It took a brave woman to awaken the fight in Israel. It took 300 men and a reluctant leader to crush the 120,000 invaders that swarmed the plains of Canaan, scorched the earth and laid siege to Israel.
But God had the last say and they all fell before his own.
The Canaanite king, Jabin, took advantage of another moral relapse in
Israel. The triumph over Ehud was forgotten by the next generation.
Jabin’s captain Sisera, had 900 iron chariots at his command: a fearsome
foe.
However, Deborah (meaning Bee), had a plan to outmaneuver Sisera. She colluded with
Barak from the tribe of Naphtali, who took 10,000 men up Mount Tabor.
God showed her that Sisera would fall to a woman. She did not engage directly, but initiated the
circumstances that led him into Barak’s trap.
After that, she never fought again. She was aware of her limitations,
happy to be a prophetess and judge after the priestly line, but that was it.
Sisera’s forces were destroyed., but he escaped. Then a woman, Yael,
lured him into her tent, gave him milk to make him sleep, and drove a tent peg
through his temple.
Deborah’s song (Chapter 5)
Her song is one of the oldest portions of literature in the bible. It
reveals so much about her personal vulnerabilities. In verse 6 she accepts that
she is a mother first.
In all her song she praises God and takes no credit. Her style of
writing is so feminine that I sense there has been little real change in true
femininity through the ages.
She also lauded Barak and his forces for doing what they did best, but
she was not silent about Yael, whose courage is still remembered in Israel.
She was a very special woman. Her song was set to music and sung in
gatherings, but is full of prophetic language. So inspiring.
The rise of Gideon (Chapter 6)
A war of attrition ensued, the first I know of. The Midianites scorched
the earth, killed livestock and made life miserable for Israel as they covered
the land like locusts.
Then an angel went to Gideon and told him to rise to the moment. His
response says so much. “Lord, where are all the miracles our fathers spoke
about”.
The folklore of the God of Israel was alive in the land and they did speak
much about him, with fondness, but they were not seeing his hand in their crises.
We all feel that way at times. We read about God but battle to see his
hand revealed. It leaves us with deep frustrations and a challenged faith.
Gideon was willing to act, but asked for a sign. The angel then ignited
the offering of lamb and cakes that Gideon brought to him, which was enough.
He was a good man and left his threshing, to do what God required.
The angel then told him to use his father’s bull to knock down his altar
to Baal and to use his other bull to sacrifice to God.
He did it at night with ten of his servants, but when all saw it they
wanted to kill Gideon.
But his father, Joash, got the point and said, “If Baal is a god at all
how come this happened? Let him defend himself.
Accordingly he nicknamed his son “Jerubaal”, meaning, let Baal stand up for himself. It was an important turning point and the mantra became a battle cry.
Accordingly he nicknamed his son “Jerubaal”, meaning, let Baal stand up for himself. It was an important turning point and the mantra became a battle cry.
Gideon was then instructed to attack the Midianites, but he laid a
fleece before God, which was dry in the morning despite the surrounding dew.
The following morning the sign was reversed.
Gideon was on his way. A great
judge arose (chapter 7).
Gideon had 32,000 fighting men at his disposal, but the Midianites far
outnumbered them, so he invited the fearful to go.
God wasn’t happy with the remaining 10,000, who were still too much for the element of surprise needed in his next tactic, so
he had them go down to the river to drink water.
The language used makes it difficult to gauge whether the 300 who
remained, lapped like dogs or stayed on their knees to cup water in their
hands. My view: the majority would likely be on their knees, so the dogs went
to war.
I am not sure a deeper meaning is intended or should be sought: God just
needed a suitable way to reduce the number to 300.
God told Gideon to snoop on the Midianites and heard a man
tell of his dream of a cake of barley rolling through their camp, which his
friend took to mean that Gideon was going to defeat them.
He had had enough signs. He divided his men into 3 groups and gave them
pitch, a torch and a trumpet. The resulting calamity drove the Midianites into a suicidal frenzy.
Every possible resource was then called in to crush the Midianites. Some escaped and two princes remained, but they were duly executed. What a triumphal story.
Gideon pursues the remnant
(Chapter 8)
Having slain 120,000 men, Gideon's 300 pursued the 15,000 that remained.
But they were famished, so he asked the men of Shechem for food, which was
denied.
He carried on and slew the remaining force plus the Midianite kings, to
remove that threat forever. Then he turned back to Shechem and dealt with the
78 elders of that city.
He had his setbacks, but the land knew peace as long as he lived and
then relapsed again.
I certainly sense that the nation was advancing. Their enemies were
being weeded out and the nation was getting stronger. They also held steady for periods of up to 40 years.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
