Judges 7:1-8:17
Judges 7
This chapter has one of the more well-known
stories of the OT. It also gets used for management and discipleship pointers
all the time.
Vs. 2-8 Notice how often you find the words, the Lord said to Gideon. God was very
involved in this action and in guiding this fearful follower.
V. 3 Isn't it interesting that God told
Gideon to let the fainthearted go home? The last sentence where it says, Then 22,000…, the RSV and Luther say
first that "Gideon tested them and then 22,000 returned home." Gideon
did as God said and the people left. Humanly speaking, this says something for
Gideon's faith in accepting God's way of doing things, considering he was
facing a huge army. Later we will see King Saul break faith with God when the
people begin leaving him as he is getting ready to face the Philistines.
Waiting for Samuel to arrive and sacrifice to the Lord was too hard for Saul.
Seeing these 22,000 men leave was just as much a test for Gideon.
I've heard people discuss why the
"lappers" were chosen over the "kneelers," and my
conclusion is that it had nothing to do with one group being better fighters
than the others. God simply wanted the smaller group.
Vs. 9-25 Notice that it was God who told
Gideon to go and listen to the dream (nightmare) being explained. The Lord's
encouragement of Gideon was very gracious. This was good timing too.
V. 18 When Gideon had the men yell out, For the Lord and for Gideon, I think he
included himself because of what he heard in the explanation of the dream. The
enemy army knew Gideon's name.
Notice that once the victory was given,
Gideon engaged the help of the other tribes. Gideon, in a good sense, always
seemed to be thinking of doing what he did with others.
Since God was doing this, He didn't need the
numbers. Actually, God could have fought this war completely without Gideon.
So, why did God need anyone at all? There are some good things for us as
disciples here. One thing that stands out to me is that every generation needs
to follow God and allow Him to give them their own experiences of grace and
deliverance. This event became a testimony to the people, showing them, among a
thousand other things, that the Lord loved them and could deliver them if they
followed Him. We have the Word that tells us to follow and trust God, but God
gives us our individual testimony and stories of His love and power as we trust
and follow.
Judges 8:1-17
Vs. 1-3 This is a strange event and we'll see
this kind of situation again, but not with a happy ending. The tribe of Ephraim
seems to have an awful, aggressive spirit. The issue was not that they wanted
to help, but they wanted the booty, the goods, materials, money, weapons and
livestock they would obtain from the plunder. Gideon is the model of diplomacy.
And, in fact, Ephraim was called and they were raking it in. They were saying
they wanted to have been called to the initial battle to have obtained the
plunder of the Midianite camp. In a few pages, Ephraim will pull this stunt
again with a guy who has just "lost" his daughter. Jephthah won't
think it is funny and he won't back down.
Vs. 4-9 These Israelite towns guessed wrong.
Since Gideon already had the Midianites on the run, these people should have
trusted God and helped him. This lack of faith and disloyalty to God and to
Gideon would prove fatal for them. If Gideon was known to the Midianites, he
was certainly known to his own people. Not to help was the same as refusing to
follow the Lord. It might have been that these towns had seen how many
Midianites had retreated, and were now looking at how few men Gideon had. They
may have been good at mathematics, but it is always better to side with the
Lord and let Him make the final accounting.
Vs. 10-12 Here is where we get the numbers.
The enemy began with 137,000 and were reduced now to only 15,000. Gideon
personally only had 300 men with him and they were about to clean house.
Obviously the victory was from the Lord, in fulfillment of what He had spoken
to Moses in the blessings and curses. If Israel obeyed, one man would be able
to put a thousand of the enemy to flight. It was God who fought. The people
were merely representative and there for clean-up.
Vs. 13-17 Gideon, as a judge, also judged and
gave order to Israel.
I guess my thoughts for us as disciples are
what I shared above. The stories of others may encourage or inspire us, but
what God wants for us is more. As we follow His Word, trusting and obeying Him
in the harvest, He gives us our own stories as we see Him do that which only He
can do. So many of our stories today come from popular writers and the
experiences of the saints of yesteryear. God wants to do things with us in our
part of the harvest that testify to His presence with us and His power to
transform people. We need to follow as disciples, reaching the lost and making
disciples. He will show us it is not by our power, but His. He will receive the
glory as we tell others what we have seen Him do.
Luke 23:13-43
Vs. 13-25 Luke makes it clear that Pilate
really did try to release Jesus, including a massive
"pre-pre-crucifixion" beating to make the Jews feel sorry for Him,
feeling that justice had been delivered. The number of beatings Jesus received
are, humanly speaking, why He needed help carrying His cross and why He died so
soon. The reality is, that if any of us had received those beatings, we would have
never been the same and might have died from the wounds. It might have been
years before we could have done anything public. We would have never been
normal. Here and in John's account, you sense that Pilate was slowly
understanding the deep, irrational, spiritual hatred that was flowing through
that place.
As disciples we would be wise to remember
that this same supernatural, spiritual resistance and hatred are always at
work, sometimes even among the saved. Our praying and serving need to be on a
supernatural level. Reading books on conflict resolution and honing our
communication skills are great ideas, but thinking that we have the wisdom and
skill always to succeed is foolish. We will never equal Jesus and Paul, and
both Jesus and Paul said that our conflict is spiritual, both in dealing with
the world rulers of this present darkness, and with dealing with the
spiritually rebellious and depraved nature of men. Jesus was rejected and Paul
was hounded by pharisaical believers. Our work in the harvest is no "cake
walk," and any advances should be regarded as occasions to worship God for
His grace.
Vs. 26-31 Matthew, Mark and Luke all mention
Simon of Cyrene. What is significant here is that as Luke wrote Acts, the
influence from Cyrene was seen. The men of Cyrene were some of the first gospel
preachers to the Gentiles. And I wonder, like you do, if Simon had some hand in
what happened in the spread of the gospel in Acts.
V. 27 This apparently took place when they
were putting the cross on Simon. Luke is the only one who records Jesus' words
to the women. It seems that His words to them foreshadow the coming destruction
of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. The destruction among the Jews would be
so severe, that the only women who wouldn't lose a child would be the
childless.
Vs. 32-43 In keeping with Luke's interest in
God's grace and the gospel, Luke records the salvation of one of the two
thieves who were crucified with Jesus. The other writers mention that they both
verbally abused Jesus at first, just like all the others did. But in those
hours on the cross, as the leaders paraded before Jesus expressing their
irrational hatred, it must have dawned on one of these men what was happening.
All that he had heard about Jesus came to mind, and even on the cross, as he
witnessed Jesus and the hatred directed toward Him, he believed Jesus was the
Messiah. This guy actually understood and believed that Jesus would be coming
into His kingdom.
To think, that among Jesus' final words on
the cross, there were words of confirming the salvation of a lost person. Even
in His death, Jesus was alert to what the Father was doing around Him. This is
something for us as disciples to think about as we live and die for Christ in
the harvest. Jesus did not wrangle or cry aloud, but His Father used His heart,
His silence, obedience and gentleness, even in His death, to convict others.
Psalms 97-98
We don't know who wrote these psalms, but I
would think they were written sometime just after David became king, as he was
organizing the nation around coming to Jerusalem, to Zion, and to worship.
David appointed singers, some of whom had been with him during those long years
of running from Saul. They would have known David's heart and spiritual
influence and they would have been able to express these influences in worship.
Since David was Israel's sweet singer, David may have had a direct hand in
writing these psalms.
Psalm 97
Vs. 1-5 The earth recognizes that God reigns
and it responds. The earth knows how to respond to God when He comes in
judgment. Apparently men should do the same.
Vs. 6-7 This sounds like Romans 1:18ff.
Interestingly, the heavens (angelic world) proclaim God's righteousness while
God's followers witness His glory. Those who worship idols have the IQ of soup,
and the demons behind idol worship are subject to God's power.
Vs. 8-9 God's choice to be worshiped in Zion,
then and in the Millennium, shows that He is above all creation.
Vs. 10-12 seem to be for His servants and how
we, as disciples, are supposed to respond to the Lord. It is interesting here
to see the love of the Lord spoken of; but then, it is said that if we really
love Him, it will be seen in keeping ourselves from things He hates, and hating
them too. Our joy is to be in His deliverance, His light (His Word and the
Spirit's leading) and His joy as we follow Him.
Psalm 98
Vs. 1-3 This song of joy is for the coming of
God in salvation and judgment. Notice how often salvation is mentioned here.
And look how often the nations are referred to. This reminds me of Romans
16:26, but (the gospel) has now been disclosed and through the
prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command
of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith.
Vs. 4-6 The power of this joy is in proportion
to our grasp of the greatness of the Lord and His salvation.
Vs. 7-9 The perspective is clearly that of
being completely in love with the Lord. Judgment is only mentioned as being
equitable, and His judgment is not to be feared by those who love Him. The real
focus is that He will come, and when He does, everything will be complete and
everything will rejoice at His arrival. This is a good thing to remember as we
work in the harvest and live in a sad, tragic, dying world.
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing, so that by the
power of the Holy Spirit you may
abound in hope.
There is that joy again and it should be
present with us in the harvest.
Proverbs 14:7-8
V. 7 seems to complement 8b, in that the wise
man seeks God in all the events of life to understand God's way and will for
Him. For a wise man, there is nothing that helps him find God's will in the
presence of a fool.
Apparently, a fool's own folly looks like the
right way for him.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/
and click on “Every
Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are
following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging
each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on
Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups
will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with
and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is
still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's
keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you
what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in
fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the
comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding,
that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but
only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
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