The Book of Judges (Part 8): The Right Side of History
Pastor Rollan Fisher
As we move through this series in Judges, we will continually come back to a theme that runs the course of the book.
Judges was a time when “Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25).
What we’ll see played out in Judges and reflected in our own lives are the repercussions of living before God as if he were not king, and living by simply doing what is right in our own eyes.
Our goal will be to return to a life of faith and love for Jesus that ultimately leads to God’s glory and our good.
Focus: We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus to make sure that we stay in step with his Kingdom purposes with his Kingdom people.
The Wrong Side of History
The Right Side of History
A Faithful King
The Wrong Side of History
When searching for God, we want to make sure that we are on the right side of history as revealed by the good news of Jesus Christ.
Judges 8:1-9 ESV
“Then the men of Ephraim said to him, "What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?" And they accused him fiercely. And he said to them, "What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger against him subsided when he said this. And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing. So he said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian." And the officials of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?" So Gideon said, "Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers." And from there he went up to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. And he said to the men of Penuel, "When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower."”
The Ephraimites accused the camp of Gideon when they felt like they were not in the middle of the fight against Midian.
Gideon reminded them that they are on the same team and what God had already done in conquering two of the rulers of Midian by their efforts.
The lesson here: don’t let accusations divide you in the middle of the fight of faith for God’s Kingdom.
As Gideon came to the Jordan, he and his men find themselves in a place that many of us have before - “exhausted yet pursuing.”
God’s supernatural grace is there to win battles for you, even when we are fatigued, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:6-10).
Galatians 6:7-10 ESV
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
How have you been exhausted in the pursuit of God and his purposes, yet found the grace to continue the pursuit?
Gideon and his men come to Succoth and Penuel asking for refreshment.
However, the responses were stark: "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?"
This is a twofold sin.
First, the people of Penuel and Succoth were not looking with the eyes of faith.
They would not throw their lot in with Gideon’s army until they had the finished product, the proof of their victory.
*The people of Penuel and Succoth did not realize that they were meant to help the army get there, not criticize or discourage Gideon’s efforts.
Secondly, this is the concern that Joshua had when the Reubenites, Gadites and Half Tribe of Manasseh remained on the other side of the Jordan in the first place.
*They would become so consumed and content with their own affairs that they would fail to fight for their brothers and sisters in other regions for whom they no longer felt responsibility (Joshua 1:13-16).
Joshua 1:13-16 ESV
“"Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, 'The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.' Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise." And they answered Joshua, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.”
Their focus would become myopic rather than having a national identity as the people of Israel.
When we belong to Jesus, we care for not only ourselves but are to always also be attentive to the needs of others.
Romans 12:15 ESV
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”
*You are not only here to win your battles in the Lord, but are to help others win theirs.
Judges 8:10-21 ESV
“Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword. And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army felt secure. And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all the army into a panic. Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. And he came to the men of Succoth and said, "Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?'" And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?" They answered, "As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king." And he said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you." So he said to Jether his firstborn, "Rise and kill them!" But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength." And Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.”
God’s desire is that we’d be a people of one faith, fighting in unison in love for others for the advance of the gospel and the glory of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2).
“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”
-A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine
The Right Side of History
Even being on the right side of history in Christ, we need to make sure that those things that are meant to be blessings do not consume our lives.
Judges 8:22-28 ESV
“Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian." Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you." And Gideon said to them, "Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil." (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, "We will willingly give them." And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.”
An ephod was a linen used for priests as they ministered before Yahweh.
Gideon made a huge ephod of gold - mixing what should have been a sign of his devotion to God with what would become an idolatrous snare to him, his family and the people of Israel.
We need to always make sure that we are not going through the motions, pursuing the perceived outward signs of God’s blessings, but in reality living in the fruit of idolatry.
“Idolatry happens when we take good things and make them ultimate things.”
What has there been in your life that seemed like it would be a blessing, but has actually become a snare to you?
Here’s the irony:
The more you focus on your idol that you do not have, the more unhappy you become thus making you more unattractive to the objects of your idolatry.
The paradoxical freedom in Jesus is that the more you focus on him, the more he frees your heart from finding value in anything but him, the more joy you have emanating from your soul as a fruit of the Spirit and the more attractive you become to the world around you.
Jesus said that you must lose your life to find it, and whoever who hopes to save his life, will lose it.
Another example:
The more you focus solely on meeting the needs of your own family, the more isolated you are, the lonelier you ultimately become, even in your marriage trying to derive happiness from the wrong source.
However, the more you focus on serving God and others, the more you connect with other families and the fuller your own family life and soul becomes.
Gollum and the ring exemplifies the paradox of idolatry well.
My attraction to B was largely based on her fixed gaze upon Jesus.
“Millions call themselves by His name, it is true, and pay some token homage to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really honored among them. Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who or what is ABOVE, and his true position will be exposed. Let him be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God and men, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love, and God will take second place every time. Those other things will be exalted above. However the man may protest, the proof is in the choice he makes day after day throughout his life.”
-A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine
A Faithful King
Jesus is the faithful king who rules faithfully and justly as God’s righteous branch.
Judges 8:29-35 ESV
“Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech. And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, at Ophrah of the Abiezrites. As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.”
Gideon would die and his people would soon forget the Lord or what Yahweh and Gideon had done for Israel.
This is a tragic cycle and it is a sad fate for those who do not know or trust in the Lord.
“This is the humbling truth that lies at the heart of Christianity. We love to be our own saviors. Our hearts love to manufacture glory for themselves. So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and you’ll experience blessing now).”
The truth is that those who have sought glory and immortality in their lifetimes without Jesus will die, be judged by God and forgotten by the generations to come.
“The two things we all want so desperately — glory and relationship — can coexist only with God.”
Jesus was the king who lived faithfully in full obedience to the commands of God, took responsibility to die sacrificially on the cross for our sins and rose again to rule faithfully for all eternity.
We have access to the eternal life that he purchased for us through repentance and faith in his atoning work.
As we remember his sacrifice, he is also faithful to remember our works done in love and service to him.
Jeremiah 23:1-6 ESV
“"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: "You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The Lord is our righteousness.'”
Jesus is and will forever be our righteousness, the source of our salvation, right standing before God and ultimately, our eternal reward.
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher