Gideon was one who joined himself to God and gained the victory for God, but later he indulged in the lust of the flesh, was not kind, and desired wealth, all of which led to worshipping idols and him being one with Satan, thus having a terrible ending. Oh, Lord!
On one hand, Gideon was fully one with God, and God was fully one with him; because of this oneness with God, Gideon and three hundred men defeated the vastly more numerous army and obtained the victory.
On the other hand, however, Gideon was one with Satan and brought in idolatry and many problems in Israel.
We need to see the secret of Gideon’s success and also the intrinsic significance of Gideon’s failure, learning the necessary lessons so that we may be joined to God, never forsake Him as our Husband, and always cling to Him to be one with Him in our organic union in spirit.
Gideon had an open ear toward God, listened to God’s voice, obeyed God’s word, and acted on it.
He followed God’s instructions, so God led him to victory; the victory he obtained was very great, for an army of three hundred defeated, killed and chased away an army of approx. one hundred fifty thousand people.
Gideon and his men pursued the kings of Midian; they were weary, yet they were pursuing them until they were fully destroyed.
In our Christian life, we may be weary, but we are still pursuing; we have received the Lord’s grace to minister and live in the reality of God’s economy, so we don’t lose heart but rather, we labor for the Lord.
We labor for the Lord and in the Lord, having Him as the source, strength, and power to do all things.
We may labor to the point of exhaustion, but our labor is not in vain, for we labor according to God’s operation, which operates in us in power.
He operates in us, and we labor; His operating in us is our power to labor in Him and with Him. We may physically feel exhausted, but inwardly we are energized.
Many times this is our experience. As we are pursuing the Lord and cooperating with Him according to His operation in us, He produces us as the overcomers, and this is for the building up of the Body.
The Lord doesn’t want to gain spiritual giants who express Him in an individual way; He wants to produce overcomers who cooperate with Him and with one another for the building up of the Body.
There are some who overcome, but they do this for the Body, and the whole Body is revived until Jehovah as peace reigns on the earth.
Beware of not being Kind, Indulging in the Lust of the Flesh, and Coveting Wealth
We must see the intrinsic significance of the secret of Gideon’s failure. After such a great success, even the greatest success in all the cycles of Israel’s history recorded in Judges, Gideon had a terrible failure.
There are three main factors that led to his failure: he was not kind, he indulged in the lust of the flesh, and he coveted wealth.
First, Gideon wasn’t kind, for he killed those countrymen who did not support him (Judg. 8:16-17). He broke the sixth commandment of God (Exo. 20:13) by doing such a thing. It is a great thing for us to be kind.
Rom. 2:4 tells us that the kindness of God leads us to repentance.
We all can testify that God doesn’t force or constrain us forcefully; He comes to us in kindness, and He leads us to repentance.
We may be like Saul of Tarsus, we may be so ready to argue about the Bible and God, but the Lord comes to us through someone in His kindness, and He leads us to repentance.
Even in the church life and in our Christian experience, the Lord meets us with kindness, and He leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4; Titus 3:4; Eph. 2:7).
Gideon, however, killed the countrymen who didn’t support him, thus breaking the sixth commandment of God.
May we read the Gospels and see the kindness of God in Christ, and may we be infused with such a One.
Second, Gideon indulged in the lust of the flesh, not exercising any restriction over his fleshly lust.
We see this in Judges 8:30 where we find out that Gideon had many wives, and he had seventy sons; plus, his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son (v. 31).
By this, Gideon broke the seventh commandment (Exo. 20:14). This son born of his concubine caused big problems.
We need to beware of indulging in fleshly lust, especially in sex, for the enemy is right at the door, and we cannot overcome it.
It is good for us to learn not to be alone with a member of the opposite sex without someone else there.
We may think that we are strong enough, that we serve the Lord, and that we have a strong marriage, but by putting ourselves in such a position, we allow the temptation to come in, and we are prone to failure.
We should never trust in ourselves or in our flesh but always learn to exercise our spirit and live in spirit so that we would not fulfil the lusts of the flesh (Gal. 5:16; Rom. 8:4).
Third, although Gideon did a good thing in refusing to rule over the people when they wanted to make him king (Judg. 8:22-23), he coveted the spoil of his people, thus breaking the tent commandment (Judg. 8:24-27; Exo. 32:1-4).
They wanted to make him king, but he refused; however, he asked them to give him the spoil, especially the golden earrings; with these, he made an ephod of gold, and this ephod became an idol to the children of Israel.
This is similar to what Aaron did in the wilderness; he asked the people to give him their golden earrings, and he made a golden calf. This shows that self-beautification leads to idolatry.
And in particular, desiring and coveting wealth leads to idolatry. This is what Gideon did; he seemed to be such a good leader, for he didn’t want to be king but only wanted their earrings, yet the result was that he made an ephod which became an idol for the people to worship.
Even though Gideon joined himself to God in the beginning, he joined himself to Satan and led the entire people of Israel to idolatry and chaos. Oh, Lord Jesus!
The book of Judges is a book of the enjoyment of the good land, which is a type of Christ; Gideon’s success indicates the gaining of an excellent opportunity to enjoy Christ, but his failure indicates the losing of the opportunity to enjoy Christ.
Lord Jesus, save us from not being kind; may we know the kindness of God which leads us to repentance, and may we be kind to others even as God displays His kindness toward us. We give ourselves to You, Lord, and we want to remain in our mingled spirit, walking according to the spirit so that we may not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Save us from trusting in the self or in the flesh; may we flee youthful lusts, do not give any ground to the enemy, and stay away from temptation. May we cling to You and remain in oneness with You. Save us from coveting wealth, which leads to idolatry and chaos. Oh Lord, keep us one spirit with You in all things!
Exercising Strict Control in Dealing with the Matters of Sex and Wealth, and not Forsaking the Lord as our Husband
The story of Gideon is such a warning for us all, for he had a very positive beginning, a great victory, and so much was gained, but he ended by leading the people of Israel in idolatry, and his family did not end up well in Israel.
Gideon’s indulgence in sex and his greediness for gold led to idolatry.
Actually, greediness is idolatry (Col. 3:5), and both fornication and greediness are linked to idol worship (Eph. 5:5).
Gideon’s failure shows us that we need to exercise strict control in dealing with the matters of sex and wealth.
If we look in Christendom, two of the main reasons for so many so-called famous preachers is wealth and sex, indulgence in fleshly lust and desire to get rich.
We need to be careful in our relationship and interaction with those of the opposite sex, for we are not immune to falling into temptation, and the fleshly lusts are in us.
We even need to protect ourselves by making sure we are not alone with a member of the opposite sex without someone else present.
The world today may say that everything goes, for they think they are strong enough, but the lust is present.
We need to be careful around the opposite sex, and we need to be careful about money, especially coveting money.
Even King Solomon, who had such a good beginning and was glorified in the kingdom of Israel with the splendor of that kingdom at its highest peak (1 Kings. 4:34; 8:10-11) and began as a God-fearing and God-loving person, eventually became an idol worshipper through his many foreign wives (11:1-13).
He had such a positive beginning, and God’s glory was manifested in the temple after it was completed.
However, he indulged in fleshly lust, had many foreign wives, and his heart was inclined toward idolatry and worshipping idols.
After Gideon died, Israel’s degradation was initiated in their forsaking of Jehovah their God and their worshipping the idols of the Canaanites, which issued in their indulgence in fleshly lust (see Judg. 8:33-9:57).
Also, the son of Gideon’s concubine, Abimelech, slew seventy of Gideon’s other sons, whereas Jotham, another son, escaped. What a situation!
Jotham went up the Mount Gerezem, and he told a parable; he likened Abimelech to a bramble, a thorn bush, saying that, if fire comes out of him and devours the whole people, this was the Lord’s word. This is exactly what happened.
Jotham boldly declared a parable of Abimelech’s reign as the reign of the bramble versus those who are like olive trees, fig trees, and vine trees, who reject ambition and become a channel of supply to God’s people (vv. 8-13).
God repaid the evil of Abimelech (vv. 14-55), which he had done to his father by slaying his seventy brothers; and God brought all the evil of the men of Shechem back upon their own heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal (Gideon—6:32) came upon them (9:56-57).
What we see with Gideon is that he joined himself to God in his success, but in his failure, he joined himself to Satan.
To forsake God and join with Satan is to enter into the intrinsic ambition within this evil one (see Isa. 14:13-14). Oh, Lord!
We believers in Christ are part of the bride of Christ, the wife of Christ; we have no right to divorce the Lord and no reason to forsake Him.
Rather, we need to take Christ, love Christ, honor Christ, respect Christ, regard Christ, exalt Christ, and cling to Christ, rejecting Satan to the uttermost.
We need to cling to Christ, love Him, and reject Satan. If we do this, we will be blessed, for blessed is everyone whose Lord, Head, King, and Husband is Jehovah (Psa. 33:12).
He is our Husband, our Head, our King, and our Lord, and we are blessed when we love Him and reject Satan.
May we learn from the story of Gideon to beware of fleshly lust and coveting wealth, and may we seek to be one with the Lord, our Husband, and reject Satan to the uttermost!
The story of Gideon’s failure shows us that we need to exercise strict control in dealing with the matters of sex and wealth, for any indulgence in these things will cause our enjoyment of Christ to be annulled.
Lord Jesus, we love You! We take You as our Lord, Head, Husband, and King, and we honor, respect, regard, and exalt You! Amen, Lord, we cling to You as our Husband and we reject Satan to the uttermost, for we want to have Your blessing. We do not trust in our self or in our flesh; we want to exercise strict control in dealing with matters of sex and wealth. Amen, Lord, we do not want to lose the opportunity to gain Christ. We just want to gain You and stay away from the evil one. We join ourselves to You, Lord, and we forsake Satan and all his temptations. We want to be the people who have God as our Head, Lord, King, and Husband, so that we may enjoy Your blessing!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Judges, msgs. 6-8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 8, The Intrinsic Significance of Gideon as God’s Valiant Warrior.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Thou hast, O Savior, led the way / Through agony and death; / O give, we pray, yet more and more / Thy Spirit’s living breath! / Send messengers o’er land and sea / To bring Thy children all to Thee; / Thy name can save, Thy name makes free; / We consecrate ourselves to Thee / As servants true, as warriors brave and true. (Hymns #899)
– All is in Christ; / Your whole self present to Him. / Vain your quest for lasting pleasure, / Wealth, success, and worldly fame; / Christ alone must be your treasure, / His resource your only claim. / Come, let Him disperse the famine / Of your arid, waste existence. / Let God’s Son, th’ Immortal King / Freely give you everything. (Hymns #515)
– I love, I love my Master, / I will not go out free, / For He is my Redeemer; / He paid the price for me. / I would not leave His service, / It is so sweet and blest; / And in the weariest moments / He gives the truest rest. (Hymns #463)
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