After the death of Othniel, the Israelites turned bad again and this time, the Moabites oppressed them. The Israelites had to serve Eglon, the king of Moab for eighteen years. Then, God raised Ehud, a Benjaminite, a left-handed man (Judges 3:15). He girded a 2-edged sword of one cubit in length on his right thigh under his clothes and used it to stab Eglon who was a very fat man. The whole sword simply went into his body (Judges 3:22). After the death of king Eglon, Israel enjoyed peace for eighty years (Judges 3:30). During that time, Shamgar the son of Anath killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad (Judges 3:31).
Then the Canaanites oppressed the Israelites for twenty years because they had chariots of iron. The Canaan commander was called Sisera (Judges 4:2). God raised Deborah, a prophetess to deliver Israel. Probably she came from the tribe of Ephraim (Judges 4:5). She summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali to gather ten thousand men to fight against the Canaanites. They came down from Mount Tabot.
And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak at the edge of the sword; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot (Judges 4:15).
It was not clear whether Sisera was simply outnumbered by Barak or whether he was defeated by God. Anyway, God would make it clear next time that it was He who fought the battle for the Israelites. In the end, Sisera was exhausted and Jael the wife of Heber gave him milk to put him to sleep. When Sisera was fast asleep, Jael drove a tent peg through his temple till it went into the ground (Judges 4:21). Gruesome, wasn't it? After defeating Sisera, the Israelites had a peaceful period of forty years (Judges 5:31b).
This time, it was the Midianites and Amalekites. They oppressed the Israelites for seven years. Then God raised Gideon, son of Joash the Abiezrite. They belonged to the tribe of Manasseh (Judges 6:15). The story of Gideon is more elaborate than the previous ones. There are also a few unrelated fragments surviving from folklore handed down throughout the generations.
Gideon was physically strong. However, he did not seem to be a confident enough man. The first assignment God gave him was to destroy the altar of Baal and Asherah. He dared not to do it openly and did it secretly at night. The people in town were furious and demanded his father to hand him over. Obviously, Gideon had fled into hiding. His father was more sensible.
But Joash said to all who were arrayed against him, "Will you contend for Baal? Or will you defend his cause? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been pulled down."
Therefore on that day he (Gideon) was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, "Let Baal contend against him," because he pulled down his altar (Judges 6:31-32).
וַיִּקְרָא-לוֹ בַיּוֹם-הַהוּא, יְרֻבַּעַל לֵאמֹר: יָרֶב בּוֹ הַבַּעַל, כִּי נָתַץ אֶת-מִזְבְּחוֹ
Therefore, we have an etymology story included in the whole Gideon plot. Since this is an etymology story, it does not prove that Gideon was lack of confidence. However, after gathering thirty-two thousand men to fight against the Midianites, Gideon demanded a sign from God twice! He asked God to leave dews on a fleece of wool while the threshing floor should remain dry. After the sign, he asked God to do it again, but the opposite. The floor should be covered with dew while the fleece remained dry. Gideon was really a bad boy. He should not put the Lord to the test (Deuteronomy 6:16). Later, God had to boost up his confidence again by two Midianites who talked about dreaming the collapse of their camps (Judges 7:13-14). Gideon was an anti-hero!In order to show the Israelites that it was God who fought the battle, God told Gideon to send the men away, leaving only 300 who lapped water like dogs!
And the LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand; and let all the others go every man to his home." (Judges 7:7)
When the Midianites were defeated, Gideon and his three hundred men chased them. He also sent messengers to tell the people of Ephraim to ambush the fleeing Midianites. The people of Midianites managed to kill two Midian princes.
And they took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the wine press of Zeeb, as they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan (Judges 7:25).
Doesn't it sound like another etymology story?
When the people of Ephraim upbraided him violently for not bringing them along into battle to fight against the Midianites, Gideon showed his diplomatic skills and was able to pacify them (Judges 8:1-4). Gideon wanted to continue his pursuit of the two Midian kings. He did not want to make enemies to pull his own hind legs.
In his pursuit, he and his men were tired. They passed through Succoth and Penuel and asked for supply and were refused (Judges 8:5-9). After capturing the two Midian kings, Gideon returned and took revenge on these two cities (Judges 8:14-17).
When the people of Israel wanted Gideon to rule over them, he refused.
Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also; for you have delivered us out of 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." (Judges 8:22-23)
Doesn't Gideon look good this time? I am afraid not.
He asked all men of Israelites to give him their golden earrings. All together, he collected one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold!
And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah; and all Israel played the harlot after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family (Judges 8:27).
The ephod was a divination instrument, part of the official vestment of the High Priest. With this ephod, Gideon made a substantiation of God. Gideon virtually ruled over Israel in God's name through the manipulation of this ephod. Gideon was no long the timid young man when God first appeared to him. He became cruel, cunning and ambitious. He had many wives and seventy sons (Judges 8:30)! Gideon was a king without the king's title. In his years, Israel had forty years of peace (Judges 8:28).
Dear Lord, we don't have to be perfect to serve You. If we were already perfect, we would have done some very evil things. Lord, I only pray that I may be Your handy instrument. Amen.
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