Friends, [Music] our Texas morning continues in the Book of Judges, chapter 8, beginning at verse 18.
Then he said to Zeba and Zamona, ‘Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?’ They answered, ‘As you are, so were they; every one of them resembled the son of a king.’ And he said, ‘They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.’
So he said to Jether, his firstborn, ‘Rise and kill them.’ But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a young man. Zeba and Zamona said, ‘Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.’ And Gideon arose and killed Zeba and Zamona, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.’ Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.’
And Gideon said to them, ‘Give me the earrings from the spoil’ (for they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites). They answered, ‘We will willingly give them.’ And they spread a cloak, and everyone threw in the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels.
Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. So Gideon was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more, and the land had rest 40 years in the days of Gideon. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Heavenly Father, give us wisdom; give us understanding. Help us to see your hope and the encouragement of Scripture. We ask that you open our hearts to hear and receive you. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
This morning we reach the conclusion of Gideon’s story, a conclusion which may be surprising for many of us. Gideon is a prominent figure in Old Testament history; his story is often a Sunday school favorite, or at least parts of it are. But today, sadly, many Christians are not as biblically literate as we ought to be.
We’re certainly not as well-versed as preceding generations, those whose first and really only reading primer was the Bible, when Scripture was once used by the residents of this land to teach everything from the rudiments of the English language to instilling ethics and our sense of morality, instructing us in how to live as well as everything that is needed for the right exercise of religion, the knowledge of salvation and faith in Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, now in many American homes or homes around the world, the Bible is often relegated to the place of honor upon a high shelf, gathering dust alongside so many other books. Even the best Christians, the most devout among us, have been negligent in our studies at times in our lives.
Fortunately, the stories we learn as children are the ones we usually remember best: the stories about Jesus from the gospels, critical stories about the patriarchs from Genesis, the flight from Egypt, and many of the other exciting moments found between Exodus and Matthew that are used to hammer home specific important points about who God is, the sinfulness of man, and foreshadowing the coming of Christ.
There are a lot of spiritual benefits that we may miss out on whenever we skip over these flyover parts of the Bible. Sunday school lessons must necessarily leave a lot of meat on the bone, which is why it’s so important for us as adults to continue studying the whole Bible and not just the parts we might enjoy or prefer.
Normally, the Sunday school story of Gideon will end after the victory in the Jezreel Valley with the 300 men, led by God, with Gideon being lifted up as an exemplar of faithfulness and the Lord being held up as the deliverer of Israel once more, which they both were.
However, while there is a great presentation and story point for children, we are now adults, and for our continued growth in faith, we also need to learn more about what Paul Harvey always used to call ‘the rest of the story.’
And that’s where we find ourselves now with Gideon. Already, we have begun to see massive changes in the character of Gideon following the Lord’s rout of Midian. A picture of him has transitioned from the youngest faithful and humble man of youth Sunday school into a savvy politician, a fierce warrior, and even a vengeful tyrant.
And today, we’re being disabused of the last of our simple Sunday school notions and impressions about him. The narrator of Scripture here next provides us with background information to his story that was previously kept hidden.
Then Gideon said to Zeba and Zalmana, ‘Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?’ They answered, ‘As you are, so were they; every one of them resembled the son of a king.’ And he said, ‘They were my brothers, the sons of my mother.’
Well, that certainly provides some interesting context, which we earlier lacked. We knew that Gideon had older brothers, but we did not know that they were deceased, much less that they had been killed by the Midianites.
Gideon’s covert threshing of wheat in a winepress now takes on a different character than just merely hiding grain to avoid theft. There’s an even greater element of fear for his own life which led to his stealthy work ethic.
His father, Joash’s, emphatic defense of Gideon against the mob of idolaters also looks different in light of this information. Joash was not merely defending his son, a brash, impetuous, and overly zealous youth; he was defending his last surviving son, his heir, and the security of his old age against that offended mob.
The Tabor which he mentions is Mount Tabor, the same place where Barak mustered his ten thousand soldiers against Israel and was located within the territory of Issachar on the opposite side of the Jezreel Valley from Ophrah in Manasseh.
Although we know the where, the narrator does not tell us when or why Gideon’s older brothers were killed, but it must have been sometime during the preceding seven years of Midianite oppression, attacks, and raids. Perhaps Gideon’s brothers were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, or perhaps they were part of a group that tried to defend against the Midianites.
Regardless, Gideon held both Zeba and Zalmana personally responsible for the death of his brothers. Knowing this, we better understand why Gideon led such a frantic pursuit with his men across the river Jordan and why he was not entirely satisfied with causing the Midianites to flee Israel’s territory or with the death of the generals, Oreb and Zeb.
Gideon wanted justice for his brother’s death, and for him, that justice would only be satisfied with the death of Zeba and Zalmana. The answer they gave Gideon when he asked them, ‘Where are the men you killed at Tabor?’ offers more evidence for Gideon’s personal transformation.
‘As you are, so were they; every one of them resembled the son of a king.’ Now they were not speaking of a mere family resemblance here; instead, they refer more to the present aspect of his appearance, his bearing, and attitude. Gideon held the appearance or form of a prince from their perspective, as his captives, with him holding the power of life and death over them.
Perhaps this thought to honor Gideon and his family with their words, perhaps sway his heart and earn his mercy by buttering him up and elevating him to their same social status, hoping for the congeniality of equals.
But whatever positive effect they hoped for with their flattery, their words had the opposite effect on him. The recognition of Gideon’s princely demeanor solidifies the transformation of his character before us.
Gideon has gone from a man fearfully working in a hiding place to a triumphant leader of men, a warlord ready to be crowned as king. He appears priestly in their eyes, in the eyes of his enemies and his followers. My, how much he has grown!
And Gideon said, ‘They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.’ His invocation of the Lord’s name here is not meant as a sign of his return to piety or faith. It is a declarative oath of judgment.
Gideon invokes the law of God, the provisions of the lex talionis, and passes the most extreme sentence of retributive justice. ‘But if there is harm, then you shall pay: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.’ Zeba and Zalmana were responsible for the death of his brothers; therefore, justice required their death in return.
Gideon commanded Jether, his firstborn, ‘Rise and kill them.’ But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a young man. Gideon pronounced their death sentence; he gave the word and issued the execution order, but we must wonder why he does not immediately move to carry it out himself.
Was this a case of managerial delegation, or perhaps because he thought a king should not need to get his hands dirty? Was this an expression of warrior culture, seeking to blood his son and mark him off as a warlord like Gideon was?
Was he sharing his son’s honor by granting him the privilege of execution to restore the family honor and promoting him as his rightful heir before everyone watching, or was Gideon trying to distance himself from the action, having lost his stomach at the idea of further bloodshed?
Was he finally balking at the idea of taking his revenge, or was he trying to abrogate the responsibility and culpability in Zeba and Zalmana’s death, the same kind of responsibility that he was executing them for perpetuating, a vendetta?
We cannot be certain, but Jether’s response to his father’s order, his refusal in fear, stands as a clear mirror against his father’s. He is actually much more like how Gideon was portrayed upon his introduction: a fearful young man.
But Jether courageously refuses his father, publicly defying him, as Gideon defied his own father when he tore down the altar of Baal, refusing to follow. Gideon, in this example, avoids falling into the same sinful trap and never-ending cycle of revenge.
But seeing Jether’s hesitancy, maybe sensing a possible weakness in Gideon’s resolve, or perhaps hoping to disgrace him before his men and prove him a coward, then Zeba and Zalmana said, ‘Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.’
They provoked Gideon, challenging his manhood. They invoked the ways of the world, where might makes right, where the only virtue is strength and personal power. They threatened him with the loss of face and honor before his men if he refused to prove himself in their eyes in this final way.
And Gideon arose and killed Zeba and Zalmana, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels. Gideon finally has the revenge which he has been working for ever since his calling by the Lord.
He claimed the crescent ornaments, the visible signs of his first position and authority, the better and equivalent of a king’s crown or scepter, as his by right of conquest and as the spoils of war. At last, the threat of Midian was done.
Gideon, the Mighty Man of Valor, had finally fully saved Israel from the hand of Midian. Through Gideon, the Lord delivered Israel, and even though Gideon’s motivation for action and obedience was not entirely pure or holy throughout, it still points us to the good news of Christ and his salvation of us.
We witness in Gideon’s story the Lord transforming human tragedy into divine triumph, defeat into victory. The Apostle Paul wrote a sentence in Romans which we sometimes find very difficult to accept and understand: ‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.’
We find it difficult because our minds like to slip in extra words where they do not belong, such as ‘work together for our good,’ or we may try to redefine good into being what we think and believe is good instead of being satisfied and accepting of what God defines as or calls good.
Ultimately, the whole story of Gideon is a lesson in the Lord working all things together for good. See, the Lord took a tragic event—the killing of Gideon’s brothers—and used his human emotions of grief and anger, and even used his sinful desire for revenge to motivate Gideon’s obedience in faith and his newfound confidence in the Lord’s promise of deliverance.
The Lord enabled and empowered Gideon to act as his agent of salvation. He encouraged Gideon to attempt things which he might never have even considered on his own, but what he could do through faith, that with God all things are possible.
Then Gideon’s faith and obedience were rewarded. Israel was delivered, and Gideon had the poor satisfaction of the revenge that he desired. Though Gideon’s family tragedy was something which the Lord turned to good for his chosen people of Israel, for those who are called according to his purpose, it became good for them, good for us, because it provides us with an encouragement in faith.
The whole of Gideon’s story further helps us to better understand and recognize the Lord’s work in our own lives, to remain confident and hopeful that he will continue to turn our tragedies to his good. Throughout this tale, we witnessed Gideon’s negative transformation.
However, even after the atrocities committed at Succoth and Penuel and his revenge against Zeba and Zalmana, Gideon was not irredeemable. He still did what was right and good; his faith and trust remained with the Lord.
No one, while they still draw breath, is ever too far from Christ, not even Gideon, and he shall show us his quality once more.
Then the man of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.’ The people now wanted to make Gideon their king. He had proven himself strong; he had shown himself to be the equal of any other nation’s king.
So the Israelites’ desire to crown him seems natural. Furthermore, after these victories over the Midianites and the terrible atrocities that he committed against his own kin, who among them would dare risk his wrath by denying him a kingship if he desired it?
Becoming Israel’s king clearly was the next logical step on his present path. His acceptance of kingship would seem to be the fulfillment of Mosaic prophecy, who wrote, ‘When you come to the land that the Lord your God has given you and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will send a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose; one from among your brothers you shall set as king over you.’
Remember, Gideon was called by the Lord, and he was anointed by his Holy Spirit. Fortunately, Gideon knew his own limitations, and he understood that the Lord had not called him or chosen him to be Israel’s king. He was not that self-important, and perhaps he was wise enough to understand that which is popular with the many is not always that which is right.
So he responded to their offer, ‘I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.’ Gideon would not be Israel’s king because the Lord is, was, and ever shall be Israel’s only true king and our sovereign Lord. No majority vote of the people can ever change that.
Gideon, while still an ordinary man, and although he turned down the opportunity to become royalty, he was not about to pass up the chance to further improve himself financially. He said, ‘Let me make a request of you; every one of you give me the earrings from the spoil,’ for they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites.
And they answered, ‘We will willingly give them.’ And they spread a cloak, and everyone threw in the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, the pendants, and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels.
The purple garments, the crescent ornaments, and the other things—those were already his, and they were his valuable spoils of war. But the earrings were now a bonus, an offering freely given to their deliverer. Putting their free will offering to Gideon into its proper perspective, let’s do a little math.
The common shekel measured about .41 ounces, turning these 1700 shekels into around 700 ounces, or 43 and a half pounds of gold. If this gold was 99% pure (which it most certainly was not, but it was as good as they could get), then at our current price per ounce of gold of $1845.43 per ounce, that 44 pounds of jewelry that Gideon receives would be valued at around $1.3 million.
That’s quite a rainfall bonus, and surely that much gold should satisfy any person. They gave Gideon more money than any person could reasonably spend in a single lifetime. But what does he do with it?
And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in a city in Ophrah. Gideon donated it all to the church; he dedicated the whole $1.3 million to religious purposes. He made an ephod and set it up in Ophrah, presumably at the altar to the Lord where he established at the beginning of our story. He became a benefactor of the church because of his faith and belief in the Lord.
He wanted to see the Lord honored and worshiped as he ought to be. Gideon dedicated the gold for God’s glory alone, even if people would naturally remember that he’s the one who gave it. Then Gideon retired, and so Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more, and the land had rest 40 years in the days of Gideon.
The end, almost, but not quite. We almost missed something really important here. It is very important for us, at the conclusion of Gideon’s story, to remember what an ephod was. An ephod was a special kind of priestly garment. There was an extra special one made for the Lord’s high priest to wear.
Although other lesser priests wore ephods made of linen, the high priest’s ephod was adorned with gold, along with precious stones, and had the breastpiece of judgment that carried the Urim and Thummim attached to it. It was meant to be kept at or near the tabernacle of the Lord where Israel was to worship.
Therefore, whenever the priests went or whatever the Israelites went to a priest in order to inquire of the Lord, they went to the one wearing the ephod so that an answer or judgment could be rendered. Therefore, the ephod came to be associated with both right worship and the godly prescribed form of divination.
And Gideon made an ephod of the gold and put it in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel whored after the ephod there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. Gideon took the gold that he had been given, had something piously made, and dedicated it for use in worship of the Lord. Instead, the ephod that he commissioned took on the function and semblance of an idol.
Gideon’s 44-pound golden ephod surely was not a robe meant to be worn; it could only have been set up on a stand. He put it in Ophrah; he set it up next to the Lord’s altar, so everyone who saw it there, whenever they came to worship, began to associate it with the Lord himself, especially if they were coming for divination or the Lord’s judgment.
This costly object dedicated to the church for the Lord’s honor rose in importance and became an idol to the people. Perhaps they presumed that it represented the Lord and his presence well favor; perhaps the ephod itself became more important to them than their faith in the Lord because of its utility and function.
Regardless, all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. They committed spiritual adultery with it, and through the ephod, the people of Israel again became unfaithful to the Lord who had delivered them.
It is the height of irony that when they sinned and worshipped Gideon’s memorial gift as an idol of the Lord, they caused Gideon’s name and memory, forever associated with this ephod, to become tarnished and ruined. The idol smasher became remembered and condemned for the idol that he set up.
Good intentions do not always have good results. Gideon’s ephod reminds us that heterodox forms of worship—worshiping God in ways that are not expressly prescribed by Scripture, by creating novel or convenient innovations and supporting them with positive declarations of worshipful intent and the assertion that, ‘Well, God doesn’t prohibit it,’ are not naturally benign and will often lead to unfortunate negative consequences like division, experientialism, or some other form of idolatry.
So lastly, we are reminded that some things that we intend for godly purposes may well become misunderstood, perverted, or corrupted by successive generations and become snares to sin.
Many American churches, when they sought to leave or disaffiliate from mainline denominations like the Episcopal Church, the PCUSA, or the UMC, struggled with a sin of idolatry much like Gideon’s people may have. Many have paid exorbitant amounts of money to retain the right to their property, sometimes figures that far exceed the real value.
We find that when a church building or the things within the building, like stained glass windows, particular seats, musical instruments, etc., become so important and valuable to people that some would prefer and will choose to remain in fellowship and communion with people who do not share their same Christian beliefs or values, or who may even be working expressly against their values and the whole cause of Christ just to retain possession of these real assets, being unwilling to walk away from them, they have become a form of idolatry.
We must remember that any church, this church, really is only just a building, the place where faithful believers in Christ come to worship. And we are truly blessed to have it, but at the end of the day, it is just a pile of bricks, stone, and wood. The church is not meant to be an idol.
The church is not a building, nor is it stuff; it is people, God’s chosen people, his elect whom he delivers. No building, no ephod, no idol or physical representation of the divine can save us because God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
We cannot see him, but by faith, we know that he is here with us. By faith, we know that our God lives, our God saves, our God speaks to us and makes himself known to us in his holy word and by his Holy Spirit within our hearts. Our God bled for us, and our God died for us to save us from our sin.
Our God gave us his law for our good, by which we are to obey him in all things. Our God corrects us whenever we sin, and he forgives us whenever we repent and ask for forgiveness. Our God is the King, the Sovereign over all creation. He is glorified and majesty, deserving of all our praise and worship, our whole life lived in devotion to him.
Jesus Christ, and whenever we try to set up anyone into a position of authority above us, or anyone tries to impose another ruler above us in place of God, in place of Jesus, over our lives, our hearts, or our souls, we must stop and tear down that idol before its foundation settles.
We must remind them and one another that no mere man can rule over us. No mere man can deliver us. We must affirm, as Gideon faithfully affirmed, that the Lord rules over us.
And although we cannot see him, we can see his effect on the world around us. We can still feel his presence in our lives. We don’t need idols of wood, stone, or metal—whether they are statues or buildings or pictures in glass; they cannot see, hear, breathe, think, respond, or save. All they can do is topple and fall.
Even our sin and sinfulness, Jesus can take all of our brokenness and transform it, redeeming it, and use it for God’s good. Somehow, although it is near impossible for us to see it while we’re in the midst of our pain, God will use our sinfulness, especially the sin of idolatry which we each fall into in so many different ways, to remind us that he alone is the Lord.
As he topples and tears down our idols, that is the rest of Gideon’s story. His story teaches us that Jesus came to rescue us from tragedies or failures. His story teaches us that even though we will stumble and fall and sin as we run this race of life, the Lord will bring us home, completing us and perfecting us in Christ Jesus, if only we trust and obey, believing on him alone.
Because no one is irredeemable if God so wills. Amen.
Please let us stand and say what we believe using the words of the Apostles’ Creed:
‘I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended to heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.’
Our closing hymn is number 401, ‘The Church’s One Foundation.’