Bible Studies
The Lord Is Our Strength (Judges 6:1-6)
Series: Studies in the Book of JudgesIntroduction:
1. The sons of Israel had rest for 40 years after the days of Deborah and Barak. 2. But it only took one generation until they “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,” a phrase used throughout the book to indicate that they had given themselves once again to idolatry. 3. Verses 7-10 identifies what happened when they cried to the Lord because of Midian. 4. The NASB has a marginal reading given on verse 10. “You have not obeyed Me,” may be literally translated, “You have not listened to My voice.” 5. Gideon seems to be hesitant to listen to God’s voice even though God spoke to him directly. But God’s message to Gideon, to Israel, and to us, is that He is our strength(6:11-16).Discussion:
I. The Lord was the power behind Gideon’s victory.A. Gideon’s weakness . . .
1. Is evident first in his beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites.
2. Even with a message from God Gideon says, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? My family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
3. When we feel powerless we may find ourselves hiding out from the enemies of God. When we feel we are the least and the youngest we feel inadequate to the tasks God calls us to. Our problem is that we are depending upon our own strength and not on the strength of the Lord. Paul experienced this at a personal level (2 Cor. 12:7-10). When we listen to the voice of God and apply His word in our lives then we are strong. (Eph. 6:10-17).
B. The angel said to Gideon . . .
1. “The Lord is with you” (6:12).
2. “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel. Have I not sent you?” (14).
3. The Lord said, “Surely I will be with you” (16).
4. Gideon finally confesses the Lord God after the angel causes fire to spring up from a rock and consumes the sacrifice Gideon has prepared (6:19-24).
II. Gideon is afraid of his father’s household and the men of city and tears down the altar of Baal at night to avoid detection (6:25-27).A. Is he still hesitant to believe that God will deliver Israel through him? Is he afraid for his life when God is his deliverer?
B. The influence of Baal was strong in Gideon’s family life. The altar of Baal belonged to his father. Tearing down this altar meant going against family tradition. It could mean rejection from the only source of power and security that Gideon had known in his father’s house. Would he be able to abandon that to depend on the power of God?
C. Many of you have faced this same problem by becoming Christians.
1. Some do not have enough faith to make this change.
2. Others of you have faced a similar challenge in other ways. The question is, “Are you going to listen to the Lord and depend on His strength or not?” In personal life? In marriage? In family life? In the church? In the world?
3. In Gideon’s case his father defended him.
III. Although Gideon assembled a large army he seems hesitant (6:33-35, 36-40).A. The Abiezrites joined him. Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali joined him. 32,000 assembled.
B. Gideon asks for a sign and then for another.
C. God reduced his forces down to 300 to make it clear that it was not by Israel’s own power but by God’s that they would be delivered (7:2).
1. Perhaps those afraid and trembling were those not trusting in God’s power.
2. Perhaps those who put their faces down to the water were the macho men.
3. Perhaps those who brought their hand to their mouth were more delicate. Curtis Pope has suggested these were the “sissys” of the group.
D. Gideon continues to be afraid (7:9ff).
1. He seems now to be convinced by what the Midianite says.
2. Interesting that he seems convinced by what the Midianite says and hesitant about what God said.
E. They broke pitchers, revealed torches, blew trumpets and stood in their place (7:21). “The Lord set the sword of one against another throughout the whole army.” The Midianites were in a state of confusion. They began destroying one another and fled toward the Jordan River. Gideon summoned men from Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh and pursued them. He summoned Ephraim to cut off the escape route at the Jordan. In all, 120,000 Midianites fell.
F. Truly the Lord had delivered Israel. The people wanted Gideon and his family to rule over them, but Gideon’s response was “I will not, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you” (23).
IV. But this is not the end of the story. Gideon requests gold earrings from the spoil of the battle and makes a golden ephod and places it in his city and the people worshiped it (8:24-27).A. After all this you would expect Gideon and the people to listen to God and to God alone.
B. But the text says, “All Israel played the harlot with the ephod, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household.”
C. Thus Gideon’s victory over the Midianites is marred by his leading the people right back into idolatry.
Conclusion:
1. We need to listen to what the Lord says. We need to obey His voice and His voice alone. 2. We cannot depend upon our own power, for He alone is our strength. 3. We must continue to depend upon Him. We may have depended upon Him in one of our battles and found power for deliverance, but we must go beyond one battle and depend upon Him “all the way to the end.”
