and say, c’mon Gideon! Oh ye of little faith. Here God appears to you, and you question Him? Not once, but five times in just 40 verses! Dude, what do you want? Criminy!
You know why we have the Bible, right? Yes, it’s God’s way of revealing himself to us, but it also so that we can see that our weakness need not separate us from God. Talk about a weak faith! Five times Gideon questioned God. And God looked beyond his doubts and gave Gideon what he needed to build him up so that He (God) could accomplish something great through this very weak vessel.
Do you feel weak? Do you doubt that God can use you? It is always the weak, frail, damaged vessel that God chooses. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be a pillar of the community or a towering example of faith. God has something that He wants you to accomplish. I am as sure of that as anything in this world. If you are hearing my voice right now, you are on this planet for a God reason. If you know God has asked you to do something, but you’ve been putting off because you don’t feel worthy, get busy. If you don’t know what He wants you to do, ask Him, and keep asking until you get an answer. I guarantee He will answer you. That’s the kind of prayer that He loves.
Wow! What a woman that Jael was, right? While Sisera slept, she put a tent peg, or other translations have it as a nail, through his head and nailed it to the ground. How many men do you think gave her a wide berth from then on?
But let’s remember who this Sisera fellow was. He was the commander of the Canaanite king’s army. He brought nine hundred iron chariots against the Israelites, and he was cruel to them for twenty years. (Remember how those iron chariots frightened the Israelites?) He was the reason the people cried out to the Lord. So his fate was well deserved, wouldn’t you say?
God does not look kindly on those who cause His people harm. Israel was His chosen people, and being the faithful God He is, he will bring punishment to anyone who harms them. It may not be immediate in the way we look at things, but I would not want to be on the receiving end of God’s wrath. Yes, He is a loving God to those who call on Him, but He is also a God of justice to those who are not His.
Today we read a stark reminder of how important it is to pass on our faith from one generation to the next. In Judges 2, verse 10 we read that “…there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.”
Think of it. When the generation that had miraculously been brought into the Promised Land died off, the generation that followed them didn’t know the Lord or the way in which He had blessed and delivered them.
How could that be? So many things had been put into place as reminders, and the people had been instructed to teach their children God’s law and how He had been with Israel. Why did the following generation not know?
Perhaps is was because the generation who had seen first hand had become jaded by the presence of God. Maybe they got so busy in their pursuit of the Promised Land and the subsequent settling in there that they had no time for God and the passing on of the remembrances of His working in their behalf. Or maybe, since they had not completely ejected the Canaanites and the other original inhabitants, they were reticent to “offend” these people by teaching these important, life-giving lessons.
Wait a minute. This almost sounds like what’s going on today, doesn’t it?
Friends, we are living in perilous times. We’re living in a culture that is bent on cowing us into silence. The name of Jesus is offensive to the ears of those who do not know him. We hear of Christians being beheaded because of their faith. The litany of the censorship of Christian beliefs and expressions of faith is long. We must not be intimidated into silence, because it is up to us to pass our faith on to our children, the next generation. The church is always just one generation away from extinction, and how sad it would be to be the one who drops the baton.
Speak up. Teach your children. Tell them how God has changed your life. Be specific. Recollect when He miraculously stepped into a life situation and made a difference. If you can’t remember a time, then begin now to keep a written record so that, going forward, those times are not forgotten. God is intimately involved in each of our lives, of we are His. It’s what He does! Don’t allow His involvement in your life to be forgotten, and don’t be like this generation of Israelites and become jaded to His loving presence in your life. Your descendants’ spiritual survival may depend on it.
Before I get to the thought that I’m left with upon reading this chapter, let me first address the somewhat brutal treatment of Adoni-Bezek upon his defeat by Judah. We are told that they cut off his thumbs and his big toes. You might wonder why they would do such a thing. First off, the reason for cutting off the thumbs is so that he could never again pick up a sword or pull a bow in battle. The big toes were cut off so that he could never again run in pursuit of, or away from an enemy. This sort of treatment was not something that the Israelites normally did, but it was something that Adoni-Bezek had done some seventy times. So this was done to him as a sort of retribution.
We read today of several victories by the various tribes, but also several instances where they were unable to completely rid themselves of the Canaanites.
Had not God promised this land to them? Did he not say that He would deliver their enemies to them? So what’s going on here? Why were they not able?
We’re given a hint in verse 19: And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
Remember hearing about chariots of iron in the book of Joshua? It seems that the tribes of Joseph, Ephriam and Manasseh, were afraid of these chariots. They thought that they could not be defeated. But God had told them that He would deliver their enemies into their hands. Why the fear, then?
Because they did not believe. They lacked faith. And this is at the bottom of why the Israelites were unable to completely rid the promised land of the Canaanites.
And it is the reason why we often have our own Canaanites in our lives. How often are we told in scripture to “Fear not”? Do a search sometime. Over and over again, God says, “Fear not.”
And yet, some of us are riddled with fear. Or we have one iron chariot in our life that we are afraid to deal with.
God says, “Fear not. I am with you always.” If God is for us, who can be against us?
Finishing the book of Judges and beginning the New Testament book of Hebrews.
We find out the consequences of the murder of the concubine, near the end of Judges, and then the book ends with a surprising solution to a problem created by the carrying out of the consequences.
The book of Hebrews begins with the apostle Paul offering a wonderful exposition of the diety and humanity of Jesus.
Today there are many dramatic events, but the bottom line is that God was right when He said that later generations would turn from Him. We see several examples of this today.
As I read this chapter today, I wondered about the interpretation of the Midianite’s dream by his friend. What explanation was there for a round loaf of bread knocking down a tent being representative of the defeat of the Midianite’s army by Israel? So I did some further reading.
Before I get to the thought that I’m left with upon reading this chapter, let me first address the somewhat brutal treatment of Adoni-Bezek upon his defeat by Judah. We are told that they cut off his thumbs and his big toes. You might wonder why they would do such a thing. First off, the reason for cutting off the thumbs is so that he could never again pick up a sword or pull a bow in battle. The big toes were cut off so that he could never again run in pursuit of, or away from an enemy. This sort of treatment was not something that the Israelites normally did, but it was something that Adoni-Bezek had done some seventy times. So this was done to him as a sort of retribution.
