Incidents in the Life of Gideon
Clifford Henry Brown
Table of Contents
Incidents in the Life of Gideon: Part 1
This afternoon I would like to trace some of the incidents in the life of Gideon-Judges 6.
Before turning to that, perhaps we might read a few verses in the 11th of Hebrews, beginning at the 32nd verse:
"And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of, Jephthah; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens."
Going down to the 39th verse we read:
"And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."
Now turn back to the 6th of Judges. We read from Heb. 11:32 that time would fail to tell of Gideon; that is just exactly the way I feel as I stand here this afternoon.
What a full history is given of this man, Gideon. We could not take the time to read all his history if we expect to have any time left to put together a few thoughts in connection with his life. We find that God raised him up in the history of Israel at a very peculiar time-in the days of the Judges (queer days they were)-when there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
You know when things are like that-every man doing that which is right in his own eyes-everything is wrong. That was the condition back in those days of the Judges. Joshua, the great spiritual leader, had been called off the scene and gathered unto the fathers at the age of one hundred and ten years. A wonderful servant he had been-a faithful man. There arises a new generation; how different now that they do not have a Joshua to lead them. They slumped back into idolatry, the grossest kind of failure and worldliness, and God let them smart for it too.
The ways of God are always consistent with Himself. Dispensations change, but God's character does not. The Word of God says, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Gal. 6:7, 8). This is true of individuals; it is true of families; it is true of assemblies; it is true of states and nations. There is that law at work-God's government. Thank God, it is always tempered with His mercy. That is true; but when you and I go contrary to the revealed will of God, we can expect nothing else than to reap the consequences.
So the children of Israel lapsed back again and again into the most awful idolatry and moral failure. Again and again God sold them into the hand of their enemies, that they might learn their lesson. He allowed them to be ground between the upper and nether millstones of His judgment until there was a measure of repentance; and then He raised up a deliverer for them. Such was the condition with which the 6th chapter of Judges opens.
The children of Israel were in a sad plight. Joshua had brought them into their own promised land; he had divided the inheritance to them. They had promised faithfully that they would see that all the enemies of God were destroyed, but it was only a lip promise. We find at this time that their enemies had the upper hand. The Midianites were swooping in upon them and robbing them of everything they had, from time to time.
"And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass." Judg. 6:4.
That was the condition. They would sow and get their crop ready to harvest, and here would come in all these great hordes, the children of the East, and gather up all the crops; and off they would go and leave the children of Israel in a pitiable condition-"greatly impoverished."
We look around us today and view the Church of God. And when one uses that term (the Church of God), he uses it, I trust, after the thoughts of God. The Church of God is that professing body that is set in this world as the "pillar and ground of the truth"-that which should have supported the great fundamentals of the faith down through the ages of the Church's sojourn here. What do we see as we look around? We see that the "Midianites" have the upper hand. The very fact that in this gathering here today there are so few of us, is a testimony to this condition. The enemies of the revealed truth of God have the upper hand in Christendom around us, and the saints of God have been robbed and robbed and robbed, and are still being robbed!
Sometimes we attend the funeral of a neighbor or friend. I had that privilege (if you can call it that) just recently. A man who stood as the representative of the pastors of God's flock had a splendid opportunity to tell the people assembled about the merits of Christ. If I counted correctly, he mentioned the Lord Jesus once in his address. The greater part of what he said was false to the truth of God. One's heart was woefully heavy as he sat and listened to such a great travesty. The "Midianites" had gotten in their work with that man, and he was passing it on down to another generation. And so today in Christendom, in the professing church of God, it is comparable to the days of the Judges; every man is doing that which is right in his own eyes. But, I repeat, if you find in your heart a disposition to take that course, you are plainly declaring that you are headed for that which is wrong.
The children of Israel were in "bondage," "slavery," "hard put to"; and they did not have enough to eat; they were miserable and they "cried to God."
In the midst of that condition there was a young man. The 6th chapter opens with this young man threshing wheat by his father's winepress. I believe that there is something expressive in that. Gideon was determined that he would have wheat. He was doing it at the risk of his life, that is true; but Gideon, by the grace of God, resolved that he would have wheat He had a right and title to it, and he would have it; and there he was threshing wheat by his' father's winepress to "hide it from the Midianites."
That wheat speaks of Christ, the Bread which came down from heaven, the food for your soul and mine. So here in this young man, Gideon, we see a young man of faith and courage, determined that he is going to have his portion of Christ, if I speak figuratively. I do not say that Gideon had the consciousness of all this, but I believe the Spirit of God indicted it, and that we may take that meaning from it. He is determined to have his portion of Christ.
Dear saints here this afternoon, you are living in a trying age; your lot is cast in a stormy period, and if the Lord tarries and you are left to grow up to middle age and on, I dare say you are going to see serious times-perhaps more serious than you ever stopped to think about. Perhaps some of us who are older may be released from the scene before the storm breaks, but there are dark clouds gathering. I want to impress on you this afteroon, regardless of whatever confronts you in your Christian life from now until you leave this world, whether by way of the grave or the coming of the Lord, your God is able to deliver. That blessed Lord never mocks us; oh no, God does not mock us. He does not call you out from the world and put upon you the blessed, precious name of Christ, and at the same time cast you into the world where you cannot live for Him. He would deny Himself if He were to place you in temptations and surroundings where you could not be true to Christ. So you need not fear the future.
Do not take the attitude that you are equal to whatever comes along; one cannot advise that, but one can say to you that God is not going to permit the trial to overcome you; He will provide a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. So face the future with confidence, but with Christ. If we face the future in self-confidence, there is many a sad lesson ahead for us; and some of us who are older have had occasion to observe this in the lives of those we have known intimately; they are paying heavy tribute to the "Midianites"; they are like Samson grinding in the mills of the Philistines, helpless, seemingly, to extricate themselves; when you try to help some of them, you feel your utter inability. It is one thing to get away from God and get yourself thoroughly into the world, and it is quite another thing to get free and back. These tragedies are strewn all along the way. It is a sobering thought to look into the faces of those present and realize that there may be some here who have already taken the early steps in a pathway like that-those whose feet are already slipping. It is a slippery way. May God give you, in His great grace, to recover yourselves today, that you may just bow to the voice that speaks here, and recover yourselves out of the hand of the enemy.
The Spirit of God introduces in this very chapter, a prophet; he comes to the children of Israel and tells them why they are suffering, though God does not even give us his name—a nameless prophet, but he speaks the truth. He tells them that they had rebelled against their God and His Word. Dear soul, if you are slipping today, it is because the Word of God is being neglected. It is because prayer is being neglected. It is because that soul of yours is not being kept in the sunshine of His love. You cannot go wrong and go on with Christ. If you and I are seeking His face in dependence, seeking to have His 'Word do its cleansing work in our lives, if we are in reality bowing the knee to God in prayer, He will keep us; He will keep you, dear young believer; He will preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom.
Gideon was threshing wheat by his father's winepress, and an angel appeared to him. There is a connection between these two things. The Spirit of God discerned a determination and a holy purpose of heart not to sell out to the enemy; God recognized that and sent His angel to greet Gideon.
"And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." He was not handling a sword, but a flail-a humble instrument. "Thou mighty man of valor." Dear young soul here this afternoon, it means ten thousandfold more to God to see you in the courage and energy of faith enjoying your portion in Christ, than to go over there on the battlefields of Europe and gain a mighty victory; God is far more interested in your spiritual welfare than in any victory you might achieve in this world. These are spiritual battles, and they are going to endure when all the nations locked in this present conquest have passed off the scene forever. They "are counted as the small dust of the balance" (Isa. 40:15). That is the way God thinks of the rise and fall of the nations.
God meets Gideon and commissions him for a great work. "And Gideon said unto Him, O my Lord, If the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us?" v. 13. There is something instructive here. Gideon is not swept off his feet at this moment because an angelic messenger accosts him. He is so absorbed that when he gets this commission as a mighty man of valor, he says, "Why then is all this befallen"-not me- but "us"? Gideon is thinking of all Israel. He is bearing on his heart all that people; he felt the burden of their condition. Have you ever borne up in the presence of God the condition of His people today? Does it form any part of your private program of prayer that the vast majority of God's dear people are in the hands of the "Midianites" and are being robbed and impoverished day after day and week after week? Does it form any part of the burden of your heart and mine? Gideon says, "Why then is all this befallen us?" He identifies himself with the case of the whole nation. That is like a scene we have brought before us in the New Testament-Nathanael under the fig tree. He is brought to Christ, and as the Lord looks at him He says, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" He says, Nathanael, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." What did He mean? The fig tree is a picture of Israel-God's people. No doubt the Spirit of God means to tell us that Nathanael was in prayer and meditation under that fig tree, thinking of the state of the nation at that time, and that is what singled him out; that is what made him important-a true Israelite thinking of the people of God and the sad condition of the nation at that time. The Lord made him one of His disciples.
Incidents in the Life of Gideon: Part 2
The next characteristic we see in this man Gideon, we have in the 14th verse: "And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?"
What was his might? That God sent him! That is all the might you need. If God sends you, if He commissions you, He will be with you; He will be your strength.
Now we find the true state of the man coming out. And he says, "O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel?" What am I? "Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." What a wonderful confession! That is the kind of person God can use. It was Gideon's very weakness that was the source of his strength; that was the reason God appeared to the man; it was the spirit of the man. God as much as says, That is the kind of man I can use. Does not the Word of God say, "When I am weak, then am I strong"? Indeed it does.
"The time would fail me to tell of Gideon"-and so it will—-but we will just anticipate a little.
Further on, he faced the time when there was a whole host encamped against him. What was the difficulty that confronted him? Not that he had too few with him, but he had too many! He got rid of 22,000, then 10,000, and finally simmered down to 300 men (Judges 7). What a tremendous slaughter and cleaning out of the Midianites results from that little handful! It was not multitudes they needed-it was not the power of man's arm they needed-it was not the arm of flesh they needed. They needed to feel their weakness, and when they did, God gave them the victory. It is a grand thing if, by the grace of God, we can go on feeling our weakness. God does not despise weakness.
When the Lord Jesus was here it was said of Him, "A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench." Isn't that lovely? A bruised reed-of what account is it? He will not break it. That blessed, gentle Man would not break that bruised reed. And "smoking flax"-that is a lamp with a flaxen wick. It is smoking-not giving much light. He will not quench it-not put it out. He will tenderly remove the crust and coax it back until it gives light. God does not despise weakness. Saints of God, do not surrender and give yourselves up to indifference because you have little gift, or because there are only a few. Numbers do not count with God; they do not.
Go through the life of the blessed Lord Jesus and see how often you find His ministry to one individual; He was not too busy to sit down and spend an hour with some lone individual man or woman. He was not too big a Man to listen to little children. That blessed Man went up and down the pathways of Galilee and, except for that little trip up around Tire and Sidon, so far as I know, He was never out of that country, save as a Babe in His mother's arms. He was not too busy for the small things of life.
Now we find Gideon knows what communion is, and he brings an offering to God, and God accepts it-perhaps not in the way that Gideon expected, but in a much better way-not as a present, but as a sacrifice. What was the result? Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it Jehovah-shalom -The Lord send peace.
Now there is peace, there is communion, and Gideon can go forth to battle. He is ready to go forth in the cause of his Lord. First, he learned his nothingness, and then he learned that the Lord was his peace; and now he is in a position to do the will of the Lord.
Sometimes when we think we would like to do a little something for the Lord, we are rather disappointed because we find it begins so near home. Is not that the truth? The Lord said to one who wanted to follow Him, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee." Gideon had to start at home, and is that not true with us? What kind of Christians are we at home? What about the home folks? Sometimes we find ourselves in positions very difficult. So did Gideon; his father was an idolater. Isn't that sad? He had an altar to Baal, and Gideon gets the commission to break down that altar and do away with it. That is quite a responsibility, to take his own father's bullock and offer it for a burnt offering, destroy the altar of Baal, and establish the worship of the true God.
Gideon is not a self-confident soul; he has becoming modesty; there is a bit of fear; he is like Timothy, a timid soul. He gathers his company together and says, We will do this by night; I am afraid to do it in the daytime. God bore with that. Dear soul, God will bear with your timidity; He will bear with that kind of thing far better than arrogant self-confidence and pride. So Gideon and his company went forth in the middle of the night and cut down the image of Baal and the grove; and when morning dawned, all had disappeared, and there was the altar to the true God. What will his father say? Did you ever feel that way about the folks at home? Have you a father who is not in sympathy with your stand? You might have those at home who would seek to hinder your following the Lord. Earthly relationships do not count if the glory of Christ is at stake. "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:26. Does that sound extreme? Does it sound cruel? It isn't. The Lord had a right to say that, dear friend. Anything in this world that offers competition in your life and in your heart to loyalty to Christ is a hateful thing, regardless of what it is. We know the Lord does not want you to hate your father, or mother, etc.; but He meant if you were allowing that affection for them to keep you from following Christ, you are to cast it from you as a thing detestable to Christ. The sooner that thing is judged and set aside, the better. God came in and honored Gideon's faith, and many times it is like that. Gideon's father sided in with him. He saw •the folly of it all and said, "Will ye plead for Baal?... if he be a god, let •him plead for himself." We might say his father got converted.
We see in the end of the chapter that Gideon is a timid soul again, and he puts out a fleece; first he wants dew to be on the fleece only and dry upon all the earth; then he wants the fleece to be dry and upon all the ground dew. Do we not marvel at the patience of God! I want to tell you, if my God and Father had not been infinitely patient with me, I would not be speaking to you here this afternoon. He has patience with our weakness, with our timidity, and our failures. He never excuses sin. He has no patience for sins, but for our weakness and failure He has infinite patience. So He answers Gideon according to his request, and now Gideon gets his army together.
We have already seen how he sorted that army down to three hundred men. What marked those three hundred men? When they stooped to drink, they did not put their mouths to the surface of the water, but scooped up the water and lapped, putting their hand to their mouth. Why? I do not know that I am right, but they could not be very watchful with their heads down and lips to the surface of the water; they would not know much about what was going on around them. These men were on the watch, and while refreshing themselves their eyes were scanning the horizon, ready for any surprise the enemy might seek to bring upon them. "Watch" is the word for us. "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13:37)
We are not all alike; some of us too forward and some too backward. Some of us are too timid and some too self confident.
God knew what kind of a man Gideon was, and said to him, "Arise, get thee down to the host;... but if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant" (isn't that nice?). As it were, He says, I want you to slip down and listen to what is going on in the camp of the enemy. They went down and heard a man telling a strange dream: "A cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it," etc. "And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host."
He got his answer from the lips of the enemy themselves, and he and his armor bearer made their way back to the host of Israel. How can they lack any confidence now? When that army of three hundred men started out, it was the strangest army I suppose the world ever saw. They went out with a candle in a pitcher in one hand, and a trumpet in the other; there is not a word about a sword. When the proper signal was given, they broke their pitchers and blew the trumpets and cried, "The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon." The usual way was to have one trumpet for perhaps a thousand men, so when there were three hundred trumpets, the enemy thought they were surrounded by a tremendous multitude and were mad with fear and turned every one upon another in the most awful civil war. Chaos broke out, and they kept at it all night long; and the next morning there were a hundred and twenty thousand corpses. What a scene! What brought it to pass? "The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon." What was his sword? Obedience to the word of God. He followed directions; and dear soul, that is worth, everything. He got the victory. Isn't that wonderful on God's part to include Gideon in that? Oh yes, God is pleased to use human instrumentality. God could get along without any one of us. He could convert every soul that is going to inhabit heaven without you and without the speaker! But He condescends to use us. It is by the preached word that God reaches souls, and we are workers together with God. What a great honor that is! The enemy is put down, and Israel is mightily delivered.
We will hasten on because "the time would fail to tell of Gideon." The people now are not thinking so much about the "sword of the LORD"; they are thinking about Gideon. So long as Gideon was a vessel and felt his nothingness, he got along fine; God was with him; the pitcher was broken, and the light shone out. But now the people begin to flatter Gideon, and they want to make him a king; they want to make something of the servant. Is not that sad? It is a picture of what is taking place around us in Christendom today.
I was a day late in getting to this meeting. I had a funeral service on Saturday. When I got there, a paper was handed me, and I saw there that I was the "Reverend-." Perhaps that causes a smile to go over the audience, but I did not tell it to smile at. What does God think of flattering and exalting titles in the sacred and holy things of God? Turn to Psalm 111:9, and there you will see the Lord addressed as "holy and reverend is His name." I believe that is the only place in the Bible that word "reverend" is used. It tells a story of what has happened in Christendom: making much of the servant, exalting man; but what havoc it has wrought! It is Nicolaitanism; God says He hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans.
They come to Gideon and want to make him a king. "And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you." Isn't that lovely? His answer is orthodox all right, but the man's heart is already away from the Lord; he can utter pious things, but his heart is not right.
"And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; besides ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house." Judg. 8:22-27.
That is sad, isn't it? Gideon was willing to accept a little flattery. He wanted the earrings, jewels, and ornaments taken from the prey; and they became a stumbling block to his people, himself, and his house. There is a warning there for us, dear saints of God. You may be used of the Lord mightily, as Gideon was, but if you do not keep that same meekness and lowliness that characterized him as humble and broken in spirit, you are going to get away from the Lord. When Gideon got away from the Lord, he took others with him. When you get away from the Lord, you are going to take others with you. His own son got into the snare.
God does not say a word about that in the 11th of Hebrews; it is omitted. God is there giving a record of those men as men of faith, not as men of failure; they are going to be in that glorious resurrection in that coming day, "that they without us should not be made perfect." They are candidates for that better resurrection. He passes over all their failure; isn't that lovely! That is the kind of God and Father we have. Down here in this world we have to reap the fruit of our ways. Yes, we do; but thank God, when we get through the wilderness journey, when we are gathered home to the Father's house, we will be there without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
Dear young people, it is a wonderful thing to be a child of God-to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, and to seek according to the measure of our faith to live for Him the little time we are left here.
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