The Gideon We Forgot
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.” Judges 8:7 NASB
Will thrash – Gideon begins with humility, fear and anxiety. The famous test of the fleece is really an attempt by Gideon to relieve his unbelief. He begins as a model of piety, obedient but hesitant, “mistrusting his own ability and relying totally on Yahweh.”[1] But Webb is quick to point out that this is not the same Gideon who crosses over the Jordan in pursuit of Zebah and Zalmunna.
“ . . . he presses toward this goal with frenzied determination despite the hunger and weariness of his men and the refusal of the leaders of Succoth and Penuel to give him support. He expects these two kings to be given into his hand as surely as Oreb and Zeeb were (8:7), but in fact there is no indication now of any involvement by Yahweh, and the holy war motifs that were so prominent in the first movement are entirely lacking here (contrast 8:11-12 with 7:21-22). Moreover, Gideon’s diffidence has completely disappeared. He now throws diplomacy to the wind, demanding support from towns on his route with threats of retribution to those who fail to comply.”[2]
Gideon, the chosen rescuer of God’s people, becomes the oppressor, caught up in the vicissitudes of power and personal revenge. The savior of Israel is no more. The human tyrant emerges.
What happened to Gideon? We don’t have to look far to find the answer. God grants victory. Man takes the credit. Oh, perhaps not right away. We defer to the Almighty, piously claiming that it was all His handiwork. But as the crowds acclaim the victor, the seed of power is planted. People turn to saviors for more than immediate relief from danger. Suddenly these chosen ones are thrust into the public spotlight, and even if they provide religious answers, the yetzer ha’ra is quick to take advantage. Soon, very soon, God’s chosen leaders become their own source of authority. They turn roles into titles.
Gideon comes back to Succoth and Penuel and does what he promised. He abuses the population, providing precedence for further tragedy in the next generation. He acts as his own judge. God is no longer necessary—or even wanted. Now the power is his, and he has learned to use it for his purposes.
Be careful, you called-out ones. Gideon may be just around the corner.
Topical Index: Gideon, will thrash, Barry Webb, Judges 8:7
[1] Barry Webb, The Book of Judges, NICOT, p. 265.
[2] Ibid.
“Soon, very soon, God’s chosen leaders become their own source of authority. They turn roles into titles.”… Great insight Skip!
I think the same happens today with this:
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” Ephesians 4:11-12
I think these are roles… but people turn them into titles…
I can see this is precisely why the judges were raised up for specific JOBS; namely, to lead another round of beating back the enemy. This arrangement (our Founding Fathers also agreed that this is the way it works best) was how the Israelites were initially set up to function. Whenever there was a need, a person was “raised up” to fill it. And then you don’t hear any more about that person; they were supposed to go back to their initial function. BUT, to our minds, raised in Greek forms, people, places and things are supposed to conform to ideal forms; static, timeless, and inherently powerful according to their form. Once a king, always a king. Once a holy place, always a holy place. Wait, once a president, always a president? THAT’S not how it’s supposed to work!
The God of the Hebrews works the opposite, the way I read it through my new Skip-colored glasses, anyway. He vests authority in function, not form, and if you want to keep the power (or salvation, or position, etc.), you have to continue to function in that way. The day you quit functioning (following His will), or the day the function is no longer needed, the power cord gets pulled; the silver cord gets broken, and life (and love) move over somewhere else or return back to the One Who made it in the first place.
BUT, isn’t this the way reality really works anyway? Aren’t we the ones constantly attempting to ‘make’ it mean something else; i.e. all attempts to force function to follow form – to make life answer to death and all attempts to rule love from the position of usurped authority (all false social systems and religions do this)? Are we really insane? Can’t we see as clear as the noses on our faces that reality does not work the way we want it to? It doesn’t make any sense when we make a power grab for the reins – when we desire to be the source of love, and force the consequences of connection to route back through ourselves instead of back through our Maker, but it seems that does not keep the entire planet from continuing to try. Oops, including me.
Perhaps one of the reasons we humans retreat from trusting and obeying is not just fear of failure, but fear of success and the less familiar challenge of obedience in the face of blessing. Though the same submission is needed for prosperity as for trouble, we are more easily duped in the former and relax our guard. So many of the heroes of the faith have fatal flaws that showed up in success, and maybe that was their ultimate help back to the God who saves them, though we are not always privy to those latter private moments, except for Samson, or David, etc. Perhaps that is why the cross is so important, a reminder that no matter how successful we may be the cross is always waiting, potential, if we are following Yeshua, keeping us sober about this life, aiming past the present to the joy set before us like our Kinsman Redeemer.
Well said Kathryn. Perhaps one real value of the scriptures is to see the hoped for development of character in the end of the stories of the patriarchs. That is the point of our walk into righteousness. Gideon did not make the grade and become the King that David did. However I note David was called on the carpet by Nathan the prophet in the summing up for his census not his sin with Bathsheba. It seems the use and miss use of jurisdictional authority for rulers is a separate issue in God’s mind from morality.