This past week, the family and I looked at another Agent of SMASH. Gideon. What a story this guy had to tell. It is amazing that it was wrapped up in only 3 chapters in the Bible, Judges 6-8.
Gideon is another one of those "least likely" guys to make this list. He was the youngest of his household and by his own account, from the weakest tribe in Israel. He lived in a time when the Israelites had again forsaken God and the punishment came in the form of a swarm of Midianites. According to the story, every year during crop time, the Midianites would come in and camp in the crop lands, destroying everything that was planted. It also says they left no sheep, cows, or donkeys for the Israelites. Imagine the difficulty of finding food for your family when everything you planted was destroyed 7 years in a row.
That was where we found Gideon, as he was threshing wheat in a winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. This is where God called him to be an Agent of SMASH, yet Gideon was not too certain even when faced with an "Angel of the Lord" who according to Scripture was "the Lord" himself. (Judges 6:11-15)
Even after finding himself in the Lords presence, Gideon still asked the Lord for proof. Actually, he was so timid that asked for proof several times. His first assignment was to tear down an alter to Baal and the Asherah pole in his town. He obeyed, however, it said "because he was afraid" (Judges 6:27), he did it under the cover of darkness in order to avoid the wrath of the family and neighbors. So he obeyed, but he still was scared. Gideon was a timid fellow.
This is proved again when he was told to prepare for the fight against the Midianites, after he had gathered the 32,000 men, who would go up against 135,000, he went to God and said "I need proof again!" Judges 6:36-40 is the story best known around Gideon regarding the fleece and the dew. Both his test were accepted and God showed that He would hold up His side of it all and deliver the Midianites into the hands of Gideon.
The only problem God had with it was Gideon had too many men. He did not want the men thinking they could win on their own strength. If you look at the numbers, 32000 vs 135000, that is not quite an position in which one might think the odds were in your favor. Every soldier Gideon had would have to defeat 4 Midianites at the same time to win. Not odds I would want in any fight. However, God said it was too many, so he made Gideon send everyone who was afraid home. (7:1-3) The result of this was Gideon was left with only 10,000 men.
Based on Gideon's track record, I am surprised he did not leave with those who were afraid. He was afraid when he realized the Angel was the Lord. He was afraid when he took down the Baal alter. He showed timidity when he asked for proof after gathering the army with the fleece test. SO it would have not been a huge surprise for him to leave with the men who were afraid to fight. But we see him there now with 10,000 men. The fighting odds just went from 1 vs 4 to 1 vs 13 for every remaining soldier. Gideon has to be thinking "Are you serious God?"
But God was not finished. He again told Gideon he had too many men still and set up another "filtering" test to get it down to the correct number according to God. When this test was finished, Gideon only had 300 men left. That means each man would have to battle 400 at a time and win in order for the battle to be won. When God says, "I will not share my glory" (Isaiah 42:8), He was not kidding. Can you imagine having to face a battle where it was you vs 400 at the same time? Gideon must have been overwhelmed at this point with fear. I would have been shaking in my boots and looking for the exit route, and I bet he was too. In fact, I know he was afraid because we are told he was in 7:10 when God said, "If you are afraid, take a servant and go down to the valley," and Gideon did. He took his servant to the valley because he was afraid. But what God did there was again offer proof that He would win this battle.
From there, the story is well known. Gideon takes his 300 men and divides them into 3 companies. They take their horn, a torch, and a jar to cover the torch light (notice the lack of a sward) and went to three sides of the valley. In the middle of the night, they blow the trumpets, Smash the jars, and yell out, "For the Lord and for Gideon!" and chaos erupted in the camp and the Midianites started killing each other as the fled. That night 120,000 men died as Gideon and his men watched.
However, the story progresses as Gideon and his men pursue the remaining 15,000 and 2 kings and eventually catch and defeat them s well, killing the two kings. However, along the way, two towns refused to supply Gideon and his men food and water, and Gideon made them pay on his way back through by beating the leaders of one town viciously and then destroying the tower in the next town and killing the men there. When Gideon made a purge, he did so with might just as God described him in 6:12, calling him a "mighty warrior."
Gideon was then asked to rule over the people and he refused saying "The Lord will rule over you!" However, his story ends with a warning, much like Nehemiah's. Gideon took some of his spoils and made an ephod (garment) which eventually became an idol to the people. Instead of it being a reminder of what God had done (defeating the army of 135000 with 300) people began to say, look what Gideon has done and this ephod is a symbol of how great Gideon was. It says that is became a "stumbling block" to Gideon and his family and what God did for good turned into a "look what we accomplished!" 8:22-27
For the rest of Gideon's life, Israel had peace (40 years), however, it says immediately upon his death, the foolish Israelites returned to the worship of Baal and failed to be kind to Gideon's family.
There are MANY lessons we can take from this story, but I think the main one is this, "Remember God!" We are to remember the great things done in our lives are done by God and for God. He demands the glory and honor and we are to offer it always. Things we set up as a remembrance, if we are not careful will become the very things we replace God with. And like God destroyed the Midianite army, he will also destroy the idols we set up and "prostitute ourselves" before (8:27).
God is not afraid to use an Agent of Smash to purify his land and his people, and He has proven that over and over throughout history!
Until Next time.
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