Judges 7 – 11

I was thinking that since this is a blog, and not a Bible Study, I will only pick the stories in Judges that leaves more impression to me.

Bible Passage:  Judges 7 – 11

From Chapter 7 to 11, there are a few stories, but I would only mention specifically the stories pertaining to Gideon.

Among the Judges, Gideon is one of the better ones. He relies on God and he has faith in God.

God chose Gideon at the start to be the judge of Israel to deliver them from the oppression by the Midianites. When Gideon was chosen, he says he is the least of his household and that his clan is the least of Israel. From this it can be seen that God specifically chosen Gideon who is not only the smallest in his household, but smallest clan in Israel.

It is quite analogous to David as David was one of the smallest in his household until Samuel did not even notice him as the potential king. However, God is a God who looks at the heart. God chooses his servants not based on their outward appearance or their human strength or their status (in this case the packing order of the clans), but their heart towards Him. God rejected king Saul because his heart was not with Him but rather chose David.

In the beginning when Gideon was chosen, he was hesitant and skeptical about it. However, God strengthen his faith by performing miracles like consuming the offering, the dew on the fleece and on the ground and allowing Gideon to hear the enemies’ dream.

All these miracles strengthen his faith, and in the process allowed Gideon to courageously do what God wanted him to do. Sometimes some people may wish for an answer like how God answered Gideon by showing him miracles.

What I feel about this is that God has His own way of revealing Himself to people. For some people, God may perform a miracle for them to believe in Him. In Gideon’s case, God perform miracles to strengthen his faith in Him and to remove his doubts.

This was especially important as Gideon had to have faith in God’s promise in order to deliver the people from the Midianites. For other people God may give the person trials so that the person can turn to God and through the trials their faith and reliance of God can be refined.

During the battle, the Midianites (remeber this name from yesterday’s reading?) were defeated by Israel though the hand of God. This victory was really amazing.

The Israelites only had 300 men and the enemy numbered 135000 men! Even in the movie called 300, there were not so many enemies and these Spartans were ultimately defeated! Moreover, even in modern combat with all the latest weaponary and guns, it is impossible for 300 heavily armed soldiers with the latest gadget to kill 135000 armed men.

Furthermore, this 300 men of Gideon only had trumpets and torches. They did not carry weapons but through faith in God and God’s delivrance, the huge Midian army got defeated by a puny group of 300 unarmed men.

From the Bible it says that the enemy were so afraid and went amok, killing one another. Imagine the horror of the enemies when they could not control their weapons or themselves and let to such mass friendly fire incident. It tells me that anything is possible with God and by trusting in Him, miracles and victories do happen.

The last story that I found interesting was how Gideon talked to Ephraimites. These people were unhappy that they were given less glorious tasks of taking over the watering places. However, Gideon was able to speak encouraging and apt words that dissipated their anger.

Proverbs 12:18
“Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Gideon not only spoke words with wisdom to the Ephraimites, he managed to talk to God in an apt way.

When he wanted to be sure that God will deliver the Israelites, He requested things from God in a respectful way and was humble towards Him.This was pleasing to God and Gideon’s requests were granted. In James, it says that the tongue is like a fire and very difficult to control.

If we have the wisdom of Gideon in our speech, I would think many people will be edified and encouraged.