A call to arms

Judges 6:34

The rumours had already started, for the 8th year in a row the Midianites were on their way to take the Isrealite harvest (and anything else they liked the look of!). Where once panic and fear would have spread through out the land of Ophrah, now there was something else.

The "baal fighter" was on their side!

Sure, they had no real army or supply of weapons, but this guy was special, even baal couldn't touch him! Maybe the older Isrealites would be comparing him to Deborah.

This was exciting!

'Then the spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon'

The RSV translation can be quite misleading, it says . . .

'The spirit...took possession', suggesting some kind of violent encounter, like with Samson [Judg. 14:6] or with Saul [1 Sam. 11:6].

However, the Hebrew seems to suggest that it's more like 'God's spirit put on Gideon's personality like a garment'.

This is NOT Gideon being clothed with God, but God clothing Himself with Gideon.

Only 2 other biblical characters recieved this unusual description . . .

AMASAI [1 Chron. 12:18]_one of David's generals.

ZECHARIAH [2 Chron. 24:20]_who was THE most unfortunate prophet. After just one message of judgement, he was stoned to death!

Now, as I have already told you, Ophrah didn't have an official army, so Gideon would have to issue a call to arms.

But where to start?

Who would he call?

Love you X

Jerubbaal

GIDEON'S MISSION: TO BUILD UP AS WELL AS BREAK DOWN_

Gideon's first call was a demolishion job, but we must remember that he also had to BUILD and alter to Yahweh.

Destruction then Construction

Here we see Joash viewing the alter with elements of guilt or shame. The realization that he had turned away from God. With his repentance speech we see Joash taking a step back in the right direction. Stepping closer to the Lord.

Gideon's mission didn't just tear down the lies of paganism, it restored the truth of God.

Joash declared . . . "No longer will my son be named Gideon... He is now Jerubbaal. He has wrestled with baal, now lets see if baal will come after him."

So Gideon as gone from a coward hiding in a wine press, to the famous "baal fighter"
Love you X

Market Place

GIDEON'S MISSION_TO LIVE UP TO HIS NAME:

As an Isrealite, it was Gideon's calling to show others to God. To act as a window through which other nations could look through and see God.
As Gideon was cutting down the asshera pole he was living up to his name.

GIDEON means 'one who cuts down'.

Gideon was never meant to hide in the dark.

GIDEON'S MISSION_TO TAKE THE MESSAGE OUT:

Gideon was called to affirm that Yahweh was the Lord God of Isreal in the openess and hustle n bustle of the marketplace. [Judges 6:26]

Secret alters and quiet prayer times are not enough for God. He wants provocative prayer and testamonies.

He wants people who will stand up and be counted.

People who are not afraid to go against the flow or to march to a different beat.

In church today, 1 in every 100 converts come as a result of a special crusade. The same amount come from visitation, the same number again have a crisis and call on the church for help. 3 in every 100 walk into church, hear the message and respond. 5% come through sunday school ministry. 6% come as a result of activities by church leaders.

So where do the rest come from?

Around 80% come as a result of friendship.

The sad thing is that many christians run around, too busy doing stuff in church, that they neglect to live out their faith in the market place.

I've caught myself pre-occupied, serving God in the winepress.

It's time to go to market!

Love you X

Mission impossible

THE WILL OF GOD IN OUR LIVES : LIVING IN THE WHOLE REVELATION OF GOD_

After Gideon's encounter with Melek Yahweh was over he screamed and sobbed and fell to the ground.

Why ?

Some people think that Gideon's theology would suggest that now he had seen God face to face, he must die [Exodus 33:20], although Abraham, Joshua and many others witnessed the Lord and lived to tell the tale.

Others suggest that Gideon, much like Isaiah and Job, was now suddenly aware of his own sinfulness.

Judges 6 : 25&26

This was a BIG task. A 20 man swat team would struggle to demolish the alter of baal in one night.

[A baal alter was found at Megiddo which measured some 26 feet across and 4 1/2 feet high. Made of many stones, cemented together by mud, such an alter would constitute an immense task to destroy and carry away - LEON WOOD]

So Gideon selected some helpers, family servants, hired-help.

This suggests 2 things . . .

*His paid servants were obviously trust worthy.

*He had no friends he could call on for help.

Thats a bit sad.

Love you X

Never forget

THE WILL OF GOD IS FOUND IN MEMORABLE MOMENTS_

Previous to Gideon's culinary escapade, he had asked this man, this Melek Yahweh, this angel of the Lord for some sign to prove his identity.

Gideon had probably forgotten all about his request (pre-occupied with broth!), but the angel had not forgotten.

"Pour out the broth on the ground, put the meat and the bread on that rock".

Throw away the soup? Waste the meat and bread by dirtying it on the floor?

WHY?!

After this miraculous sign was over and the smoke had cleared, Gideon saw that the angel was gone (along with the goat meat and bread!)

So why burn the meal?

Why not eat it? [Gen. 18:8]

Didn't the angel understand the cost of that meal? _ Goats are few and far between (especially in a famine) AND not to mention the precious grain used to make the bread! Grain probably harvested in that winepress with that stupid threshing stick!

It was for this exact reason that the angel of the Lord did this.

Gideon would remember this encounter with God not just for the prophetic words he recieved, but for the things it cost him.

Everytime Gideon saw a goat or looked upon the measely stock of grain HE WOULD REMEMBER.

Love you X

The will of God

THE WILL OF GOD IS DISCOVERED IN THE DIGNITY OF PARTNERSHIP_

From the winepress we can see that God's will is done in a variety of ways . . .

Sometimes we get a straight forward COMMAND from God, like the instruction given to Gideon to become a saviour for Isreal.

Throughout the bible we see countless examples of God's command approach . . .

The Holy Spirit orders Paul to go to Macedonia, Moses obeys the voice from the burning bush.

However, it's wrong to think that this is the ONLY way God communicates his will to us. God is known to take suggestions from US!

Like Gideon's sacrificial meal or Moses suggesting that killing the Isrealites for worshipping idols (again!) would perhaps not be the most productive answer.

Isn't it an exciting ideology? Along side God commanding us to do some stuff, He is also willing to listen to our ideas and in some cases CHANGE His plans!

In no other religion will you find this idea. Nowhere does a god dictate but also care about the opinions of the little insignificants.

NEGOTIATION_ is another aspect to God's will. In the winepress we see that God wants Gideon to demolosh the alters of baal. Now Gideon is willing, but would prefer to carry out this task at night (under the cover of darkness).

"Would that be alright God?"

"Yes" God replies.

Love you X

Friendship and Function

The angel of the Lord offers Gideon (and us) several helpful ideas . . .

THE WILL OF GOD IS FOUND IN GOD_
"The Lord is with you . . ." God doesn't offer instructions or a map with directions. He offers us HIM.

God follows a pattern when calling people to Him.

FRIENDSHIP and FUNCTION

Jesus invites the disciples to follow Him [frienship] and then promises to make them fishers of men [function].

God reveals Himself to Joshua [frienship] and then calls Joshua to get up and cross the river Jordan [function].

God welcomes Gideon "The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior" [friendship] and then equips him "go in the strength you have" [function].

It is possible to live these 2 elements equally together, but it is also possible to be heavy on one side . . .

FRIENDSHIP_ Loves to have fellowship, sing worship songs and read the bible, but has no interest in dirtying their hands with evangelism or meeting the needs of the community.

FUNCTION_ Hurtling themselves around and physically working for God and finally collapse and burn out because that lifestyle has no sustanance that comes from an inner relationship with God.

THE WILL OF GOD IS IN HIS WORDS_

Gideons initial reply to the angel is "why is all this crap happening to us?"

But God had already answered that question before it had been asked. In the law given to Moses, God revealed a 'cause and effect' treaty.

Obey me and I'll bless you.

Forsake me and I will lift my hand of protection from you.

Now before we all jump on Gideon and call him idiot, doesn't his question sound familiar?

Love you X

He's waiting...

So Gideon is kinda convinced that this IS an angel of the Lord.

He wants to make an offering, but doesn't want the angel to 'leg it' whilst he's gone.

Melek Yahweh confirms that he WILL wait while Gideon does what all of us would do at a time like this . . . . he finds and kills a baby goat, cuts it up into sections of meat, makes a 'bovril' style soup from some of it and bakes some bread!

Several hours later he returns to find the angel still there waiting.

The Lord is waiting for Gideon.

The Lord is waiting for US.

Love you X

I am with you

After God reveals His plan for him, Gideon's insecurity kicks in.

"Who me?"

"Our clan is the least in Manasseh"

"I am the least of my family"

God reassures him with a firm . . . "I am with you"

Gods instruction to Gideon to "go in the strength you have" could be misunderstood to mean that God wanted Gideon to save Isreal on his own (through his own strength).
However, this statement "go in the strength you have" is directly connected to "I am with you".
So what God is more likely to be saying to Gideon is . . . .

"Walk in the strength that you have as a result of the revelation that God is with you".

For Gideon, the winepress represented survival and existance, grain for another sad day.

We can fall into this boring cycle too, going to work to earn money to by food to get strength to go to work . . .

But Gideon (and you & I) was born for SO much more.

Love you X

What?...Me?

"You will save Isreal" . . . "Am I not sending You?" _ declares the Lord.

Gideon has a choice to make.

Stay hiding in the winepress or step out in faith.

Gideon had 2 things holding him back . . . . Cynicism [an inability to trust and believe in God or God's people] and Insecurity [an inability to believe in the value of himself].

The Lord is with YOU, Gideon.

Gideon, YOU will save Isreal.

I am sending YOU.

Go in the strength YOU have.

Yes, Gideon . . . YOU.

As christians today, we can look back through the bible and see many instances where God uses 'ordinaries'. Our insecurities make it very difficult for us to have faith that God could use 'little old me'.

We read and hear about great revivals through out history, but can't seem to comprehend that it could happen where we live. It isn't that we don't believe God is love, it's just we struggle with the fact that God loves US.

This was Gideons problem.

Love you X

Nervous fugitive

After Gideon heard the angel speak "the LORD is with you..." he was probably thinking "WHAT?!...Here in this winepress secretely reaping this harvest so that His people won't starve and hiding in fear of the Midianites?"

'Mighty Warrior' (Gibbor hayil) was a term used to describe a group of noblemen famed for their abilities in battle. Hardly a greeting for a guy hiding in a winepress in fear for his life!

Mighty warriors / Mighty men _ was the term used for the heroic companions of David [a little after Gideon, but you'll get the idea!]. There was Jashobeam a Hacmonite who killed 300 men (with a spear!) in one fight; Eleazar son of Dodai who was with David in the stand of Pas Dammin (sounds impressive!); Abishai the brother of Joab who also killed 300 men in one go; Benaiah son of Jehoiada who went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion!

Gideon wasn't known for his achievements on the battlefield or his abilities in politics.

He was a nervous fugitive.

The rabbis didn't teach that Gideon was a brave man.

Love you x

Melek Yahweh 2 [electric boogaloo]

So who was this Melek Yahweh, this angel of the Lord ?

There are many different ideas of who (or what) he is.

Some say its Theophany [a pre-existant Christ]

Others say he's a cheif or an angelic representation of God on earth.

This Melek Yahweh shows up all the time througout scripture....

comforting Hagar [Gen. 16:7-13] / burning bush with Moses [Ex. 3:2] / appearing before Balaam and REALLY upsetting his donkey! [Num. 22:22] / addressing the nation of Isreal at Bokim [Jud. 2:1] / meeting Joshua to change his clothes [Zech. 3:1] A touch from Melek Yahweh sees Herod eaten by maggots! [Acts. 12:23] / A few years after Gideon's story we see the same angel appear to another threshing floor, but this time it's to David [2Sam. 24:16]

But when he appeared to Gideon, he had no sword of vengance, just a simple message of good news.

Love you x

Melek Yahweh

So in hindsight (or from the vantage point of the observer) we know this guy is an angel, but what does Gideon see?

Radient white, shimmering celestial entity with pure white wings and a glowing halo?

No.
Gideon sees a stranger relaxing whilst he is doing all the work!

What does Gideon hear?

A cherub choir of angelic voices proclaiming "Hosanna!" from heavenly heights?

Or even a thunderous roar of the Zion Lion, proclaiming God's awesomeness and power?

No.

He comes to Gideon (and to us) in our boring normal days.

We must be careful how we treat strangers. (Hebrews 13:2)

An ordinary looking God reveals Himself to an ordinary looking man but has some extra-ordinary information.

*Remember_ God comes to the ordinary.

Love you x

Threshing stick

Judges 6:11

Joash (his name roots back to Joseph) means 'Yahweh has given'. This guy is an Isrealite, a man of the tribe of Manasseh, of God's chosen race. But now he worships baal. Although he ain't royalty, he is quiet well off. He has some power, land, livestock and servants. One of his sons is called . . . .

Gideon. His job (at the begining of this story) is to help bring in the 'secret harvest' of grain. Using an old winepress by Terebrinth (sacred tree). If the Midianites found out they would take it for themselves. He was the youngest son (so had nothing going for him!)

Inside the winepress there was no room for oxen or sledges to aid the threshing. They were forced to use a threshing stick to beat the grain and took it in turns. This was a slow, back-breaking process. Gideon would have been humiliated by 1 of 2 things (or maybe both!);

1) The pagan neighbouring tribes couldn't even be bothered to conquer the Isrealites and claim their land. They just sat back, waited for harvest time and swooped in and took the fruits of their labour and left. (A bit like the grasshoppers in the film Antz)

2) The fact of having to use a threshing stick. This was a farm tool used by the poor (Ruth 2:17)

The winepress should have been a place of joy, rejoicing, celebration at the prospect of new wine ("woo hoo! Party!"). But now it was the scene of humiliation, anger, bitterness and fear (?) [Lamentations 1:15 / Joel 3:13]

Now Gideon notices someone watching them working . . . "How dare he! every man should be helping with the harvest!"

More next time

Love you X

For all the cows

From the outset we see that AGAIN the Isrealites did wrong in the eyes of the Lord.

They were stuck in a cycle . . .

Rebellion. Retribution. Repentance. Rescue.

This wasn't just forgetting to say grace before meals or not saying bless you when someone sneezed.

This was heavy stuff.

Despite that the Lord brought them out of slavery from Egypt and constantly tended for them, they turned away AGAIN and began worshipping false gods and idols. They adopted the gods of their neighbours.

Alters dedicated for Baal and Asherah poles were everywhere in the promise land.

The Isrealites had been falling down like this for hundreds of years. Whilst Moses was up talking with God and getting the 10 Comandments, the people were worshipping a golden calf.

Its all about cows.

Baal (Canaanite) is depicted as a bull. Amon-Re (Egyptian) is a bull. Asshur (Assyrian) is a bull.

There was times when the Lord was with the Isrealites (through the Shofets [Judges]) and the neighbouring nations lived in fear of them. And then there are times when they turned away from the Lord and had to live in fear of the pagans.

In history, this is where we find ourselves in the story. The Isrealites are running scared and hiding in caves. Waiting for the inevitable capture, torture, rape, murder.

Ending on a high!

Love you X

Funky Gideon

OK.

The time has come to begin another bible study (using the wonderful media tool known as 'blogging').

Im currently running through various studies in my quiet time (as well as the studies we do at Oakham), these include . . . .

*Exodus _ Egypt to the promise land

*David _ Shepherd to King

*Nehemiah

*Paul's letters

*Genesis (with thursday youth)

*Ephesians (Sunday mornings)

*Esther (Sunday nights)

Plus, my word for today.

But this isn't enough! We need more bible!

So, via this blog, I'm gonna start a study on Gideon.

I don't know much about Gideon (hence the study!) other than he is one of the judges in the book of Judges and he was a bit of a wuss AND he leaves little bibles in hotels!

So, we set the scene with the Isrealites (God's chosen race) to-ing and fro-ing between worshiping the LORD and various other false gods. Everytime they turn from God something bad happens, everytime something bad happens the turn back to God and cry out to Him for help. (this happens a lot in the whole of the old testament!)

God hears their cries and sends a saviour (of Judge) to help the out. Already in this book we have seen the Isrealites screw up at least 4 times, and God has sent 'judges' to help out (Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar and Deborah).

To help keep the story of Gideon moving AND to keep it relevant to life today I shall be adopting a method called Midrashim.

Midrashim is a teaching (storytelling) method that Rabbis have used since forever. It simply means "to inquire" or "to go in search of", a Rabbi would basically look at how a story could be brought up to date or made more accessable to people here and now.

My next blog will see the start of our study into Gideon. So please familiarize yourself with history [his story] Judges 6,7 & 8.

Also please use this blog to voice your points of view or for any questions through the comments, any feed back will be much appreciated.

Love you X

Questions . . .

I lent a book from Pete's imense library.

It's a book about the questions Jesus asked and why He asked them.

It's a really good book with many interesting ideas for discussion.

I love the different sides to Jesus.

He had so many opposite emotions (or attributes).

I love the way He almost always answered their questions with more questions.

It has opened my eyes to the life of Jesus and how He was so much more than a healer or good teacher.

This will make a very good future sermon or bible study.

Love you x