Gideon as Leader (Judges 8:1-35)

You need to understand the context of Judges to understand today’s passage.  Israel was influenced by the culture of idolatry, they were worshiping idols and suffering for a long time. They would ask God for forgiveness, and God would restore them through a judge, and this was the repetitive cycle.  So, from this passage, we can see currently, there are these two kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan.  The kingdom of the world is based on physical things and is needed for us in terms of eating, drinking, and sleeping.  In the midst of this, Satan is seizing this kingdom.  So, this land of America is the nation that consists of being centered on me, physical things, success, religion, idolatry, and mysticism.  Despite that, God is raising a person to continue establishing His Kingdom.  That’s why the people of God need to seek after His Kingdom. 

But in the age of Judges, the Israelites were not seeking after God’s Kingdom; they sought after the worldly kingdom and fell into Satan’s control and deception. In the Old Testament, if they believed Jesus would come, they would become a part of God’s Kingdom and were God’s people.  So, what’s the difference between us and nonbelievers?  It’s that we have different priorities. Our priority is to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. For nonbelievers, their priority is eating, drinking, and succeeding.  They’re completely seized by Satan and have no choice but to live the life of six states of the nonbeliever, and this is the state of America right now.  The reason why Christians have no choice but to kneel before nonbelievers is because their priorities have changed. Even in the age of Judges, you can continue to see how the Israelites are suffering as they kneel before nonbelievers. 

So, in order to continue to live with a correctly prioritized life, you need to have the eternal things within you. The eternal things are given by God, and this must be our bartizan and that means we need the spiritual tower to save the world spiritually.  If this spiritual tower is not within us, then the spiritual tower of Satan, Satan’s bartizan, will be within us, of Genesis 3, 6, and 11.  So, before this Kingdom of God comes upon us as power, the nature we have, that we’ve gotten from Adam, completely overtakes us.  That’s why for young adults, before you get married, you need to see the worldly background as well as the spiritual background of the other person, because the other person you’ve met has grown up with that kind of background. 

When I went to the hospital, they said I was cured of a cold, but when I went to the beach to do deep breathing, the virus went to my lungs, and I was coughing very severely this week, they took an x-ray and saw the virus had gone to my lungs.  The doctor who seemed Jewish asked me several questions about my medical history, what illnesses my parents had and what they died from, so currently, he only has the facts before him which are the x-ray and what I told him, but to get a more accurate picture, he asked my family history.  So, with the family history and what I shared, he made a diagnosis.

It’s the same for spiritual things and physical backgrounds.  Even when you evangelize, you must see these two things correctly.  Even when you’re ministering to kids, you need to know their parents and background in order to predict their future.  Even for evangelism, you are the spiritual doctor who researches their history to give them the answer to their problems.  You need to have this in order to save the other person.  So, when I meet with young adults, they say all sorts of things but I see the doors of evangelism behind them. They talk about the things in their environment, but they’re all doors of evangelism, so at that time, I tell them so they can open their eyes.  Then, that meeting becomes a mission home and evangelism training.  Just gathering people doesn’t make it a mission home. 

The person who has this and the eyes to see must relay this.  Even for swindlers, they need to have someone who is open to con others in order to teach others how to con. If he only knows from the textbook about how to con, he won’t be able to teach them how to swindle because their eyes are not opened.  That’s why you need to study other people and the 237 nations to save them, it’s different than studying for school, even when you go to work, you need to study your coworkers; if you don’t, you will be afflicted.

All people have a background; otherwise you see them from your perspective and things don’t work out.  When I meet other people, I think, “What is their spiritual and religious background?”  Let’s say the other person is a pastor’s kid, then I evaluate what kind of pastor they are.  If the pastor really has the gospel, they will help their kids with the gospel well, and it’s a mission home.  But most pastor’s kids have scars.  So, the kids don’t see the gospel; instead they see some weird form of prosperity faith, legalism, and mysticism, so they’re oppressed and cannot enjoy the freedom in the gospel, then they’re bound to hate the church and hate the pastor. It’s not always like that, but just because the child’s dad is a pastor doesn’t mean you should feel relief, because there’s a background. 

You need to know their physical background to know their level, their academic and financial background.  So, you need to understand them well, or else you’ll just be interpreting whatever you see with your own ideas and you’ll have a hard time; you need to understand your field.  When you meet someone, you need to be more exact and precise than fortune-tellers and sorcerers, otherwise evangelism won’t take place. You can give the way of salvation, but what happens next?  You’re blind to their background or what they’re going through, so you just give them the Word but it’s not an answer for them. 

If you see this, you see it, you must be a spiritual specialist.  You can go out and just spread the bulletin but with that, evangelism won’t take place. You need to first research and evaluate your parental background and see why you have ended up that way, and you also need to research the other people around you because if you want to save them, you need to know them.  What does it mean to know the world? Do you only know about experiences, conflicts, scars, wins, and losses? That means you’ve lost to the world.  Understanding the world means you understand the other person’s 12 strategies of Satan, and that’s how you understand them. 

I met a young adult and the young adult said, when they saw Assistant Pastor Helen, they saw the gospel.  I didn’t say anything; the young adult said that, why? Because they know their past.  They know the past facial expressions, and with that, they realized, “How could a person change like that?” If the gospel is within you, you will change; she became a walking evangelism tract.  Before, there would be a lot of complaints about the Assistant Pastor, but now because she has changed, she’s a walking evangelism tract. 

But if they had understood her background, they wouldn’t understand, but I know her background. Do you think I do my pastoral ministry without knowing your background? That’s the very first thing I see.  Then I look at your siblings because you all came from the same parents. Elder Choi and Senior Deaconess Choi are from the same family, their family is tone-deaf but they are at the forefront of sacrificing and devoting themselves, but it’s because in Judges 8:1, it talks about Ephraimites.  Right when Gideon and the Israelites were finishing up the war and about to win the war, the Ephraimites came and asked, “Why didn’t you call us?”  Who are the Ephraimites? Aren’t they the sons of Joseph?  Ephraim is the second born who ended up receiving the blessing of the firstborn.  So, the Ephraimites received the firstborn blessing, and they thought they were better from anyone else because Joseph saved the world.  

Then in Joshua 17:14, right when they were allotting the land, the people of said to Joshua, “Why don’t you give us more allotment of land?” Because they thought they were better, the tribe of Ephraim, so Joshua said, “Fight for it,” but they didn’t want to fight.  Psalm 78:9 says, “The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their back on the day of battle.” They listen to the lectures very well, but when you ask them to go out to battle, they don’t.  I don’t think it compares that well, but regardless, camp is what we do 24 hours a day, wherever we are, so it’s not the right comparison, so all these families have these things, it comes from their blood.  They are the same bloodline and have no choice but to think this way. 

This is a group that likes to be respected and revered in the church and don’t like to do the dirty work, they are the Ephraimites.  Look at the tribe of Judah, Caleb and David were part of the tribe of Judah and both of them said, “Let’s go out and fight.”  So, Gideon was from the tribe that was far weaker, so he tried to appease the Ephraimites nicely, “Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim’s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer?”  It says in Judges 8:3, their resentment against him subsided.  So, there are these types of people who don’t want to go to battle, they receive whatever they get from the aftermath of the war, and they still get angry.

On the second map, we see the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land.  With Joshua, they weren’t able to conquer all of Canaan, so after Joshua passed away, during the time of the Judges, they went to battle with the other nations, and the Midianites were merchants who went between Egypt and the Middle East.  The Midianites were developed people, they traveled by night to avoid thieves and followed after the moon.

There are people of Succoth and Peniel, the people of Israel.  Gideon went out with his army to fight the Midianites and asked the people, “Can you give us something to eat?”  It’s very important to be able to replenish the resources.  Genghis Khan was able to make his own resources so he could conquer all the land, and so, when Japan was invading Korea, they actually cut off all the resources to Korea through the Navy and the Korean army started to lose power.  Resources are very important.  It’s the same for France and Germany. They tried to invade Russia and lost all their resources in the cold, so they had to surrender.  New Orleans used to be part of France, and Napoleon needed money to finance his war, so he sold Louisiana.  Resources are very important during war. 

Gideon went to the people of Succoth and Peniel asking for food for his troops, but both said, “Once you have said you’ve won this battle against the Midianites, then we will give you food.”  They were afflicted by the Midianites so they tried to stay in the middle ground, but Gideon said, “I will wrap thorns and briers around you and have animals trample you.”  Then to the people of Peniel, he said, “I will tear down this tower,” so it seems very violent, but Gideon didn’t have much power, he had 300 cowards and went out to war with them.  So, once you capture the king, that’s when the war ends.  In Judges 8:12, they caught Zebah and Zalmunna meaning they won the battle. 

He needed to torture the people of Succoth, so he asked the young man for the seventy-seven elders of the town, and then he tortured them.  Because this was a decision made by the officials of the town, he just punished them all.  So, officials have a great responsibility in matters of faith.  He also killed the people of Peniel.  In Judges 8:18-20, he asked the two kings, “what kind of men did you kill?” They replied, “Those with the mark of a prince,” but they still killed people so Gideon gave orders to kill them.  You can’t just kill anyone in a war, you have to be cautious about who to kill, otherwise you will die.  He just needs to attack the president, but to avoid World War III, they avoid it.  It’s the same for Israel in the Middle East.  Why can’t the United States solve this right away? They would cause another war, a battle. There are two regions the US supports, and they wouldn’t be able to continue.  So, Japan invaded Pearl Harbor and at that time, they were already fighting against China, so to fight against China and the US, it was too much for them to handle. 

But because the son was afraid, Gideon ended up killing them himself. In Judges 8:21, it says there were ornaments on the camels’ necks.  It says that he took the ornaments off their camels’ necks, why did he do this? It’s because it was idol worship.  Gideon wasn’t actually someone who was all into the gospel, he was vague in that sense, but God used him in that sense and took 300 cowardly men into battle; he was the only one to say yes, so he needed to burn the ornaments but instead, he just takes them. 

In Judges 8:22, it says the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us,” whether it’s him or his son or grandchildren, but Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, but the LORD will rule over you,” and he takes a step back.  So, he did give a very wise response but he wasn’t much of a leader, he killed kings and his own people violently.

In Judges 8:24, Gideon asked for an earring from each of the share of their plunder, and the total weight of the gold he asked for came to 1700 shekels.  Why did he do this?  Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which is the clothing for the priest.  Why did he make this?  Judges 8:27, he didn’t want to be a king but he wanted respect from the Israelites so he made an ephod to be like a priest even though he wasn’t from the tribe of priests.  Judges 8:24. They really need a leader of only the gospel, but all of them had a vague gospel.  But if God forces them to do something, they must root down and do it, but they are unable to.

Judges 8:28 says the Midianites were subdued before the Israelites.  Gideon had a lot of wives and 70 sons, so because he had a lot of respect from the Israelites, he had many wives and children and spent the rest of his life that way.  Judges 8:33, no sooner had Gideon died, they set up Baal-Berith as their god and prostituted themselves to the Baals.  God forcefully raised up Gideon to lead the Israelites, and while the leader was there, they were okay, but when Gideon died, they started chasing after worldly pleasures and gods.  All of Gideon’s 70 sons end up dying.  Later on, his grandson rises as the leader of the Israelites, but they all end up dying.  Gideon killed 77 elders of Succoth, but later, Gideon’s 70 sons end up dying all at once. 

God tells them to kill their enemies, and that’s okay, but Gideon killed his own people violently.  Those who live by legalism will die by legalism.  The sons end up dying as sin leads to death.   Through the law, if they were both able to come closer to the gospel, it would be great, but instead, they tend to legalism and hurting others.  I met someone who told me about her conflicts, there was a young adult at her church who came to the gospel and continues to vape and do weed, and she couldn’t understand the other person.  So, she can’t understand why they’re like this when they received the gospel. They seem to be from a well-off family, but now they are both single after divorce.  Both were shocked by the gospel and received the gospel, and so this person is saying, they can’t handle seeing this other person doing drugs and coming to church. 

That’s the legalism the person received from their father and mother. It’s not bad, the law is good and the Word of God, but the problem is that this person is emphasizing their actions, “I’m not like that, I uphold this law,” and we have received salvation and have been fully liberated from sin, Satan, and hell, but this person has yet to experience this.  Of course they may receive grace to be shocked by Jesus Christ, but if you receive it accurately like Paul did, you’ll realize, “I could do nothing to liberate myself from these three curses,” and that’s when Jesus comes into your heart and you learn about Jesus.  So, this person will experience this and naturally boast of the gospel while looking at the other person, but instead, they emphasize their own actions and legalism.

So, I said, “You’re not at the level to fully resolve this, there are different levels in the walk of faith, some people go against Goliath and others go against officials.  What is it like for us? What do you do when you see someone you don’t like?  You can say you don’t like this person, but that’s not possible in the Kingdom of God.  Why do you have this legalistic standard and action, determining who you like or don’t like, based on what you deem to be right?  You need to get rid of that.  If you don’t get rid of this, you’ll continue to have a hard time.  Especially these two girls, if you see someone very strange, you won’t be able to endure it.  One day, you’ll have to explode and say something. If Christ is within them, continue to pray for them and nurture them with the gospel, but instead you have a legalistic standard, so you have to say something.

Can you clean someone with the law? You can’t; instead, the other person is destroyed.  As we look at these two girls, look at yourself and think, “I’m the same.” Can you really understand the other person?  It’s not just about having a broad mind to understand or endure; you have to understand them fundamentally because we cannot come out of the fundamental background. We have been liberated through Jesus Christ.  Then, Christ is our Lord and Master, and the other person’s Master is Christ.  Then why do I try to become the master, “Why aren’t you fitting with my standards and rules?” People eventually say, “I can’t go to this church anymore,” but it’s because they’re oppressed.  “I can’t live with this person anymore,” and they get a divorce. Even with friendships, you used to be able to go to school together but you say, “I can’t be their friend anymore.”

All of us have our legalism and that’s why we have the gospel, but this law, this legalism becomes our standard.  Do we not need the law? No, Christ reveals the law to us and allows us to realize it one by one.  Right now, the other person seems like they don’t realize anything, but if Christ is  really their Master, the Lord will guide them, and that’s what the church filled with the gospel looks like, that’s the church where the forces of darkness and disasters are broken down. 

The gospel movement must start from the church.  Even if you bring in all sorts of people from the outside, you kill them with legalism. You can’t do that, reflect on yourself.  Is there someone you dislike about the church? It’s because you have that kind of standard.  You need to look at it with the eyes of truth; why do you look at the problem with your own eyes?   You don’t know which is which; seek out God’s plan and desire.  Satan continues to destroy us with all of our standards, why do you hold onto your standards? Your standard must be the Word, Salvation, and Power. That is a life you must live, a life you enjoy, being with God.  Day by day, you continue to change and the bartizan of Satan in 2 Cor. 10 will be broken down.

Elites, you have to be careful because you look at others with the things you’ve learned as your standard.  If the other person isn’t at your level, you look down on them and you uphold your values more than the gospel; it’s the same for girls. All the women have their own standards, “Is her face more clear than mine? Is her miniskirt and heels higher than mine?” Even for men, they have their own standard, “Do they have broad shoulders?  A six pack? “They live based on this.  “Which college did you come from?” You can tell their standards based on their questions.  “What’s your job?” People have their own standards, and these standards are based off of Gen. 3, 6, and 11.

You came to the church so you must understand these people and wait for them. It seems they boast and brag a lot, but wait because that is how Satan is using them at that time.  Like the pulpit message said, have the eternal, unchanging things because if you have your things, they change and you have no choice but to waver.  You need to have that as your own and concentrate on that.