Almost ten years ago to date I remember standing in front of about 100 people, asking them to open their bibles to Judges 6, preaching for about ten minutes as I nervously cleared my throat, and stumbled through my first sermon. This is the text from which I preached my first sermon. To this day I could locate the tape of that sermon, but I don’t really want to do that. It was a tough night, and hopefully I can say that I’ve learned a bit how to improve in this great and humbling task of preaching.

However, there is something I remember from that night that I do not want to loose no matter how many years I’m able to preach or how much I might improve upon this task. It is the main truth I tried to drive home in those ten minutes, namely, that we desperately need to see our need for God and that we need to rely on him in all things. In fact, I remember consciously thinking that that sermon which I simply titled “Relying on God” should serve as a good theme for the life of ministry that was to follow.

Therefore this text has served for me as a reminder of some thoughts I want to be reminded of continually. And it has been convicting as I have realized how I have often drifted from my clear understanding that night of my great need for God. Therefore, I pray this morning not that we would all somehow walk in all the nervousness that I did that night but that we would leave with as clear an understanding of our great need for God that I had that night. I pray that God might convict us this morning (if we have indeed forgotten this truth) and call us back to himself so that he might use us to build up his church and glorify his name.

Thus, as we turn to the text and walk through it this morning, I want simply to tell the story, pausing at certain points to highlight a truth that we need to grasp and hold close to our hearts this morning.

The story begins where the others before it began as well. Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them again into the hands of their enemy. This time it was the Midianites, and they were quite evil. The text tells us that whenever the Israelites planted their crops the Midianites would come and devour all of their crops just as locusts would come and ravage the land. They would take their sheep, oxen, and donkeys. Thus, as harvest time would come, so would the Midianites, and the Israelites would flee into the caves in the mountains to wait until the ravaging and devouring of their land was over. Then, as it ended, they would come out of the caves with their lives but not much more. Everything they had worked for would have been devoured. Thus, they were crushed, living under this oppression, as the text says, “Israel was brought very low because of Midian” (6:6).

Therefore, Israel cried out to the Lord, asking him to help them. This had been their practice any time they found themselves in a position like this one, and the Lord would raise up a deliverer to come and deliver them. This had been the cycle, which we have witnessed over these past few weeks. But this week the text takes an odd turn. Yes, the Lord eventually does raise up a deliverer to save his people, but first he sends a prophet to them. And the prophet says, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice” (6:8-10).

They were crying out for deliverance from their bondage and oppression and the Lord sent them one to speak his Word. Is this not a lesson for us?

God uses his Word to expose our greatest need (6:1-10)

It is interesting that what Israel thinks they need is relief from their situation. They think they need to get out from under oppression. But in the Lord’s mind what Israel needs is to understand why they are in this situation. They need to understand their sin, the fact that they are engaged in idolatry, and they need to return to the Lord and serve him alone as their God.

Is this not the case in our own lives at times? We find ourselves in difficult situations, we cry out for instant relief from them (thinking that is our greatest need), but our greatest need is to be instructed from God’s Word so that we might become more conformed to the image of Christ. We need above all things to be conformed to the image of Christ, which is done as we are exposed to, convicted by, and transformed by God’s Word to become more like our Savior.

As Ralph Davis has so well written, “We may want escape from our circumstances while God wants us to interpret our circumstances. Sometimes we may need understanding more than relief; sometimes God must give us insight before he dare grant safety. Understanding God’s way of holiness is more important than absence of pain. We may want out of a bind, whereas God wants us to see our idolatry. God means to instruct us, not pacify us.”¹

Maybe you’re in a similar situation right now. Maybe you find yourself in a tough circumstance and for some reason (despite your prayers) instant relief is not found. Quite possibly it is because the Lord is using the situation to draw your attention to his Word, his truth, his commands so that he might give you instruction and make you more like Christ. Therefore, let us be driven today, in our tough circumstances,to God’s Word first that we might expose ourselves to that which can expose our needs beyond that which we can see with our own eyes.

After sending the prophet, however, the Lord does raise up a deliverer for the people. His name is Gideon. The Lord comes to him as he is beating out wheat in a low-lying area so as not to be detected by the Midianites. The Lord finds him, commands him to deliver the people, and sends him on a preliminary mission to tear down altars to other gods. Gideon does this by night because he is afraid that the townspeople will come against him, which they do the next day. However, before and after that event we see something that I think is crucial to see, namely, that the greatest need we have is the Lord. Or, saying it a bit stronger …

Our greatest need is the Lord himself, so we should be desperate for him (6:11-40)

As aforementioned, we really see this in Gideon before and after he tears down the altar to Baal. First, note that the Lord continually assures Gideon of his presence. In 6:12 he addresses him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” In 6:14 he says, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” Then in 6:16 he says, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” Then, Gideon says to the Lord, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speaks with me?” (6:17). The angel of the Lord does as Gideon requested.

Now many have said that this is a poor move on Gideon’s part and that he should have shown greater faith. I’m not sure. The text doesn’t seem to praise or condemn this act. But what we do see is that Gideon is desperate to know that the Lord is the one speaking to him and that the Lord is the one who will work with him to bring it to pass. And it seems that the Lord is eager to assure Gideon of this reality. We see this in all the statements of his presence that we read as well as the fact that he consumes the sacrifice Gideon brings after his comments in 6:17.

And even after Gideon tears down the altar and the Lord protects him, Gideon lays out a fleece twice, asking the Lord to assure him, saying, “Then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said” (6:37). Thus, again, though many may condemn such action by Gideon, what we see in the text is a desperateness to know the Lord will work and the Lord being obliged to do that which Gideon desires.

Let this be a reminder to us as well. Though there may be many things that appear as our greatest need as we go through life, the greatest need we have is the Lord himself, and he has been obliged both to give us his Spirit and to assure us in the Great Commission that he will be with us to the end of the age. Therefore, let us cultivate above all else that relationship with the One whom we need above all others and all things.

Though the Lord, so it seems, is “bending over backwards” to assure Gideon of his work, the next move is surprising. The Lord tells Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me’” (7:2). Then the Lord proceeds to take Gideon’s 32,000 man army down to 300. And even then, before the battle, the Lord again takes it upon himself to assure Gideon that he will defeat the Midianites through his hand by showing him a conversation among the Midianites where they’ve concluded because of a dream, that Gideon will lead an army to destroy them.

But beyond this, we might ask, “Why did the Lord really have to take Gideon’s army down to quite a small number?” Well, the text tells us that the Lord didn’t want Israel to boast over the Lord saying their own hand had delivered them. Or, we might say it differently in light of what we have seen in the rest of the story:

Because God is our greatest need, the Lord is about exalting himself (7:1-8:21)

God is passionate about exalting himself above us. Why? Well, for one he is the most glorious being in existence, so it would be idolatry to treasure and exalt something above himself. But also, there seems to be a message that God exalts himself before his people because he is displaying that he himself is their greatest need. That is, he is holding up before them what they need above all else, not something they can find within themselves, but that it is the Lord who created and redeemed them.

The entire battle itself shows the Lord’s glory and work. Gideon doesn’t even have to swing a sword until the people are already scattering in defeat. Gideon gets the people to divide themselves into three groups holding torches and trumpets. Then as they blew their trumpets and shouted, the text says, “The Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army” (7:22). Now, Gideon does run down the kings and put them to death, but it is quite clear that it is the Lord who is bringing the victory to exalt himself.

God is making clear, as he had promised through his work of reducing Gideon’s troops that he is the one doing this. He is the one exalting himself. He is exalting himself so that Israel would understand not only what they are being delivered from (that is clear as they remember the Midianite oppression) but also what they are being saved to – the Lord. Through the deliverance described in 7:1-8:1, we see that God delivered in such a way that he would clearly not be overshadowed and so that the people would seek and come to him. He is their greatest need and he is holding himself up as the glorious one they should desire and seek.

And we might expect the story to end there, with 8:21, but the story goes on and takes quite a discouraging turn. Gideon is soon asked to be king in the next verse, but Gideon responds, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you” (8:23).

Now, that sounds quite good and indeed is the answer that he should give, for the most part. I say, “For the most part” because you would like to see Gideon tell them that the Lord, not he, should be credited with their deliverance. But the problem is apparent even beyond this. The problem is with the actions of Gideon that follow this statement. For it seems that though he said close to the right thing with his words, his actions were another. It seems that Gideon pursued his personal selfish ambition above the Lord’s glory.

Though Gideon tells them he doesn’t want to be king, he acts as a king. He collects the gold earrings of the people, collecting an amount worthy of a king; makes an ephod for himself (which, even though the function is unclear, honors Gideon and detracts from the Lord); rules from his house; takes many wives and concubines; and names a son “Abimelech” which in Hebrew means, “The king is my father.” This is a complete reversal of the Gideon we find in chapter 6. He is now about selfish personal ambition in exalting himself.

And this leads to an eventual downfall for Gideon, Israel, and Gideon’s family as we see in the rest of the text. This is then another lesson for us.

That which we must make war with is personal ambition in the place of God’s glory, for such is the enemy of God’s desire for us and his people (8:22-32)

Because God is about exalting himself, as he is the greatest need for his people, so selfish personal ambition in our own lives is the direct enemy of the purposes of God. And it will have a negative affect in the lives of all with whom we are involved. For as we lift up ourselves we are naturally lifting ourselves against God, detracting from him, and inviting his people to look to one who is far less glorious and far less satisfying. Gideon lifts up himself in 8:22-32, and because of this, chapter 9 is included in this section to show the devastating results of Gideon’s sin.

As Gideon dies, Gideon’s sons are esteemed until one son, Abimelech, decides to model the sin that he saw in his father. He goes to the people and tells them to exalt him as the sole king and rid themselves of Gideon’s many other sons. Eventually Abimelech is supported and all of Gideon’s other sons are murdered, with the exception of Jotham, who escapes and warns the people that their sin in exalting Abimelech as their king will result in both their destruction and his.

And sure enough, it does. First the people of Shechem turned against Abimelech and began setting up ambushes on passers by, robbing them. This would obviously make the king look bad. Then they gathered and reviled him, and they even plotted his destruction. But when Abimelech heard of it, he took his men and set up an ambush against them. And then led his army agaist them so that many were killed. Then, the leaders of Shechem went into a tower, and when Abimelech heard that all the leaders were there, he and his men set the tower on fire so that they all were killed. And finally as Abimelech encamps around a tower at Thebez to kill more of those in rebellion to him, a lady throws a millstone out of the tower, and it lands on Abimelech, crushing his skull. Therefore, Abimelech asked his armor-bearer to finish him off so that it could not be said that a woman killed him. Thus, as was prophesied, both the leaders of Shechem and Abimelech destroyed each other.

But there is something more here. For the author does not want us to see this as some kind of random flow of events or that which is caused by certain personality contrasts. No, rather he begins this final section writing in 9:23-24, “And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.” Then, the author ends the section writing in 9:56-57, “Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.”

It seems that the author had a primary concern that the reader realize that Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem died by the hand of God, much like the Midianites from whom they had been delivered. But why? I think it is to end this story magnifying the grace of God. For we see in this ending that God is so much for his people that he not only delivers them from captivity from their enemies but they he will also fight for them against themselves. Or to say it differently:

For his own glory and our good, God will not give his people over to their selfish desires (8:33-9:57)

So it is in our lives this morning. God has a goal, that his people become conformed to the image of his Son. And because he is rich in mercy and grace, he will not give his people over even to their own selfish desires but will war against them for his glory and their good.

This story really ends on a note of grace. The people got what they wanted, were told what it would mean, felt the consequences thereof, and yet God still delivered them. He is committed to battle with us for our holiness. Therefore, despite the picture of evil all around, it is God’s magnificent grace and mercy that shines brightest.

So, we see much to learn from this story, but what is its main lesson? Why do we see this story of an evil people delivered by a man who shows himself to be evil as well? I think the answer is so that they, and we, might know that Gideon is not the anticipated Savior and King and what Israel experienced (though they were delivered from the hand of the Midianites who were holding them captive) wasn’t true redemption from captivity. This would come later through Jesus Christ. Throughout this text I think as we read, we should be longing for the one who did come and has redeemed his people, our Lord. Therefore, it is a fitting response to this text to come to the table that we might remember his work and not forget it, that we might live a life of obedience before him. Therefore, let us now come to the table by his grace. Amen.

¹ Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation, 92.

SPIRALING SIN AND MAGNIFICENT MERCY