DEPRAVITY WITHOUT GOD PART 7: BLOOD, JEALOUSY, NEW IDOLS, VENGEANCE BETRAYAL, BLOOD

or

Dr. Gideon and Mr. Jerubbaal

Gideon and his 300 had pursued the Midians toward the Jordan  Judges (7:22-23), but two of the Princes who led the Midianites against Israel for several years were still at large among the fleeing army.. They were Oreb and Zeeb, the Raven and the Wolf, which is what their names mean. So Gideon sent a messenger to the Tribe of Ephraim.

The land and people of Ephraim keep popping up here in Judges. Recall that Ehud sounded a trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim to rally the troops agains the Moabs, after he killed Elgon, and Deborah did her judging under a tree upon a hill in Ephraim.

Who were the Ephraim?

Well, we often speak of Israel’s 12 tribes. Each tribe was called after one of the 12 sons of Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph and Benjamin.

Hmm, no Ephraim, although they are included among the Israel tribes here in Judges.

Just to complicate matters, we don’t really see a Tribe of Joseph mentioned among Jacob's son yet along the way, the 12 tribes somehow become 13. Joseph actually gets split into two, you see, each named for one of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and his brother Manesseh. They were added to the other 11 tribes that comprised Israel, while Joseph was subtracted. . Jacob had adopted them  in and each became a separate tribe. Remember what Gideon said way back in Judges 6:15 

Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.”

Manasseh may have been weak, but Ephraim was strong. Joshua, who led the Israelites into Canaan was an Ephraimite. Eventually the Tribe of Ephraim would lead a revolt in Israel that split the country and Ephraim became the leader of the ten Southern Tribes, which called itself the Kingdom of Israel under King Jeroboam, who was also an Ephtaimite.

They were obviously a influential tribe and it is to them Gideon gives the responsibility for the final victory over the Midians.

Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan. (Judges 7:24)

The Ephraimites came and captured the remaining territory all the way to the Jordan River and perhaps a bit beyond. They also captured two of the princes leading the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb. During this pursuet of Midian, the Ephraimites killed both, Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. These were probably not actual place names, just what they called the spots where they slaughtered the two Princes. They beheaded the two and then brought the trophies to Gideon. 

Thus Oreb and Zeeb disappeared in Scripture, except for Psalm 83 by Asaph. In verses 9-13 we read:

Do to them as you did to Midian,

as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

who were destroyed at En-dor,

who became dung for the ground.

Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves

of the pastures of God.”

O my God, make them like whirling dust,

like chaff before the wind. (Psalm 83:9-13)

The time of the Psalm’s writing is not certain, but probably sometime not long after 745 BC as Assyria began taking power over Babylon and the Medes. (Note, the Medes are still in the news. Pastor Andrew Brunson, just recently freed by the Turks, spent three years in a Turkish prison simply because he said the Medes were people.) Psalm 83 may have been a plea made to God as the Assyrians began a final push to take the Northern Territory of Israel around 733 BC. At any rate, it is a cry to God to do to the enemies in Asaph’s time what was done to the enemies of Israel in the the era of the Judges. We have Sisera and Jabin mentioned and then the Princes of Midian during Gideon’s leadership, Oreb and Zeeb. Asaph calls upon God to do to the current enemies what he did to them, turn them into tumbleweeds. 

Also mentioned in Psalm 83 are Zebah and Zalmunna (Pictured

right.). We haven’t got to their roll or fate quite yet. I will tell you they were not a comedy team.

We left off saying now that Gideon had defeated the Midians, everyone was happy and contented. 

Except perhaps those finicky Ephraimites.

Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they accused him fiercely. (Judges 8:1)

Hey, what’s with these guys. They weren’t happy with Gideon at all, we can see that because they accused him fiercely. It is pride and a bit of sibling rivalry. Ephraim was supposed to be the strong tribe, not Manasseh, so that had something to do with it.

We have to go back to Judges 6:35 to see what really ticked the Ephraimites off. This was when Gideon first prepared for his fight against Media. He sent out messages to follow him all through Manasseh, as well as to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali. He left Ephraim off his list and the Ephraimites believed they were the first guys he should have went to. To their mind Gideon left them out in the cold and took too much credit to himself. He waited until the Midianites were on the run and called Ephraim in to clean up. They didn’t like being treated like the Junior Varsity. They also didn’t take much note that it was Gideon God really gave the assignment to and it was really God who defeated the enemy.

Gideon strokes their ego. He ask them what has he done in comparison to them. It was you, Ephraim, that rounded up and took those evil leaders, the Raven and the Wolf (Oreb and Zeeb). Sometimes a little flattery goes a long way. The Ephraimites calmed down and their anger subsided when Gideon told them this.

And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? 3 God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger[a] against him subsided when he said this. (Judges 8:2-3)

But there were still bad guys to bring to justice, two other princes of Median, Zebah and Zulmunna, “man killer” and “deprived of shade”.These Princes still commanded the 15,000 men left of the Median army of originally 135,000. They were hold up in a town called Karkor. Karkor lay in the desert of what is now Jordan. It was a short distance south of Succoth and Penuel, cities to the east of the Jordan River, which Gideon would pass through on his march to capture Zebah and Zulmunna.

Succoth and Penuel have much Jewish history attached to them. Succoth is where Jacob built a house for himself and booths for his livestock as he returned from his reunion meeting with his brother Esau (See Genesis 33, especially 16-17). The name Succoth means booth and the Jews have the festival of booths, Sukkot, which commemorates the shelters they lived in during the Exodus. Not far from Succoth is Penuel, which means “Face of God”. It was here that Jacob wrestled with the man all night until the man dislocated his hip and Jacob realized he had been wrestling with God. 

Gideon probably believed the people of these towns would help him out, but they refused. The officials of Succoth were downright sarcastic about it. And the officials of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” (Judges 8:6) The people in Penuel followed suit. Gideon warned both towns what he would do when he returned successfully.

And he was successful. He pursued Zebah and Zalmunna and took them captive. He then brought them with them back to Succoth. On the way back he captured a young man from Succoth and got him to write down the officials and elders of that town, all 77 of them.

We are about to learn some things about Gideon not reveled to us earlier. Somehow in the first verses about this man he seemed fairly young and innocent. He came across as naive, fearful and humble, working his father’s farm. He was a reluctant warrior. Now we learn he was probably older than he first appeared. He had a wife and a son, named Jether, who was with him on this campaign. although still a youth. We also learn Gideon is not a forgiving sort and is bent to vengeance. We will soon be wondering if he was all that humble. 

After returning to Succoth, he takes the list of 77 officials and elders and has them whipped with the thorns and briars native to the surrounding wilderness. 

And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’” And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. (Judges 8:15-17)

Do we see him consulting God in whether to hand out such punishment?

No. No fleeces here.

As noted, Gideon had a boy named Jether, which means “excellence” or “surplus”. . This was his first born and apparently still young at this time. Gideon also had several brothers we had not known about yet, but they had been killed at the Battle at Mt. Tabor and he asks Zebah and Zalmunna concerning them. The two Midian princes say they killed every one and they resembled the son of a king. Interesting, because Gideon was not a king. Gideon tells them if they had spared his brothers, he would not kill them.

Now Gideon turns to his young son and orders him to get up and kill these two men. Jether can’t do it. Zebah and Zalmunna then, I think sneeringly, say: “Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.”

In Judges 8 :22, the men of Israel asked Gideon to rule over them as king and for his decedents to then be royalty and kings  thereafter. Gideon turns them down, saying the Lord will rule over Israel, but his following behavior doesn’t seem to show sincerity in what he said.

First he plucks the crescents from Zebah and Zalmunna’s camels. The crescent was the symbol of the goddesses Astarte, one of the other names of Asherah. So perhaps he was destroying this foreign god, which would be good. But then Gideon tells his army to give him the earrings they had taken as spoil. The Midianites wore gold earrings. He collected them on a blanket, a fleece perhaps, as well as more crescents, pendents and purple cloth.  He then fashioned a golden ephod from the material.

Curious, for ephods were  elaborate garments wore by the Jewish priests. Did Gideon see himself not as a king, but as a priest?

Whatever his purpose, making this ephod was a mistake. I don’t know if he ever wore it, but we know from scripture that he placed it in the city of Ophrah, his home town, where it basically became a new idol.

Judges 8:27 tells us the people of Israel whored after it, in essence saying they turned from worshipping God to worshiping a man-made ephod, an idol. Scripture also tells us this ephod became a snare to Gideon and his family.

It is interesting that in the 40 years of peace the defeat of Midian brought to Israel that Gideon sired more sons than just Jether. Seventy, in fact, who were his own offspring. How did he accomplish this? Because he had many wives. I’m sure it was many, many wives. It seems to me that Gideon went the way of flesh after he became successful and admired, with the people worshiping his symbolic golden ephod. Why he needed this, given all those wives, but he also had concubines as well and his affair with one of these did not bode well for Israel or his own family.  

His son by this concubine was named Abimelech. We’ll hear more about him another time. Meanwhile, Gideon lived into old age in his own house and then he died and was buried in the tomb of his father, Joash.

And the Israelites returned to their favorite dance. As soon as Gideon departed this world, they did evil in the sight of God.

As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel. (Judges 8:33-35

Baal-berith, according to the Rabbis, is the same as Baal-zebub, the Lord of the Flies. The Israelites became so addicted to this god that they carried its image in their pocket and would pull it out to kiss time after time, unwilling to part with the idol for a moment. Some believe this object they carried was a simulacrum priapi, which would have been an obscene object representing an erect male organ. Depravity was growing in Israel’s Godlessness.

And waiting in the wings is Abimelech, son of Jerubbaal.

DEPRAVITY WITHOUT GOD PART 6:UPS AND DOWNS OF A FLEECE FLINGER

When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” Judges 6:28-30

When last we left Gideon there was an angry mob at his front door threatening to do him great bodily harm; in fact, kill him. These Israelites demanded blood because Gideon had destroyed his father’s alter to Baal and cut down the Asherah Pole. This was how far they had strayed from God’s Commandments, especially the first two:

I am the Lord thy God, which have brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shall have no other gods before me.

Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image.

Now they were quite ready to brake Commandment Six: Thou shall not kill.

Things do look dire as Joash, Gideon’s father steps outside to face the mob.

And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.

Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. (Judges 6:31-32)

Let’s keep things clear. Joash challenges the mob asking if any would pled for Baal. They know this goes against God’s commands. Joash then says if anyone steps up and pleads for Baal, that person should be put to death immediately. In the remaining part of that sentence, where he says “if he be a god”, Joash is now referring to Baal. If Baal is truly a god he can speak for himself. He doesn’t need a mob seeking vengeance for his fallen statue in his stead.

Now Joash gives another name to his son Gideon. He calls him Jerubbaal.

Why?

Okay, Jerubbaal is a theophoric name. Add that one to your vocabulary. Theophoric means a name that incorporates the name of a god within it. An easy example is Theodore. As a boy I had a good friend named Theodore. We called him Teddy and he bore a resemblance to Jerry Lewis, which is neither here or there, but I bet he didn’t know he had a Theophoric name.  Theodore, or Theodoros in Greek means God gift; Theo means god and doros means gift. We have a number of these kind of names and don’t realize it. Another is the name Jonathan, which is Yonatan in Hebrew, meaning Yahweh has given.

Gideon was given the name Jerrubbaal, which contains Baal, a god’s name, and means “Baal will contend”. It is a combination of two words.  The first comes from the Hebrew riyb or rub, meaning to grabble and the second is Baal, the Phoenician god. 

Alright then, the townspeople were satisfied with this and dispersed without killing Gideon, but this was not the end of any contenting. Over to the east of Israel, the Midianites and their allies, the Amalekites, along with several other eastern tribes gathered together in the Jezreel Valley. This is where the armies in the end times will gather just before Armageddon.

Why would they do this? because they were incensed by Gideon destroying an alter to Baal and were ready to fight the Israelites over this insult.

While this was happening, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. First we had the Angel of God appear, so we have God the Father in all this and the Angel of the Lord was a physical being sitting there neath the Terebinth, which we said was the pre-incarnate Jesus, the Son and here comes the third person of the Trinty, the Holy Ghost. 

But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a

trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him. Judges 6:34

So Gideon has allies as well coming to contend with the enemy in the Jezreel Valley. The Angel of the Lord appeared again and this time blew a trumpet. At its sound all of the Abiezer gathered after Gideon, then God sent messages through all of the land of Manasseh and the tribes of Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali rallied to the cause.  (Judges 6:34-35)

If you remember I told you Gideon was a cautious fellow? Here is where he got really cautious and did what many people remember about Gideon; that is, if they don’t mix him up with Jason and the Golden Fleece.

And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,

Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. (Judges 6:36-40)

I saw someone ask what a fleece was. Is it a jacket, they wondered? You can’t take anything for granted that the people will know what is what, so just in case here is the definition. Of course, one can understand because we do often see ads for a fleece

jacket. I once had what was called a fleece jacket and it was very warm, but you can have a fleece-lined jacket or a fleece blanket or even fleece seat covers for your car. I had those once, too. But fleece is simply the woolly covering of a sheep  or goat; in other words, Gideon was laying out the wool shorn off a sheep.

But was this the right thing to do?  What do you think about this farm boy Gideon? Have you ever flung out a fleece before God?

I did compare Gideon to myself, didn’t I? I called him cynical, skeptical and cautious. Maybe in this world it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of such attributes. But there can be a point when you have to get pass those things and I’m thinking Gideon took his fearfulness a little far. He is skirting the edge of testing God here, which the Lord said we should not do. 

“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. (Deuteronomy 6:16)

This is one of the rebuttals Jesus gave Satan when he was tempted in the wilderness. (Luke 4:12)

So, what happened at Massah?

The Israelites had been led by Moses out of Egypt and to the border of the Promise Land. They reject entry out of fear and were then sent by God on a 40 year journey of testing in the wilderness. They camped at a place called Rephidim and found no water to drink. The people got pretty gnarly about this and began a protest of whining, as usual, saying Moses had led them from Egypt to have them die of thirst. Moses asked why were they quarreling with him and why they were putting God to the test? God gave them water by having Moses strike a rock, which Moses in his own anger struck too many times. It was a bad scene all around. Here God was putting the faith and locality of the Israelites to the test and they were turning around and putting God to the test. Massah means testing.

So we shouldn’t be seeing Gideon putting God to the test in his situation. This wasn’t a decision Gideon had made and wished to see if God approve. The decision and approval had pretty clearly been made by God already in Judges 6:14 and 16.

14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

But we see that Gideon was a fearful sort and these fleeces weren’t the first time he demanded a sign from God. Look at 6:17-18:

17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.”

And he (The Angel of the Lord) said, “I will stay till you return.”

Do you see how patient God was with Gideon? He did wait during all the time it took Gideon to prepare that sacrifice. This wasn't a couple of minutes, you know. Gideon had to kill the animal, skin and prepare it. Finally, he brought out the butchered meat and then God miraculously cooked the food Gideon presented. 

How much convincing did Gideon need?  Apparently a lot. He put out a fleece and said he would believe God if the fleece got wet with dew, but the ground didn’t.

Still not enough. Another day and another test and another fleece. This time he asks that God dry the fleece, but wet the ground. 

And very patient God does this.

And now it is God’s turn to test Gideon. Gideon has an army of 32,000 men at the ready. God is not going to let there be any mistake that what is to come is coming from Him, not from men and not from Gideon.  So God says to allow any men who are afraid to return home to their family. Can you imagine a modern General doing this, telling any of his troops who might be quaking a little to pack up and go home? 

Only 10,000 of the 32,000 remain, but God shakes his head and says, still too many. I want people to see something about my power here. He has Gideon go to the river with these 10,000 and have them drink.

And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many.

Take  them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.”  So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.”  And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.”  So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. (Judges 7:4-8)

So Gideon is left with 300 men with their provisions and trumpets in their hands. That night God came to Gideon telling him to get up and go down against the Midianites and the Amalakites. 

Now something kind of odd happens, which raises again questions about Gideon’s faith. In a sense he has to have another reassuring sign. God tells him to do something if he is still afraid, and obviously Gideon is still being overcautious because he does the thing.

God told him if he still was fearful, to go with his servant Purah down to the Midianite camp and listen to what is said and whatever is said will strength his hands. There is not much to tell about Purah, except he was a servant of Gideon’s, probably his armor bearer. But Gideon accompanied by Purah does go down by the Midian camp and he overhears something strange, a Midianite telling about a dream he had. (Judges 7:13-14)

When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.” And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.”

When Gideon heard this dreams interpretation, he took time out to worship God. He returned to the Israel camp and called out to his 300 men to arise, because God had delivered Midian into their hands. This is pretty audacious if you think about it. The Midianite and Amalikite army covered the eastern part of the valley like locust and their camels were as numerous as the sand along the seashore.(Judges 7:12).]

It is an interesting battle plan. Gideon divided his troops into three and sent them to surround the enemy on each side. Each man carried, beside his sword, a trumpet and a jar. The jars hid the torches they carried in their left hands. They ran, then, yelling, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon”. They blew the trumpets and at the same time smashed the jars, exposing the torches. (This all seems somewhat reminiscent of Jericho with a limited number blowing trumpets, shouting and marching around Jerhico [Joshua 6]). All this noise accompanied by torch lights suddenly  appearing all about spooked the Midian and Amalikite soldiers. They panicked and ran in such a panic they began cutting down their own comrades

While they fled into the distance, messengers were sent and the Israelites came from Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh, joining the

300 and destroying the Midianites right and  left. Then Gideon called out the men of Ephraim to take the fleeing enemy as far as the Jordan River, which was done. Ephraim captured two of the Midian princes, Oreb and Zeeb, whose heads were sent as trophies to Gideon. (Judges 7:23-25). Now we are getting bloody again!

So everyone was content and happy after such a great victory.

We will see.