Gideon
Gideon was a military hero, spiritual leader and fifth judge listed in the Bible. God raised up Gideon as a deliverer from the oppression of the Midianites.
As a young man Gideon was threshing wheat when an angel of God appeared to him and told him to defeat the Midianites. Gideon asked for a sign that God had selected him for that service. He prepared an offering and placed it on an altar. The angel touched the offering with his staff and fire consumed it. Gideon recognized this as a call from God.
Gideon’s first assignment was to destroy his father’s altar of Baal and erect an altar to God. This took great courage, but he did it. When the citizens of the area learned that Gideon had done this they were angry, but Gideon’s father defended his son and implied that an authentic god should require no defense. That day Gideon’s was called Jerubbaal, meaning, "Let Baal plead."
As the opposition of the Midianites increased, Gideon sent a message to the surrounding tribes to assemble soldiers to go against Midian. Thirty-two thousand showed up, but the Lord said there were too many. In time the Lord narrowed the number to 300. There were about 135,000 Midianites. Gideon divided his army into three groups and gave them each a trumpet, a pitcher and a torch. They attacked the Midianites shouting, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." The Midianites were thrown into a panic and attacked each other. It was a glorious victory for the Israelites.
As a conquering hero, Gideon was invited to become king, but he declined saying their king was the Lord. He retired to Ophrah where he lived as a man of wealth and honor. He became proud and corrupted his worship of God. He had many wives and seventy sons. The Israelites had forty years of peace after they defeated the Midianites.
Lessons from the life of Gideon:
- God calls leaders from unlikely situations.
- God prefers a few dedicated and disciplined disciples to throngs of uncommitted workers.
- A leader’s spiritual life is sustained by regular worship.
- As we are faithful in small things God gives us more responsibilities.
- God uses us in spite of our limitations and failures.
- Even those who make great spiritual progress can fall into sin.
- God uses the abilities He has already built into us.
Read about Gideon in Judges 6 through 8. He is also mentioned in Hebrews 11:32.
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