Judges 8

Today the story of Gideon ends in victory over Israels enemies, but with a slightly tragic twist as well. Here are some observations:

- Gideon is older here than I thought, as he has a son already. Apparently his son was still young, though, and was afraid to execute the enemy kings as Gideon asked him to do.

- Even in victory, Gideon snares himself. While he rightly rejects becoming a king he does effectively make an idol, or something similar, which the Israelites elevate to a position higher than any man-made object should occupy. While it does not appear that God directly punished Israel or Gideon for the act, it does seem a poor way to end such a great military campaign.

- We are told that the enemies of this story, the Midianites, are descendants of Ishmael. Apparently even before the modern Islamic religion was founded his (Ishmael's) heirs were already a thorn in the side of Israel. History repeats itself, no?

Judges 7

More of the story of Gideon today - his first battle under the Lord's command. All it takes is three hundred men, less than one percent of the army that had answered Gideon's call, to throw the enemy army into disarray. Of course, it wasn't really the men who won the battle... it was God, and that is the reason He chose so few to go (so that they could not think it was their own strength that won the day). That is a good lesson for us all, even today: God can do anything through us, or with us, so we need to depend on Him and not ourselves.

Judges 6

Wow - Gideon rocks! I have the feeling that I am going to enjoy this continuing story. So far the Lord Himself came to Gideon, who was the youngest son in his family (reminds me of David - god seems to have a penchant for picking the 'underdog'), and commanded him to take on the foreigners who were harassing Israel. His first task was to destroy local shrines to Baal and Ashera, which he accomplished, and from there it looks like he is going to lead an army against the invaders.

A couple other things stood out to me here. Gideon saw God and knew it was a dangerous thing - but did not die. He also asked God for a sign of His identity and intent, three times in fact, and God never got angry with him. A pretty gutsy guy all around; I wonder just how old he was.