Judges 6:1-8:35
Gideon is a strange character.
He is fearful of men:
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
The Lord had directed him to destroy the false worship amongst his people, for that is why Israel is oppressed. He does it but at night so no one can see.
A doubter of God:
36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised- 37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.”
Gideon is amazing here. He asks God to show him these signs, in spite of Gods promises and the words God spoke.
A servant of God:
22 The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.”
23 But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”
Gideon gets this one right. The people want to set up a monarchy in the line of Gideon. He says we already have a king. God.
A stumbling servant:
24 And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)
25 They answered, “We’ll be glad to give them.” So they spread out a garment, and each man threw a ring from his plunder onto it. 26 The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, [i] not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ necks. 27 Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
Straight after Gideon got it right about God he gets it wrong. Setting up a site of false worship.
A temporary solution:
33 No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals.
You will see this is the cycle that emerges with Israel in the book of Judges. Israel sins, God raises up a judge, God saves his people, the judge dies, Israel sins again.
This is the cycle of sin and salvation.
Our salvation came through one mighty act:
we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Heb 10:10
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