DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: 

Gideon Defeats the Midianites 

Judges 6:1-7:25 

Many of you have seen the movie 300, the story of how King Leonidas and 300 fellow Spartans stopped the advance of the Persian army. Today we'll look at another story involving 300 soldiers who defeated a large army that took place more than 600 years earlier.

The Israelites once again are at the bottom of the cycle. They've served Baal and the other gods of the Canaanites, and God has abandoned them to the mercy of the Midianites. I hate to use another movie analogy, but the situation is akin to A Bug's Life. The grasshoppers come every year to take the ants' harvest, leaving them with practically nothing. The Midianites were like the grasshoppers, showing up at harvest time and stripping the fields, orchards and vineyards bare.

We meet a reluctant hero whom God had to push several times. His name is Gideon, which means hewer, or one who chops things down. He's down in a winepress, a pit in the ground used to crush grapes, threshing some grain in the hope that the Midianites won't take it away. It is here that the Angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and said, "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor." Gideon's reaction was who, me, a man of valor!?!?!?! But the angel WAS speaking to Gideon. "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?" Gideon, like Moses before him, is not confident of his abilities. He's from the smallest clan of Manasseh and his father's house is the weakest in the clan. How can he rally all of Israel? But God will work with him and use him mightily.

The Lord told him that night to tear down his father's shrine and altar for Baal and Asherah. Then build an altar to the Lord and sacrifice a bull. Gideon obeyed, but did it under the cover of darkness. Gideon's father took it surprisingly well. Everyone else wanted to lynch Gideon, but Joash said, "If he [Baal] is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down." This episode earned Gideon a nickname, Jerubbaal, which means "let Baal contend with him."

After this Gideon called the armies of the northern tribes together to fight the Midianites. Still not totally convinced of God's promises, Gideon asked for a sign. He placed a lambskin fleece on the ground and prayed that if God was with him that the fleece would be wringing wet with dew while the ground around it would be dry. And that's exactly what happened! But Gideon still wasn't sure, and asked for the opposite sign the next night. He got up the next morning and the ground was wet with a heavy dew, but the fleece was bone dry.

Gideon assembled an army of 33,000 men, impressive but still badly outnumbered. Yet the Lord said that was too many, that if He gave them victory they'd think they'd done it in their own strength. He told Gideon to tell them that whoever is afraid can go home right now. 22,000 men took him up on it, leaving 10,000. God said that was still too many. He told Gideon to take the men down to the river and get them to drink. Most of the men laid down and put their faces in the water, but 300 of them knelt down and brought water up to their mouths in their cupped hands. These men were alert to any danger and in a position to act quickly. God told him to send everyone home but these 300 men.

If Gideon lacked confidence before, he was positively quaking by this time. The odds were against them before, but now they're stacked astronomically high! But God again reassured Gideon. He told him to take his servant Purah and sneak down to the Midianite camp at night. He overheard a couple of soldiers talking about terrifying dreams they had. One of them said, "This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp." The Lord had put fear into the entire enemy camp! They were afraid of Gideon!

Gideon went back to the Israelite camp and woke up his 300 warriors. He divided them into three groups and gave each of them a trumpet, a torch and a clay pot. They were to spread out around the Midianite camp, and at the sound of Gideon's trumpet they were to smash their pots, blow their trumpets and shout "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" They didn't have to attack, because the Midianites started cutting down one another and then fled. The rest of the army chased them down, killing 120,000 enemy soldiers. They also brought back the heads of Oreb and Zeeb, two of the princes of Midian, as trophies! Once again God delivered His people!

By the time of Gideon's judgeship, though, the up-sides of the cycle are lower and the down-sides deeper. While Gideon refused to rule over the people, he did ask them to give him all of the golden earrings they had stripped from their enemies. He melted them down and made a golden ephod (the outer garment that the priests wore). Judges 8:27 says, "And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family." It became an idol in and of itself rather than a reminder of God and His powerful delivering hand on their behalf. Nevertheless Israel enjoyed peace for 40 years. Gideon settled down, got married to several wives and fathered seventy sons. Then he died and the people went back to worshipping Baal.

Gideon's story is a reminder to us of how powerful our God is and how He can use us no matter how weak we may be. Gideon and 300 men defeated the massive Midianite army. God had put the fear of Gideon into them, and they were so terrified that they lashed out against one another. The lesson for us here is that with God we can be bold! Moses said in Deuteronomy 28 that if Israel were faithful that God would scatter their enemies in seven directions. 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." If the love of God is in us there's no room left over for fear. Our enemies, however, including our great enemy Satan, don't have the love of God and are therefore fearful at heart. 1 Peter 5:6-9 says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

Tomorrow we look at one more of the judges, Samson. To say that he was a colorful character is an understatement!

No doubt you've seen Bibles in hotels hospitals and doctors' offices with a logo of a flame inside a clay vessel, with the words "Placed by the Gideons" on the cover. The Gideons started in 1898 when two traveling salesmen were forced to share the last available hotel room in Boscobel, Wisconsin. Both took out their Bibles to read before going to bed, and they realized that they were both Christians. They spoke of the challenges that they faced as travelers, and caught a vision for leaving Bibles in hotel rooms to meet their spiritual needs. They chose the name Gideons because they were small in number and facing a big challenge with the power of God. We won't know until we reach Heaven just how many people have been saved through the ministry of the Gideons.  Enjoy this song, and remember to pray for the work of the Gideons around the world.