Peter Huang

when we eat Jesus' body and drink his blood we are partaking in his sacrifice for us.We commemorate his redemptive atonement for our sins and we look forward to the Final banquet together with Him. To the disciplesJesus' invitation to eat his body and to drink his blood was a radical idea because the Jews were not supposed to drink the blood of animals. In fact many of his disciples were so offended by the idea that they left Jesus.It is also a radical idea for us modern day christians as it is a unque but memorable way for us to remember that Christ died for our sins and we are to feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving

The passover meal consisted of unleavened bread, puree, herbs wine and a yearling lamb. The Lord's supper consists of a wafer of bread and wine or grape juice. So there is a difference in the items of the meal consumed. The original passover meal was instituted to commemorate the redemption of the the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt when the angel of death passed over the households of the Israelites the frames of whose doors were smeared with the blood of freshly killed lambs. The Lord's supper which Christians celebrate today is an institution whose purpose is to commemorate the redemption of the world by the death of Jesus on the cross for our salvation

Jesus asked his disciples and us to eat his body and drink his blood in remembrance that He died for us.We are to do this this as often as we shall drink wine and feed on him in our hearts with gratitude and thanksgiving. It was a radical idea for his disciples who were forbidden by Jewish custom to drink the blood of animals and offended many of them who took it to mean literally. It should also be a radical idea for us as it is an unusual way for us to remember that Christ died for our sins

The blood of the lambs during the first passover protected the Israelites from the angel of death who passed over the homes of the Israelites which had blood of the lambs stained on the lintels of their doors. In the same way the last supper was to commemorate the blood of Jesus which was shed to atone for the sins of the whole world.

John 's statement about Jesus refers to his sacrifice because he said of Jesus as one who takes away the sins of the world. The Jewsish concept of sin was that it can be forgiven by the sacrifice of an animal so as the one who takes away the sins of the world Jesus was the sacrifice. The Jewsih concept oif sin was that it refers only to the Jewish ppeople as the people of God but the sins of the world would include the whole world of non Jewish people as well. In this wa y it was a radical concept,

Although Gideon made a mistake with the ephod, he still managed to infuence Israel in the right directions spiritually so that God continued to bless the Israelites.His life as a judge brought peace to the Israelites so that they were not troubled by the Midianites for forty years. However Gideons legacy did not survive him and this was a weakness that we could learn from-that we must not leave weaknesses in our legacies for the future generations so that they will continue to be strong and be obedient to God.

Spiritual unfaithfulness is looked on as prostitution or adultery because both in the OT and NT God's people are regarded as his bethrothed and as such any form of unfaithfulness is seen as prostitution or adultery The temptation I face is that because of the economic downturn I have become anxious about money and that isbad as it can lead me away from God. We cannot serve both God and Mammon.

A snare is a trap. Gideon's family were entrapped by the gold ephod because they became caretakers of it and unwittingly became so engrossed in this job that they forgot about giving worship to God. Sin is disobedience to God and when we sin we often do not know it thinking that it is alright but sin is sin in the sight of God. Gideon's sin was in making the gold ephod which inturn had the disastrous consequence of entrapping not only his family but the people of Israel. The people of Israel by worshipping the ephod committed idolatory:they allowed it to usurp the place of God

An ephod is a holy garment associated with the priesthood usually made of linen. In Gideon's case it was made of gold. It would probably look like a human statue and therefore could be used as a pagan object associated with idols.

Gideon asked for an earring from each soldier. The total weight of the earrings came tomore than forty pounds. Gideon was not wrong to ask for some share of the plunder as the leader of the victorious Israelites. The sin started with what he did with the gold from the earrings. He made an ephod which the Israelites started to worship as an idol. This also ensnared his family who then paid more attention to the ephod than to God. The making of the ephod resulted in spiritual adultery of both Gideon's family and the Israelites as a whole. We learn from this recounting of Gideon's life that we cannot serve mammon and God. Either we love the one and hate the other but we cannot serve both at the same time.

Gideon refused to accept the Israelites' invitation to be their King because he considers it a sacrilege for a person to be King. It would be treason because one would be usurping God's place as ruler of the people. The Israelites forefathers had made a covenant with God accepting Him as their ruler but they had forgotten it and wanted a human King whom they admire and can see. Besides they wanted to be like other nations who had kings. In fact later on when they continued to clamour for a King to rule over them God finally gave in and gave them Saul.

Gideon killed Zebah and Zalmuna to punish them for killing his brothers. According to Mosaic law his action was just as he was merely carrying out what was laid down in the Jewish tradition. However today's christians are taught not to exact vengeance but to leave it to God for he will repay. It is human nature to want to exact vengeance but we must leave it to God to carry out whatever punishment he deems fit.We are further told not to pay evil with evil but to pay it with good.

The cities of Succoth and Peniel refused to help Gideon because they were afraid of the repercussioins if Gideon did not succeed in conquering the Midianites. By not giving food to Gideon's men they were guilty of a terrible breach of hospitality. Furthermore they were also guilty of a breach of their covenant with God. Gideon was rightly angry with them but his punishment for their sins was too harsh by modern standards although it may be legitimate by the standards of their culture at the time. We christians can be guilty of the sins of Succoth and Peniel by not meeting our obligations to our fellow christians in our lives e.g. by not responding when there is a call to donate to some cause sponsored by our church.

Gideon had to vanquish the Medianite army of 15000 men to prevent them from regrouping themselves and causing further problems in the future. The danger of completing half the job is that the problem will come back and haunt you and perhaps cause more distress than it did in the first place. When God asks us to do a job we must complete it.

Gideon asked the Ephraimites to assist him in pursuing the remnants of the Midianite army to the Jordan River and as far as Beth Barah. The Ephraimites did this and even captured two of the Midianite kings, They were angry that Gideon did not ask them to join in the fight at the beginning of the battle as it deprived them of the spoils of victory. However Gideon mollified them by playing down his own part in the victory and praising their part. We should follow Gideon's humility in this difficult situation: He was fully aware that God should be given the credit for their success and so he did not claim any merit for his part.

Gideon divided his soldiers into three companies so that they could surround the Midianite camp and give the illusion that the Midianites were being attacked by a huge force of thousands of men from all directions. The strategy of using trumpets empty jars and torches was to instil panic in the Midianites and the sound of three hundred trmpets blowing all at the same time would be frightening; the pupose of the empty jars was to hide the torches unti the time was ripe for a strike and the sudden appearance of the torches in the midst of the Midianites would only add to the confusion. This strategy worked so well that the Midianites panicked badly and started killing each other in the dark without knowing who they were killing. It worked because it was conceived by God and Gideon trusted God in ensuring his victory.

The rolling barley loaf represents the sword of Gideon who inturn represents the might of Israel. God gave this interpretation of the Midianite's dream to Gideon in order to encourage him that with God's help Gideon will overcome the enemy

I don't really know. I guess God knew that the number of lappers would be around three hundred, the number acceptable to him and so he instructed Gideon to choose them

we have been created as human beings with independent minds so we naturally tend to question God when he wants us to do certain things. whatever God wants us to do must make sense to us. The danger is that if we see things only from our own perspective we may miss understanding God's mind and end up disobeying for lack of insight and faith.To the world we may appear to be religious kooks but so be it for we owe the world nothing but owe God everything.We can balance blind obedience with skepticism by not only seeking the advice of those whom we consider to be spiritually advanced but by reading the Bible and seeking God's directions from it. For when in doubt God's word will speak to us.

God felt that with the large army that Gideon had assembled a victory would lead the Israelites to think that they had won it with their own strength and not through God's help. So God asked Gideon to pare his army down to 300 men. With this small number any victory would obviously not be possible without God's intervention. As a new leader Gideon would have to face the ridicule of his men when he reduced the size of his army as this would by human standards be against norms of conventional tactics. However Gideon had learnt to trust God for Had not God answered his wish for a minor miracle in the fleece?His faith in God had grown to such an extent that he was now willing to follow God's instructions even though by doing so. it exposed him to the ridicule of his soldiers

We should ask God for a sign only when we are not sure exactly of what He wants us to do. The danger is that we may be asking God in order to test him which is wrong. The bible tells us that when the devil tempted Jesus, Jesus said to him thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God. However for most purposes we have the Bible to guide us.

Gideon put out a fleece twice because he needed reassurance from God that he got the message correctly. It was a sign of belief in that he was already committed to carrying God's command and only wanted to be sure that he was doing it right. He was not really testing God. He merely wanted additional confirmation that he was on the right track. His request for a minor miracle from God was different from other cases of testing God. It was to strengthen his belief rather than from selfish reasons. He was not trying to manipulate God for his own selfish reasons

It is the spirit of the Lord which inspires Gideon to blow his horn to summon his people to fight the Midianites. He was acting under God's direction and wisdom. In this respect he had in common with other leaders of his era The Lord's spirit with him in whatever he did.So too should we in our daily lives act according to the inspiration of the Holy spirit.

Joash had been vacillating between Yahweh and Baal. He even had an alter built for Baal in his land. He was therefore an ineffective leader as he sat on the fence. Gideon's action put his father on the spot and forced him to take a stand whether he is for Yahweh or Baal. Gideon need not take into consideration the impact of his action on his father as he was listening to Yahweh. It was more important for him to be obedient to Yahweh than to consider any impact his actions might have on his father. Since Joash finally took a stand for Yahweh and was prepared to defend his son against the people in his community he can be considered a true follower of Yahweh.

yes a person can be a disobedient disciple, Being a disciple does'nt necessarily mean a perfect disciple because we are all human and liable to stray away from the true path even though we believe in the gospel message, We can only hope that God in his great mercy will forgive us every time we trangress provided we are sincere in our repentance and try to live our lives according to his wishes. Gideon did have a choice to obey God or not He chose to obey God and thereby helped to save the Israelites from the Midianites. We too have a choice to obey God or not. But we often choose not to because of human frailty under social pressure. Let us pray for God's strength to help us obey his commandments