THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF GIDEON (Judges 8:4-35)
INTRODUCTION:
We have all witnessed the tragedy of someone who has started out well and finished badly. It is always sad and more often than not it affects a lot more people than just the one who finished badly, especially if that person is a leader. We have Old Testament examples of this, two that come readily to mind are King Saul and King Solomon. King Saul’s failure was when he chose to disobey God’s command, first by offering sacrifices he was not authorized to sacrifice and then to disobey God’s command to utterly destroy and devote to destruction the Amalekites. Because of his disobedience the LORD rejected him as king, and he spiraled downward from there seeking to kill David for the rest of his life. King Solomon did likewise when he thought making marriage alliances with surrounding nations was the way to long-term peace and prosperity for Israel instead of a heart that remained true to the LORD his God. Although some believe that his life was not a total tragedy and that he possibly returned to the LORD near the end of his life, but much of the damage had already been done as seen in what happened to the nation of Israel under the reign of his son. Gideon is not a person that we would readily say the same thing about, but unfortunately as we will see today his life follows a similar pattern. In the last three messages we have watched as Gideon moved from hiding from the enemy as he tried to thresh grain in a winepress to becoming the valiant warrior and leader that God wanted him to be. His trust and confidence in God defeated the fear that plagued his life up to that point and when that confidence in God took control of his life this is when we see Gideon at his absolute best. It is this time in his life that makes his introduction into Hebrews 11 understandable, at the end of last week he was definitely a hero of faith. This is not true in our passage this morning, as we will see. Let’s pray and then get into our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Judges 8:4-35, our passage for this morning. I am going to do things a little different this morning and not look at every verse but look more specifically as to what is going on with Gideon. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Judges 8:4-35,
“Then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him came to the Jordan and crossed over, weary yet pursuing. He said to the men of Succoth, ‘Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.’ The leaders of Succoth said, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?’ Gideon said, ‘All right, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will thrash your bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.’ He went up from there to Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered. So he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, ‘When I return safely, I will tear down this tower.’ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about 15,000 men, all who were left of the entire army of the sons of the east; for the fallen were 120,000 swordsmen. Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the camp when the camp was unsuspecting. When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army. Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. And he captured a youth from Succoth and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. He came to the men of Succoth and said, ‘Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?”’ He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them. He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, ‘What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?’ And they said, ‘They were like you, each one resembling the son of a king.’ He said, ‘They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you.’ So he said to Jether his firstborn, ‘Rise, kill them.’ But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, ‘Rise up yourself, and fall on us; for as the man, so is his strength.’ So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments which were on their camels’ necks. Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.’ But Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.’ Yet Gideon said to them, ‘I would request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his spoil.’ (For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) They said, ‘We will surely give them.’ So they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil. The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the neck bands that were on their camels’ necks. Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household. So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon. Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. Now Gideon had seventy sons who were his direct descendants, for he had many wives. His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god. Thus the sons of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.” (Judges 8:4–35, NASB95)[1]
CROSSING THE JORDAN (Judges 8:4)
Many of us cross rivers everyday just driving and do not think anything of it. Although those who were on the bridge in Pittsburgh when it collapsed will remember it for a long time whenever they cross a bridge. There are many different crossings in our lives. Our family is looking forward to crossing some international boundaries this summer in a trip we are taking, and crossing into another country is significant, especially if it is one you have never been to before. Even crossing borders into another country has no moral significance, we are just expanding our horizons by experiencing new cultures. Some crossings have a much greater significance. Many of you can probably remember the moment you heard and believed the Gospel and crossed from death to life, from Satan’s kingdom to God’s glorious kingdom. I do not know the exact day or even how old I was when I first understood the gospel and wanted Jesus to be my Savior. I was attending a Good News Club at the church where my dad was pastor. My mom gave an invitation to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus and I raised my hand. I agreed with God that I was a sinner and I believed that Jesus Christ died for my sins and that He rose from the dead and I crossed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. For the children of Israel crossing the Jordan into the land of Canaan was a moment like this. They had some very important victories on the east side of the Jordan River under the leadership of Moses but crossing into the west side was crossing into the land of Canaan that God had promised to them. This crossing was so important to them that they piled up twelve large stones to mark the place where they had crossed and to remind them of their crossing and so they would remember to tell their children about it.
Our passage this morning also begins with a crossing, Gideon crosses the Jordan in the opposite direction that the children of Israel did under Joshua. Gideon crosses it going out of the land of Canaan. From this point on as we look at the history of Gideon a quite different Gideon begins to emerge. To begin with Gideon did not need to cross the river, if you remember the present trouble had begun when the Midianites and their allies had crossed the Jordan and set up camp in Israel’s heartland, the Jezreel valley and now none are there, they are either dead or have fled. On top of that Gideon has the heads of their two commanders, Oreb and Zeeb. So, from that standpoint, Gideon has already won. But something still drives him on in pursuit of those who have fled. Among those who escaped the sword and made it over the river before the blockade by the Ephraimites are the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, they are first mentioned in Judges 8:5, and it seems that Gideon will not stop, will not rest until they are in his hand also. For Gideon they are the really big prize and for good reason. They represented the highest authority in the enemy coalition and still had a force of 15,000 that had escaped with them. If they were allowed to return to Midian they may regroup and mount a counterattack on Israel in the foreseeable future. For Gideon, this job is not finished until these two kings are in his hands, so he crosses the Jordan river in pursuit of them. From a casual observance his actions make perfect sense. But as we will see there are some causes for concern. This is not quite what it seems on the surface.
WHAT HAPPENED TO GIDEON? (Judges 8:5-21)
The first sign that something is not quite right is the fact that Gideon does not have the following that he had before crossing the river. The men of Naphtali, Asher, and Ephraim who supported him on the west side of the Jordan are no longer with him, they did not follow him over the river. Only the initial 300 are still following him and they are exhausted. When Gideon calls on the men of Succoth and Penuel to support him, they refuse to do so, even though they are Israelites of the tribe of Gad. Second, notice that Gideon is not as diplomatic as he was with Ephraim. When he faced opposition from the sons of Ephraim earlier, he had reasoned with them and made peace. He is not that way now. His request that the leaders of Succoth and Penuel give his exhausted men food was reasonable, but so was their refusal. They had doubts about what Gideon was doing. He only had a small following and the two towns in question should Gideon fail would be exposed, and any retaliatory attack might begin with them. To support Gideon on this campaign was risky, and they had their own citizens to think about. But rather than the diplomacy that Gideon showed to the Ephraimites, he is furious and immediately threatens retaliation. His new style of leadership is beginning to fracture Israel instead of healing her.
Third, in this chapter the LORD is no longer central to what is happening. Gideon refers to the LORD twice but in both cases it is to justify his own actions. The author does not attribute anything that happens in this chapter to the LORD except the rest He gives to the nation. Even in the climax where Gideon comes upon the enemy unaware, it is he, not God, who throws them into a panic. In contrast to what happened in chapter 7, this victory is Gideon’s own achievement rather than God giving Midian into his hand.
Finally, in verses 20-21 we see the man that Gideon has become. Gideon has captured the two kings that he set out to do, but instead of killing them himself he orders his firstborn son Jether to kill them. In the warrior culture of that day this was an honor and effectively marked Jether as Gideon’s favorite and potential successor. Jether, however, hesitates, and how the author describes him here at this critical moment suddenly reminds us of the man his father used to be, “But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid…” (Judges 8:20b, NASB95)[2] When this happens Gideon’s own honor is at stake, and his captives quickly realize this. They taunt him with being weak and challenge him to kill them himself. This is their final act of defiance as Gideon draws his sword and cuts them down. Gideon has proved himself to be a man in contrast to his firstborn son. His son hesitated, Gideon did not; his son was afraid, Gideon was not; his son was weak, Gideon was strong. His son is what Gideon used to be, Gideon is the man he has now become, someone different not only from how he began, but from how he was in all of chapters 6 and 7. God made him what he was then; Gideon made himself what he is now. And his firstborn, Jether, who refuses to be remade in his father’s image, acts as a silent witness to the change that has taken place.
SELF-DESTRUCTION (Judges 8:22-28)
Everything that has happened since Gideon crossed the Jordan in verse 4 leads us to what happens in verse 22. “Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.’” (Judges 8:22, NASB95)[3] Commentator Barry Webb writes, “In other words, assume the authority you are entitled to because of what you have accomplished! Become a king! Establish a dynasty! You have shown yourself to be kinglike by slaying Zebah and Zalmunna. What could be more appropriate than for you to take their royal title? Let the king-slayer become king! You have saved us!”[4] Not all the men of Israel were saying this, the men of Succoth were not, but they were too intimidated to protest. They men of Penuel were not, they were all dead. What a tragedy this is of all that Gideon had been called to be and do. This is exactly what God had sought to prevent in all His dealings with Gideon. How different this is from the great song of praise that was sung in chapter 5 after Barak and Deborah’s victory. There the LORD, the God of Israel had been praised, here only Gideon is praised, a man who has become godlike in the eyes of his followers.
Gideon recognizes that what is happening, what they have requested of him is too much and he tries to redirect their misdirected praise. He says, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.” (Judges 8:23b, NASB95)[5] But it is too late for this, the damage is already done. His actions have sent Israel in a profoundly different direction from the one God had intended, and more and more Gideon himself becomes mired in their drift back to idolatry. He makes a request of the Israelites that they give him one earring each from the plunder they have collected, so they gladly give this to him. He takes what he receives and makes an ephod, seemingly so that he can inquire of the LORD, Israel’s true ruler. But the ephod he makes is much more like an idol than priestly garments, and the whole event turns into a repeat of Aaron making the golden calf, and it has the same tragic outcome. Instead of being a means of honoring God and discerning His will as Israel’s ruler, it becomes an idolatrous object that leads the people further away from the LORD. We are told they played the harlot with it which almost always refers to idol worship. Even more tragic is that Gideon himself and his family are ensnared by it. So, the man who began his career in Ophrah by leading Israel out of idolatry ends that career leading them back into it. Baal, whose altar Gideon had torn down, has answered Gideon’s challenge and looks as if he has overturned the ruling and has prevailed. This is truly a sad ending for a career of a judge that began so well. The fact that “…the land was undisturbed for forty years…” (Judges 8:28b, NASB95)[6] was a pure gift of God’s grace, not something that Gideon or Israel deserved.
THE ROOT CAUSE (Judges 8:18-19)
What was the root cause to this tragic ending to Gideon’s career? What is it that changed to cause him to behave so differently when he crossed the Jordan River? The answer to those questions I believe is revealed in what he says to the two kings of Midian before killing them. Go back to Judges 8:18-19, listen again to these verses, “Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, ‘What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?’ And they said, ‘They were like you, each one resembling the son of a king.’ He said, ‘They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you.’” (Judges 8:18–19, NASB95)[7] From these verses we learn that Gideon had a score to settle with these two kings and he would not rest until he had done so. In the preceding verses Gideon refers to these two kings by their names five times and the narrator has done the same two more times. These names were burned into Gideon’s mind because they had killed his brothers in what must have been an earlier clash on Mount Tabor and Gideon is determined that these two will pay for what they have done. We can see that this has been Gideon’s plan since he crossed the Jordan, it was never about the rest of the Midian army, it was about these two men. In a sense this is quite understandable and even justifiable. The problem is that this was not part of the mission he was given by the LORD. He has been pursuing his own agenda, not God’s, and by letting that take over and control his actions he damaged the very Israel he was sent to save, and he took the focus completely off of God and put it on himself.
CONCLUSION:
This passage is filled with warnings for all of us, but even more specifically this passage is to leaders, those called to lead God’s people. First, this passage is a reminder of how easy it is for a good man to go wrong. We have all heard of church leaders who have fallen, it is scandals like these that make it into the news, not the good that the church does, but let a leader fall and we all hear about it. When a leader falls, they destroy not only their own lives but leave in their path a wave of destruction that is far reaching, and which may never be healed. This is not something that happens overnight but comes slowly and often comes because the leader has neglected the basic disciplines of the Christian life: being daily in God’s Word reading and meditating on it, prayer, confession of sin, accountability to others, which is what our men’s group is, we hold each other accountable. When this person fails, we are witnessing the final outcome of a deterioration of the person’s relationship with God that has been progressing in small steps over a long period of time. Paul said it clearly in our Scripture reading this morning in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12, NASB95)[8]
Second, there is the reminder that some boundaries should never be crossed. Most of these are moral boundaries and we all have a good idea of what they are. The safest way to avoid crossing them is to always stay well away from them. This is why I will not meet with a woman alone it just keeps me far away from those boundaries that should never be crossed.
Finally, there is a warning here about idolizing leaders. We all have people that we admire and maybe we would even like to be like them. But all of them will cross boundaries at times that they shouldn’t, and if we idolize them, they will take us with them. So, if you want the life of Gideon to inspire you make sure that you find that inspiration in chapters 6 and 7 of Judges. It is in those chapters that we see the faith that Gideon is described as having in Hebrews 11. Better even then drawing inspiration from Gideon is to fix your eyes on Jesus. The true climax of Hebrews 11 is Hebrews 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1–3, NASB95)[9] That great cloud of witnesses are all those described in chapter 11, but Jesus should be our real focus. He not only started well, He also finished well. He never crossed any of the boundaries that he shouldn’t have, and He is the only leader we can follow absolutely. May God help each of us to do just that, so that if he entrusts us with leadership, we can truly bless those we lead and not damage them.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]Webb, Barry G., Judges and Ruth : God in Chaos, (Preaching the Word Series). Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.