bjcollin

I think that Gideon is feeling very pressured. A lot of people are going to die under his command. If he hasn't heard the Word of the Lord properly, it will be him and his fellow Israelites. If he has, then it will be the stronger Midianites/Amalekites who had been oppressing Israel for the past 7 years prior to this. Any prospect of war could being casulties to both sides. Gideon was now in command of 32,000 troops (v7:3) which is a huge responsibility when he came from the weakest clan and the weakest in his family. I think that what Gideon did by testing God twice was not testing whether or not God could do what He said (which is sin), but rather he was asking God is this really what you said. This verification of communication is good and I feel that God likes it because it shows that we are trying to understand His Words.

I agree with Donald a few posts back. In verse 34, literally Gideon was clothed with the Spirit of Jehovah the Existing One and the Spirit and the Lord put upon him. Per my nature, I had to delve a little deeper in this than meets the eye with this question: Deu34:9 "male' ruwach chokmah" - "filled with the spirit of wisdom" Jud3:10 "ruwach Yehovah hayah" - "The Spirit of the LORD came upon" Jud6:34 "ruwach Yehovah labash" - "the Spirit of the LORD came upon" Jud13:25 "ruwach Yehovah Pa'am" - "the Spirit of the LORD began to stir" Judges14-15 "ruwach Yehovah" - "the Spirit of the LORD" 1Sam11:6 "ruwach 'elohiym" - "the Spirit of God came upon" The common theme is the Spirit of the LORD, but in each instance there is a different way that the Holy Spirit deals with the individual He chooses to come upon. For example, with Joshua chokmah means wisdom in war/administration which made perfect sense for what God and Moses had passed on for him to do. For Gideon labash means to be clothed with or to put on either physical clothing or character attribute. Very interesting study.

God's answer to Gideon's self-image is "I will be with you". Yes, this spiritual principle does apply to our lives as Christians today. These same words are spoken as Jesus' last words on earth before He leaves, from the Great Commission. This idea is also present in NT teaching about the Holy Spirit. An appropriate prayer in light of what God has taught me from this passage: God please help me to discern your voice and act to obey what You will speak to me. Thank you that as Gideon found out Your thoughts toward us are higher than our own thoughts toward ourselves, and thank you that your promise of 'I will be with you' is still available for us today. Help us to hear, trust, and obey what You have for us. In Jesus name.

God saw Gideon as a mighty warrior which he eventually would become. Gideon saw himself as a weak nobody as he was the last child and in the weakest clan of his tribe. God's perception is always most accurate because He has foresight knowledge that we do not have. If our own self-perception causes us to be fearful or to not walk in God's plans for us then we are in bondage and need to be released.

I think that it is interesting that the majority of the opinions here are that Joash is a wishy-washy leader. Let's see, Gideon knows that when the angel of the Lord asks him about the Lord (Yehovah) he knows that it is the God of the Israelites and not baal/asherah that is being referred to. In v13 Gideon addresses the angel of the Lord as 'adown which is a firm strong lord/master. In v15 Gideon addresses the angel of the Lord as 'Adonay which is a respectful title for the Lord. Gideon also knows his heritage as an Israelite and which tribe that he belonged to. Gideon also then knows that if this is the Lord, then he needed to present an offering or sacrifice to the Lord. Once the sacrifice is accepted and Gideon knows exactly who he is talking with, in v22 Gideon addresses the Lord as 'Adonay Yehovih or Lord God which is a full proper title for God with a few vowels changed for reverence. Gideon then further knows God's word that meeting with God face to face means death. Where did Gideon get all of this knowledge from? In that culture, he would learn it only from his father Joash. So at one time in his life Joash was a strong man who taught his children well. The Bible doesn't mention what events lead up to Joash having an altar to baal/asherah on his land, it could have been that he owned the choice land the locals wanted to use for the purpose. Gideon does think about his family in v25 which includes his father Joash. After seeing his son's actions and what has occurred, he definately has cemented his own relationship with Yahweh even more.

The Bible has plenty to say about servants who are obedient and servants who are disobedient. You could be a disobedient disciple, but with all the consequences why would you? There are very few instances in the Bible where the person really has no choice. The few that do knowingly choose against God (Moses and Jonah come to mind) are each punished in their own ways and then eventually come back and choose what God wanted them to choose in the first place. Gideon had a choice. We always have choices, the key is giving up those perceived rights and choices to walk in the Spirit and choose this day whom we will serve. I choose to serve the Lord!

Gideon's father wasn't following God at the time, and at the time that God entered into the relationship with Gideon would have became his father. So when Gideon obeyed God he was honoring his father in Heaven. Gideon's earthly father didn't tell Gideon to stop, so Gideon wasn't disobeying him either. As already presented here by others, God receives the honor first above all, then we fall back and honor our parents. The justification that Gideon has for his action is that God, whom he tested to make sure it really was God, had told him to do this and he was obeying God Himself.

God tells Gideon to tear down the baal altar and the asherah pole because they are an abomination to Him. Gideon is to build an altar to the one true God YHWH in the place of the altars to the false gods. The risks are that the worshipers of the false gods will try to stop Gideon or try to kill him for the action, that is why he does it at night so that he will be successfull in his task. The mission is a sign of faith, God doesn't tell Gideon when to do it, just to do it. I think that Gideon was free to intrepret and think for himself how he could act on what God had given him to do. Gideon was very prudent on how he carried out God's task.

They were worshiping the gods of the Amorites namely baal/asherah. They broke the first commandment which is to have no other gods before God. We have lots of gods we worship instead of God today, we just don't have the sense to label them as such. Sometimes the label is sleep or it's football or it's work or it's money. Whatever the label, it is something that comes in between us and God. We are affected the same way today, God ceases to commune as close as He once did with us and as a result the locusts come in and harrass us and eat away at us until we have no choice but to call out to God.

Gideon basically feels that if the Lord is with them, why then are all of the bad things happening to them? Gideon ultimately blames God for abandoning them. This is a very inaccurate assessment on Gideon's part. We usually blame God when there is nobody else that we find to blame or when we feel that God has treated us unfairly or poorly. We simply fail to understand that it is us who have strayed, not God. We are not willing to stand up and take the blame that is ours and truly repent before God. There was a time in my own life that I was bitterly angry at God for allowing a certain thing in my life and also for not allowing a certain thing in my life. I look back on it now and see that God's plan was there for me all along and I was just to immature and just plain stubborn to see it back then. The danger is that we will stray from God as Israel had done in our reading and that we will not be able to hear from Him or even recognize Him as Gideon does further down in our reading. The way we stop is to repent and turn back to God. What worked for me was a couple of scriptures: I had to repent of the thought that God didn't have my best in mind and that He had abandoned me. The Truth is that He is there all along and that He loves us and desires to have us prosper.

Howdy everybody! My name is Brian Collins and we currently live in Plano TX (near Dallas) and attend an AG church in Carrollton TX. I grew up in San Antonio TX, attended the Kelly Air Force Base Chapel and got saved when I was 15 at a Christian summer camp near Kerrville TX. In college I was baptized in the San Marcos river and committed my life to Christ and started serving Him in a college-based ministry. I have been a Christian for 20 years now and even though He has taken me down many different roads, and many different towns, and a few churches, I am still in love with Him. Currently I am at a crossroads in life wondering what He would have me do for Him and what my ministry to Him should be. Basically what is God's Will for my life. I pray that through this Bible study and the friends I have made through the last Luke Bible study that God will show Himself to me. Thank you. In Christ,