MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR - Gideon
MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR - Gideon
Judges 6-8
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Sunday, June 1, 2014, the Year of Our Lord
Judges 6:12: “The Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, and said to him, “The Lord is with you; you mighty man of valor.”
6:14-16: “Go in your might and you shall save (Israel/the Church) from the hand of the Midianites (government); have I not sent you. Gideon said to Him, Oh my Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. The Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites
As one man.”
Midianites means “rule, government, judgment, subjugation, strife, contending, pleading.” The Midianites were descendants of Abraham and Keturah.
Midian is also an illustration of the world as the enemy of God and His people. It is often connected with Moab, also a picture of the world. Midian and Moab tried to persuade Balaam to curse Israel.
The world and the flesh over-run God’s people and spoil them.
We are to overcome the world by the same Faith as Gideon’s 300.
The Judges were the forerunners of the Kingdom. They were imperfect people with problems. God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. The secret of their success was the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The motivation of each call to arms is clearly the power and enduement of Yahweh’s Spirit.
Midian oppressed Israel for 7 years. Israel hid in dens, caves and strongholds. The enemy destroyed their food and fruit. They left God’s people no sustenance, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. They came up with their cattle and tents as “grasshoppers” by the multitude (135,000 8-10). They had a ‘secret weapon” – the camel.
Israel cried unto God and he sent a prophet. He reminded Israel of God’s faithfulness in delivering them and their unfaithfulness.
The Angel of the Lord sat under the oak in Ophrah, located in the tribe of Manasseh. The father of Gideon was Joash, a grandson of Manasseh. Gideon threshed by the winepress showing the smallness of the harvest. Gideon asked “why” in verse 13; the answer is that the evil which befell Israel and the absence of miracles was due to their disobedience.
Gideon’s “might” lay in the fact of a divine commission; he had heard from God. Even though Gideon declares his clan is the weakest and the least, the family probably had some rank in the community. Gideon betrays his aristocratic background by calling ten of his father’s servants. Obviously with so many servants and the ability to offer such a costly sacrifice, Gideon was not drawn from the lower classes.
Those who through faith paved the way for Kingdom order saw their own imperfections and disabilities. Thus they leaned upon the resources and the strength of Jehovah.
Gideon wanted a sign. I give him the benefit of the doubt that he sought a sign to confirm in his mind with whom he is speaking.
Gideon brought a meal offering. This was used as a tribute to a king or a superior. The offering consisted of:
- Kid of the goats --- principle of humiliation.
- Unleavened bread --- principle of holiness.
The Ephah (34-45) pounds were no small offering in a time of scarcity. The flesh in a basket and the broth in the pot speak of the Body of Christ, which was placed upon a rock (Mt. 16; 18). The Angel “touched” smote the flesh and cakes with the end of the staff that was in his hand. Fire rose up out of the rock and consumed Gideon’s sacrifice. Assured that he would not die for seeing this phenomenon, Gideon built an altar as a memorial of His calling. A true calling produces worship and humility.
The word of the angel is then commemorated in an altar named, “The Lord is peace”.
All of our callings even the warriors are to produce peace. The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Gideon’s first assignment starts at home (where every one of God’s ministers is initially proven). He was to destroy the heathen altar of Baal, and then cut down the Asherah grove beside it. Gideon took 10 men of his servants and did it by night as did Nicodemus in John 3. He built an altar to Jehovah upon the top of the rock in the ordered place with stones laid in due order. The burnt offering was with the wood of the groves that had been cut down.
The men of the city wanted Gideon killed, but Joash was converted. He saved the life of his son. Gideon received a change of name or nature, a Baal slayer, a bull fighter.
The enemy pitched in the valley of Jezreel. The Spirit of Jehovah “came upon Gideon” literally “clothed” as in 1 Chron 12:18; 2 Chron. 20:24. (The Hebrew is “labash”, which means “to put on so as to fill”).
Judges 6:34: “The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him. He sent messengers through all Manasseh, who also gathered after him. He sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.”
Yet he failed to summon Ephraim.
6:36: “Gideon said to God, if You will save Israel by my hand as You have said, I will put out a fleece...” The fleeces were both doubly impossible. Dew is a token of God’s favor and a type of the Holy Spirit. The dew on the first fleece is descriptive of the anointing resting upon Gideon and his 300. The second fleece prophesies of the outpouring of the Spirit on the rest of all flesh. The fleeces were not for guidance, but for confirmation and reassurance in the will of God. The receipt of the signs confirmed this was the time to attack.
It is not wise for New Testament believes to “throw out a fleece”. We are to let the clear Word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit directs our walk with the Lord.
God then safe guards his Glory. 7:2: “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, less Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me.”
When the Lord reveals His Majesty, Glory and great Power, it does not go well for those who try to usurp the glory for themselves.
The Lord sifts Gideon’s 32,000 (already outnumbered by over 4 to 1). The enemy was camped less than five miles away. The first group to be culled were those who were fearful and afraid. “Let them return and depart early”. Most folks want to “depart early” (from that which brings responsibility, such as high school or college, marriage, a local church, or life itself). The rest of Gideon’s army was sifted at the waters of the word. There are ample opinions and observations as to the Lord’s reasoning on this. I choose a simple explanation. Those who got down on their knees leisurely slacked their thirst. Those who lapped were alert, bold and ready to encounter rough difficulties.
- 22,000 = fearful
- 9,700 = undisciplined
- 300 = Overcomers
The 300 were given all of the supplies of food and trumpets. Three Hundred is the number of complete deliverance.
The same night, the Lord spoke to Gideon and told him to get down to the army of the Midianites because he had delivered them into his hand, but if he was afraid to get his servant and go down and spy out the host (army). The magnitude of the enemy is stressed again in 7:12: like grasshoppers; camels without number; sand by the sea shore.
I am not going to be one of the numbers who accuse Gideon of lack of faith. He gets listed by name in the Faith Hall of Fame in the Book of Hebrews 11:32-34: “What shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, of Jephthae, of David, Samuel and the prophets Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions… out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”
Personally I think God set him up.
That night Gideon went down with his servant to the outside of the enemy’s camp. God sovereignly moved upon the heathen soldier with a dream and then upon his fellow to interpret the dream! “Lo, a cake (round) of barley bread (the staple crop of the Israelites) tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, smote it. The tent fell and overturned. This (bread) was the sword (Word as in Heb. 4:12) of Gideon.
7:14-15: “His fellow answered, ‘this is the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel; for into his hand has God delivered Midian and all the host’. When Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation, he worshiped and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Lord has delivered into your hand the host of Midian.”
Worship is the manifestation of the assurance of victory.
Their weapons of warfare were unified blasts on the trumpets and the shatters of 300 pitchers followed by the thunderous battle-cry, after which the trumpets sounded forth again. The torches within the pitchers (light in the earthen vessel) shone forth after the vessel was broken, or cracked.
The enemy panicked. They fled. Israel pursued them. Gideon sent a message to mount Ephraim to cut off the waters unto Beth-Barah and Jordan. This they did and slew the two Midianite kings, Oreb and Zeeb. They brought their heads to Gideon.
This is a sad example of a frustrated ego and an excellent reason for their exclusion from the battle. The pride of the Ephraimites had been wounded and they were jealous. But a soft answer turned away their wrath. The tact of Gideon diverted an explosive situation, but he had to flatter these carnal people to do it.
The Lord has given me the name of the July conference and the scripture.
The Call of the Warrior
I believe the Lord is again calling forth the warriors. We have all been through a time of testing and trial. This always precedes a “move of God” and a “call” with a “commission”. Gideon was called, endued with power and commissioned. He was given a new name and a new nature.
It is also a time of separating out. Many are called, but few are chosen.
Christianity is under severe persecution both in our nation and the nations of the world through worldly government oppression. The Christian Church is being persecuted. Throughout the Holy Bible the Lord used Israel as a stage for the world to see the Kingdom of God and His ways.
Israel consistently and repeatedly departed from the Lord into sin.
The United States of America has followed the same pattern of sin and apostasy.
Their judgment was servitude to the enemy.
Then the people would cry out in supplication unto the Lord.
The Lord raised up deliverers (warriors) i.e. Moses – Joshua – the Judges – David – the Prophets – and ultimately the Savior and Commander in Chief of the armies of Heaven, Jesus Christ--- then the Apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit “warred a good warfare”.
Our church is a “type” of the oppression by government tyranny against Christianity. One could say that we are “the least in our Father’s house”. One could say that our “plight” is insignificant in the big picture. However, we are a prophetic people of whom surely the Lord has come upon us.
I have sought the Lord with my whole heart. I believe the “call” for the conference is a call to the warriors to arise.
I believe the cry of the remnant has come up before the Lord and he is testing the warriors for “war”. One cannot be a warrior unless there is a ‘war”.
“For thou we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.”
Rev. 17:14: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”
Rev. 19:11: “I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.”
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.