Lessons from Gideon

In the recent summer training, some crucial lessons from the life of Gideon were learned. The Bible is very faithful in presenting the success and failure of Gideon. Gideon was raised up by God as His valiant warrior and sent by God to save Israel (Judg. 6:12-14). He was both successful and yet failed terribly. Herein lies the lessons to be learned today.

Reasons for Gideon's Success 

Gideon listened carefully to the word of God, something that was rare among the children of Israel at that time. In this regard, Samuel also learned positive things from Eli, but he also observed the negative things in Eli, and those became a warning to him that preserved him for his whole life. 

In 1 Samuel 3:9-10, "And Eli said to Samuel, Go and lie down, and if He calls you, you shall say, Speak, O Jehovah; for Your servant is listening. And Samuel went and lay down in his place. Then Jehovah came and stood by and called as at the other times, Samuel! Samuel! And Samuel said, Speak, for Your servant is listening."

In Luke 1:38, "And Mary said, Behold, the slave of the Lord. May it happen to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her."

The Lord always wants to open our ears to hear His voice so that we may see things according to His economy. As the Spirit is speaking to the churches (Rev. 2:7a), we all need an opened, circumcised (Jer. 6:10; Acts 7:51), cleansed (Exo. 29:20; Lev. 8:23-24; 14:14), and anointed ear (vv. 17, 28) to hear the Spirit’s speaking.

Gideon obeyed God’s word and acted on it. 

Gideon tore down the altar of Baal (the chief male god of the Canaanites) and cut down the Asherah (the chief female goddess); this touched God’s heart because God hated the idols, which He regarded as men with whom His wife Israel had committed harlotry; intrinsically, an idol is anything within us that we love more than the Lord and that replaces the Lord in our life—Judg. 6:25-28; Ezek. 14:1-3. By tearing down the altar of Baal and cutting down the Asherah that belonged to his father, Gideon sacrificed his relationship with his father and his enjoyment of society to follow Jehovah; for Gideon to do such a thing required that he sacrifice his own interests, and his sacrifice was a strong factor of his success—Judg. 6:28-32.

As a result of the above four factors, Gideon became powerful and with only three hundred men defeated two princes and two kings, who had people “like a locust swarm in number” and “camels…without number” (v. 5; 7:25; 8:10-12); with Gideon we have a picture of a man who lived in union with God, a God-man, to fulfill God’s word and to carry out God’s economy.

Overcomers

The selection of the overcomers is seen with God’s selection of Gideon and the three hundred men to fight with him to defeat the Midianites. God was indicating that He would fight for Israel. From the first selection which resulted in twenty-two thousand leaving, those who left wanted to glorify themselves and were fearful and afraid. The second selection was determined by how the people drank; those who drank directly with their mouth were eliminated by God; those who drank by bringing water in their hand to their mouth were selected by God because they were self-denying persons; by drinking in this way, they were able to watch diligently for any attack by the enemy—Judg. 7:4-6. Self-denying persons who have been dealt with by the cross, sacrificing their personal rest and comfort for the sake of God’s purpose in the day of His warfare were the overcomers, who are absolute for God’s glory and are afraid of nothing except offending the Lord and losing His presence (Exo. 33:14-16); they allow the cross to deal with the self (1 John 3:8; Heb. 2:14; Rom. 6:23; Gal. 2:20).

Reasons for Gideon’s Failure

First, Gideon was not kind; he killed those countrymen who did not support him (Judg. 8:16-17), breaking the sixth commandment of God, "You shall not kill (Exo. 20:13)." Second, he indulged in the lust of the flesh, not exercising any restriction over his fleshly lust; this is indicated by Judges 8:30, which tells us that Gideon had seventy sons, “for he had many wives”; in addition, his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son (v. 31); by this Gideon broke the seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery (Exo. 20:14)." Third, he coveted the spoil of his people (their golden earrings), thereby breaking the tenth commandment, "You shall not covet (Exo. 20:17)", and they surrendered it to him; Gideon made an ephod with the gold he had taken from the people, and this ephod became an idol to the children of Israel; as a result, Gideon’s family and the entire society of Israel were corrupted. 

Gideon’s indulgence in sex and his greediness for gold led to idolatry; greediness is idolatry (Col. 3:5), and both fornication and greediness are linked to idol worship (Eph. 5:5); his failure shows us that we need to exercise strict control in dealing with the matters of sex and wealth.

What lessons to learn from one man, Gideon! In my study of the word, life-study, listening to the brothers' speaking in the training, through the PSRP, and the message review, I went through these points over and over again. The message is very apt for today's generation. On the one hand, it is an encouragement in serving the Lord and yet, on the other hand, it is a solemn warning concerning Giodeon's failure. This is an innoculation against the stratagem of the enemy. I am blessed that the Lord has spoken a frank word to all His children. May His hand also follow His speaking that we all may learn from the success and failure of Gideaon and follow his footstep in his success and take his failure as a warning. 

Praise the Lord for His speaking!