Jottings

The story of Gideon is one in which that word of Scripture is exemplified, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10. 12). We are introduced to him as he is beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites (Judges 6.11). There the angel of the LORD appeared to him and addressed him with the words,

"The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour" (verse 12).

The end of his life was not like the beginning. His success in his victory over the Midianites possibly lifted up his heart. The men of Israel proposed to him that he and his descendants should rule over them. This offer Gideon refused, saying, "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you" (Judges 8.23).

This showed a nobility of spirit and a recognition of Jehovah as the Ruler of His people! Had he ended with this it would have been well, but he requested that the earrings of the defeated Ishmaelites be given to him. These were willingly given and with these and the crescents and pendants and chains from the camels' necks he made an ephod and put it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel went a whoring after it and it was a snare to Gideon and his house. Gideon's divinely given victory and the fruits of it were turned to an evil and Satanic purpose. God was dishonoured in the success He had given to the arms of His people. Such was the gloom which descended upon the end of a great man.

We are in far greater danger in times of triumph than in days of what we think are days of defeat. The danger of our hearts being lifted up and forgetting how great debtors we are to the God of all grace is very real, and it is well to give heed to Paul's words quoted at the beginning of this article. Note that the apostle does not say that we are standing, but his words are, "Let him that thinketh he standeth." Who would have thought that Gideon, a man so mighty in faith and purpose, whose exploits are in the annals of faith, should in the end give way to idolatry?

But we have in Solomon an even greater fall. That glorious king who built Jehovah a palace on Moriah, who wrote and taught so much in his day, whose wisdom was famous among the nations, was at last led by his wives after other gods. We might have said to ourselves had we seen this man standing and spreading out his hands toward heaven before the altar of the Lord and then kneeling there at the dedication of His house, could it be possible that such a man would be an idolater at the end of his days? We might have said, Impossible! But, alas, the calamity came!

"For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father" (1 Kings ii. 4-6).

He also, who had built the house of Jehovah, built high places for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.

"How are the mighty fallen !" and we do well to take heed lest we also fall.

"Beware lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall

from your own stedfastness" (2 Peter 3.17).

In Gideon and others we have a glimpse of the pleasure the Lord has in taking up "the things that are not, that He might bring to nought the things that are: that no flesh should glory before God" (1 Corinthians 1.28, 29). Here was a man who was not looked to as a destined deliverer of his people. When the LORD told him to go and save Israel from the Midianites, he said,

"Oh Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house" (Judges 6.15).

The "poorest" and the "least" were taken up by God to effect His purpose in a great deliverance. Wherein lay Gideon's might? It lay in this that the Lord "looked upon" or "turned towards" him.

"The Lord looked upon (turned towards) him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee?" (verse 14).

The act of the Lord means that He turned His face towards Gideon.

Alas, the very opposite of this took place in the case of Cain, who said, "Behold, thou hast driven me out from the face of the ground; and from Thy face shall I be hid" (Genesis 4.14). Of this he said, "My punishment is greater than I can bear." There can be nothing worse or more awful than to be hid from God's face; it will involve for sinners eternal and outer darkness.

How much the godly in Israel valued the shining of God's face can be learned from the threefold priestly blessing of Numbers 6. 24-27:

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

he Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them."

Who can doubt that the sons of Korah had such thoughts before their mind when they penned the words of Psalms 42. and 43:

"Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him For the health of His countenance."

For this would become the health of their countenance.

"Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him,

Who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

The Lord's word to Paul makes clear this whole matter of His using men as His servants

"My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12.9).

God allowed this man, one of the greatest of all His servants, to be a sufferer by an act of Satan, yet He bore him onward by the strength of all-sufficient grace. Here Paul states a paradox-" when I am weak, then am I strong."

The men of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphthali came together when Gideon blew the trumpet to the number of thirty-two thousand. The Lord said that they were too many for Him to deliver Midian into their hand, so the fearful and the trembling were told that they could return whence they came. Ten thousand were left. These were still too many, and they were brought to the water to be tested as to their powers of self-control. Only three hundred passed the test, a mere handful of men of Israel and as nothing before the Midianites. Yet by these three hundred Israel was to be saved. Truly God's ways are not men's ways. What was the manner of their weapons - empty earthen pitchers with torches inside and trumpets, strange weapons to fight a host of armed men. Yet here was the sequel of the Lord turning His face towards Gideon. God's power was made perfect in weakness, the enemy was destroyed and His people saved.

unknown | Oct 1954
Jottings