Gideon - Part 8

Whose victory?

Judges 7v16-25

28^th August 2015

After considerable struggles with his doubts, Gideon accepted that God had called him to fight the oppressors of Midian. He assembled an army, but God demanded that he reduce the army from 32,000 men to just 300. Then God sent him into the enemy camp, where he heard a soldier discussing a dream with his comrade. God used that conversation to persuade Gideon that the 300 Israelites would prevail against the Midianite hordes:

Judges 7v15
When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshipped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands."

The 300 men with him roused themselves and prepared for battle. Gideon handed out some instructions:

Judges 7v16-18
Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside. "Watch me," he told them. "Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, 'For the Lord and for Gideon.'"

Why? Why did he have to say that? They were fighting for God and for freedom. They weren't fighting for Gideon! God had deliberately reduced the size of Gideon's army so that God would get the glory. Why did Gideon choose to take some of the glory for himself?

When we first met Gideon in chapter 6, before God had dealt with him, he'd seemed a humble man, hiding from the Midianites in a winepress. He knew then that he couldn't save Israel. God took away his fear and his sense of uselessness, but arrogance had grown within him.

And why do some church leaders take some of God's glory for themselves? Why do they arrogantly imagine that God's call to lead makes them better than anybody else?

The people in the church I lead serve God, not me. They worship, and pray, and work, and give, for His glory and the extension of His kingdom. They make sacrifices of time, money and emotion for God, and for God's people, and for those who are not yet God's people. They don't do it for me. And they shouldn't. I'm just called to a particular role in God's church. I'm no more important than any other Christian, and the church doesn't exist for my glory - it exists for God's glory alone.

Despite Gideon's newly-found self-importance, God gave the 300 men victory over their enemies:

Judges 7v19-22
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

It's still true that God builds His church, and grants us victory over sin and death, despite the arrogance of many of our leaders.

Now that God - not Gideon - had won the great battle, many of those who'd previously been sent home were now permitted a part in God's work:

Judges 7v23
Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites.

And then Gideon and the men with him realised they need more help. They called on the men of a fifth tribe - Ephraim - to join in the work.

Judges 7v24-25
Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah." So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah.
They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.

Gideon wasn't any more special than any of God's people, but God chose him to lead. God didn't choose him because of any strength he'd had. As he'd readily admitted, he was the least in his family, and his clan was the weakest in his tribe (6v15). And the four tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali weren't greater than the tribe of Ephraim. They were just the tribes that God chose to summon to this one battle.

It's wonderful that God chooses to adopt us as His children. And it's wonderful that He gives us opportunities to be involved in His work. But His choice, and His power at work though us, is not something we can boast about. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1v27-29:

"God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him".

Can't we be content to just be servants of God and of his people? In fact, we should be absolutely thrilled to be servants of God and of His people. And we should never, ever forget that it's God who gives the victory - and all the glory is His.