Julie

Q4. What is a snare? In what way does Gideon's ephod ensnare his family and the people of Israel? (8:24-27) How can something be a sin if we don't see it as a sin? What was the essence of the sin the Israelites committed? What is the essence of Gideon's sin? A snare is a trap. Why did Gideon make this ephod, The Israelites knew that this garment was associated with the priesthood, and usually worn by high priests, by Gideon making this garment and hanging it in town the people made it into an idol, for they were always looking for a god to worship, one they could see, so Gideon places a trap for them.

A sacred garment, a high priests garment, although they were not all made of gold there were linen ephods, but Gideons was made of gold.

Gideon asking and receiving some of the plunders was fine, but, when he took the gold, melted it down, and then made an ephod to place in town, was the beginning of the sin.

Gideon felt that this would of replaced Gods rule, it would of been a monarchy of just his rule with out God. The Israelites have a terrible time of comprehending a God they can't see or touch .

Hi Everyone I am now disagreeing with my answer in question 4 when I said Gideon was just in taking revenge on Succoth and Peniel, For the Old Testamen states in Leviticus 19:18 "Do not take revenge...: this is what Gideon did, revenge or vengeance was forbidden then as is now, ALSO IN proverbs 24: Which is also OT 29Do not say, "I'll do to him as he has done to me; I'll pay that man back for what he did." A spirit of revenge is discouraged Again in Proverbs 20:22 22Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you. The key is to wait for the Lord. Vengeance was God's prerogative. He would repay the wicked for their actions, but revenge seems to be common in ancient times, as is today. But I have to remember that Judges is Leaders whom God raised up to restore the land to peace. This is Gods' doing. God was working through Gideon, but was Gideon just when he took revenge upon Succoth and Peniel and Zebah and Zalmunna? Did he take this into his own hands and done what he saw fit? The Lord did deliver them from the hands of their oppressors but did Gideon do as he saw fit when he took vengenance. In the case of Zebah and Zalmunna, yes, Gideon, did as he was suppose to when reading Numbers 30" `Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness, The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him. This is only if done intentionally but with Succoth and Peniel I think Gideon did wrong and took vengenance upon them and was not just. vengeance is God's business, not ours, we should never seek revenge (Romans 12:19).

Succoth and Peniel are freightened and choose not to help (bad choice). Their punished for not helping their brothers who were in need. Their sin is thinking of themselves before others, then Gideon would of been just. Now though it is different. Today, christians can be just as guilty by turning their other cheek.

This finishes the Midianites off. If we deal with problems only half way they will reappear again. As we are seeing today

Gideon now called on the Ephraims to cut off the midianites to the South for the others were cutting them off from the north and west, the Emphraimites were angry for they did not understand why they were not told of this before but we know the reason for God wanted the men to be fully aware that the victory was not of them it was of God. Gideons approach is the approach we all should take one of humbling ourselves.

Gideons army divided to surround the Midianites to cause confusion and to be victourious, for the midianites were freightened and confused for they felt they were being overtaken.

This gave Gideon courage that he was lacking for he did go with Purah, and proved to Gideon once again that God was in control and was with him and they would have victory.

This significance dropped the number of men to where without God there was no way of winning.

I think God wanted the soldiers to be fully dependent upon Him, THe 1st men who left were timid for they "trembled" this made the others more effective.

The Counselor, Comforter, the Spirit, the third person of the Trinity- the Holy Spirit. Gideon along with other judges and leaders were filled with the Holy spirit. The Holy Spirit lives and works in the hearts of each believer.

We may see Joash as a coward not a leader, but Joash showed great courage & I think was pleased & relieved to see that the chain had been broken, they took the first step back to God, Gideon took the only action there was as a follower of the Lord, & now Joash is a courageous follower of Yahweh too.

I really enjoyed reading everyones answers, but I found myself within the 1% who believes that you can not be a disobedient disciple Anyone who trusts Christ & follows Him is a disciple, But if a person, say Gideon, did not have faith in Christ to trust in His word & does as He commands then he probably wasn't a disciple in the first place. Gideon had a choice as we all do. We can take the narrow or the wide gate, I choose the narrow, "which leadeth to life," this does not mean we lead a certain kind of life to gain salvation, for this would mean salvation through a human effort, this means that once we entered spirtual life by faith in Christ, we must lead a life of obedience to enjoy spiritual life in the fullest.

Gideon was to honor his father, honor is respect to show respect for your mother and father but it doe not mean that we are to break the Lord's commandments to do this, Gideons father knew of the commandment of no God before Him but was still disobeying I think Gideon honored his father by following the Lord.

The Baal altar and Asherah pole were tore down for this was idolartous worship, in its place was an altar built for proper worship of the Lord. There were no carvings made of stone or poles or anything else on this altar, just the earth where he sacrificed his fathers bull. The israelites have forgotten the Lord, and were worshiping idols, as they had done so many times before. Gideon tore down the altar at night, for he was afraid of the people I think this is a sign of both faith for he did as the Lord commanded and weakness for he did it at night for he was afraid of the people, even though the Lord had told him not to be afraid, you are not going to die.

Gideon seen himself as the lowest in importance, God seen him as a mighty warrior. God will exalt the lowest to the highest. Our self-perception can deter us from doing what our hearts desire for Him, but don't lose this desire for through God there is hope and He will exalt us in good time.

The Israelites backslide they did not remember how the Lord saved them from bondage, they also feared and awed another god, they did not learn much from history, or they did not listen to the Word, like the parable of the seed which sprouts in rocks and does not root. Much like us today we need not fear and not forget that the Lord is with us.

Isarel was suffering in the hands of the Midians. Gideon could not understand how God could let this happen. So, Gideon pointed fingers at God and wanted to know why they had been forgotten, but, did they forget God?, did they worship Him? We tend to blame God when we feel forsaken for we feel scared and weak. But what i understand is that they were not worshipping God. We need to trust and keep our relationship with the Lord instead of slowing slipping away from Him as the Israelites did, He never leaves us we leave Him, He will not force us to follow Him it is by choice and not a choice made one time a choice made on a daily basis to walk with the Lord. If we even for one day decide to make our own choice we do not know the outcome, but if we remember to ask the Lord then we can always be sure that the outcome will be for the best, so we should not blame God, for our own troubles. God Bless.

Hi, I'm from Ohio and was born again in 99, I just recently finished the Jesuswalk study with Pastor Wilson, and enjoyed it so much that I found myself sad when we took breaks, I am so thankful that the good Lord pointed me toward Joyful Heart 3 yrs ago. You can be reassured that if you want to learn God's word you have come to the right place.

4. What place do praise and thanksgiving have in Simeon's and Anna's lives? This is their life. What does this say about them? That they are fully dedicated to the Lord. How do we nurture these in our lives? By following the Lord. Why does our culture see long periods spent in prayer as wasted? Never heard of a wasted prayer, prayer is a means of communication with the Lord how can this be wasted time.

They were open to God. What are some of the reasons that we can't hear God? Sometimes we are not open we have other things that we let distort us from hearing the Lord.

Their lives were a life of dedication to God and what could be more important than this. We are important to God by dedicating ourselves to Him and so others will also follow.

It provides a way for parents to follow the way of the Lord by consecreating their children to Lord.