THE ARMY OF GIDEON
Part 1
The Apostle Paul in his second letter to Timothy wrote, (and
I know you’re very familiar with this as I read it all the time in 2 Timothy
God gave us the entire Bible to help us develop and round out as mature Christians and part of that training in righteousness is our realization that God gave us examples and parallels in the Bible which help us understand ourselves and understand what we experience. Many of the detractors in the world (and even some that, maybe, have gone from us) try to convince us that the Bible is just an archaic, antiquated book of history—a collection of, perhaps, fables that were passed around campfires and, finally after many generations, were written down.
We, brethren, understand that the Bible is a living, very vibrant book that is literally “God-breathed”. It’s a very contemporary book that we use in our daily lives to help us to develop a closer relationship to God our Father by discovering, through His word, His will for us. When we read the Bible, we should ask ourselves, “How can what I’m reading help me grow as a Christian by providing teaching, correction, and training?” Many times, when we approach God’s word this way, events that maybe at first seem to only have a historical context can, in fact, become a very powerful lesson of training and encouragement for us.
I remember Mr. Meeker said one time, and I know it’s been quoted here, that we need to slow down when we read some parts of the Bible. When I heard him say that at a conference probably in the mid-90s, it stuck in my mind. I’ve used that over and over again because I think it’s true. I think we tend to go through the Bible too quickly probably in two ways: one is, of course, just reading it, but I think in slowing down sometimes we need to also start to peel the onion back and ask what’s behind some of the things that were said and written. Perhaps we should ask ourselves, “What’s in this for me?” and spend a little more time in that way.
One of those events that took place was a very strange dream that a Midianite soldier had and an even stranger interpretation by another soldier. Look over in Judges 7 starting in verse 9. I’m going to read this out of the New King James version:
Judges 7:9 And it happened on the same
night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered
it into your hand.” [talking about Gideon] 10) “But if you are afraid to go
down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, 11) “and you shall hear what
they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the
camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men
who were in the camp. [and this was a
camp of Midianite soldiers] 12) Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the
people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their
camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude. 13) And
when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: to my surprise,
a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and
struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.” 14) Then his
companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon, the
son of Joash, a man of
Now, we’re going to fill this in as we go along, but let’s just discuss a few of the details that we’re going to study in detail later. Here was a man that God gave an impossible task—humanly speaking—to perform. First, Gideon and his army were outnumbered six to one. So, for every one of his, there were six of the Midianites and the Amalekites. Now remember, they also were well-armed with camels, which were far superior to the Israelites, who were on foot. And the Midianites had the high ground and the hills. So they, from a tactical standpoint, were in a superior position. Six to one, a tremendous war machine, and they had the tactical advantage by having the high ground.
God told him that the odds weren’t right, so He raised them nineteen to one. God still felt it wasn’t right and He increased the odds against the Israelites to six hundred forty to one. Then He tells Gideon, ‘okay, if you’re afraid, go down to the camp for a sign.’ And that was interesting because I’d have to believe that, if Gideon was afraid at six to one, it only got worse. But God was still willing, He said, “Look, go down” and that’s when he sent him down for the sign. And, of course, after hearing the dream and the interpretation, Gideon took up his weapons, which consisted of torches, clay pots, and trumpets and all three hundred of them went out to attack.
This story has many lessons and parallels for us in God’s church today. Brethren, it tells us what we are, what we’re to accomplish, and how we’re going to accomplish it. And, what I’d like to cover today, is the parallels of the army of Gideon and the dream of the barley loaf and see how they apply to God’s people and God’s church today and the work that God is doing through us. We will, by examining these scriptures, gain a much better understanding of who we are, what God is doing through us, and our individual parts in it.
Now, I’ll just tell you up front that this is going to be at least a two-part sermon. Today we’re going to spend a lot of time on the history and what’s behind the scenes; the relationships behind it and then, in my sermon week after next, we will get into some of the details of the dream itself. Before we do look at that dream and the interpretation, as I mentioned, let’s get a historical and a contemporary context. We’re going to do this by looking at the general times, by looking at the enemy, the leader Gideon, the army, and the weapons they used. And I don’t think we’ll get even that far today, but what we’re going to do first is to try to put this all in a historical context. Many times if you have an understanding of what’s behind and event, some of the things that happen will make better sense.
The children of
The Hebrew Nation, after the death of Joshua, had no strong central government. They were a confederacy, of twelve independent tribes, with no unifying force except their God. The form of government in the days of the Judges is spoken of as the “Theocracy”; that is, God Himself was supposed to be the direct ruler of the nation. But the people did not take their God very seriously and were continually falling away into idolatry. Being in a state of anarchy, more or less, and harassed at times by civil war among themselves, and surrounded by enemies who made attempt after attempt to exterminate them, the Hebrew Nation was very slow in its national development, and did not become a great nation until it was organized into a Kingdom in the days of Samuel and David.
The Exact
Duration of the period of the Judges is uncertain. The years assigned to oppressions were 111
and to Judges with the periods of rest 299 for a total of 410 [years]. But some of these figures may overlap.
Jephthah, who lived near the end of the period, spoke of it as 300 years (
It’s interesting that
The time frame of Gideon was about 1260 B.C. and, again, he was sort of right in the middle of the Judges. If you look at Judges 6 and start in verse 1, this is the story of the beginning of Gideon’s calling.
Judges 6:1 Then the children of
In other words, because they
were hunted, they were so impoverished that they lived in the caves and the
strongholds and the dens. Josephus calls
this time the “Period of the Troglodytes” and, of course, when we think of
Troglodytes, we think of pre-historic man.
But troglodyte just means a cave-dweller. In other words, sort of a nomadic
cave-dweller. The Midianites were a
nomadic people.
Judges 6:3 And so it was, when
So, what they would do is,
after
Judges 6:5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number; and they entered into the land to destroy it.
Now, before we go on, let’s see who these Midianites were. They were, in fact, the leaders of the Arabic area at that time; of the nomadic groups of people at that time. So, where did they come from and why did they dislike the Israelites so much? Through their history, the Israelites had a number of encounters with the Midianites and, at one time, were very friendly with them and, in fact, were helped by the Midianites. They were actually distant cousins of the Israelites, as their lineage came from Abraham.
As you know, Abraham had a
wife, Sarah, and the Bible also records that Abraham had two concubines. Hagar, a concubine, bore Abraham his son Ishmael
when he was 86 years old (you don’t have to turn there, but you can look it up
later in Genesis
Genesis
So, she died. Abraham was approximately ten years older than Sarah so, at this point, he was about 135-136.
Genesis 25:1 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.
Now, it says he took a wife; she actually was also a concubine. There are other scriptures that refer to it that we’ll see a little later. It says in verse two:
Genesis 25:2 And she bare him Zimran,
and Jokshan, and
So of the children that were from Abraham and Keturah one of them was Midian.
Genesis 25:3 And Jokshan begat
So, he had these six sons, with their offspring, but the patriarchal line was passed to Isaac. The difference between a wife and a concubine, (I’m reading this out of Webster’s 1913 Edition), is “a concubine is a wife of inferior condition; a lawful wife but not united with the man in the usual ceremonies and of inferior condition, such as were Hagar and Keturah, the concubines of Abraham. And such concubines were allowed, by the Roman laws; their children, though, were not heirs of their father.”
The difference between a wife and a concubine—a wife, the [children’s] lineage was of the father. But a concubine, and the offspring from them, had no legal rights to any of the inheritance. That was the difference. That’s one of the reasons that verse five say that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. In other words Isaac was, as you recall, the son of promise.
A little later, out of the Roman laws the Lex Julia, it says: “Augustus forbade marriages between members of the senatorial order and certain lower orders.” So, in other words, there were times that a man would take a concubine because, from a social standpoint, they were not of the same stature as that person. In this case, a Senator, if he took, say, a common woman, they were considered to be a concubine. It continues: “The forbidden spouses of such unions were prevented from inheriting property from the person of senatorial rank. The point may have been to prevent aristocratic resources from being dissipated among the lower orders. Women who were incapable of being legitimately married to a Senator or any free man could be taken as a concubine. The children born of concubinage had no legal relationship to their father and took their social status from their mother.”
So, again, that is the difference. Notice in verse 6:
Genesis 25:6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived,
You see, he knew that, because of these sons, there would be problems and, of course, the sons of Keturah had no legal rights to it; it was all intended for Isaac. But what he did do was to give them gifts. Because he was not required to do that, but he probably gave them seed money or crops or a herd or something and sent them away notice this—while he yet lived—and notice where they went continuing in verse 6:
eastward, unto the east country.
So he sent them east of
And he did that because he
knew after he died that there would be a fight—a power struggle—and there would
be bloodshed. And, of course, he had
enough love for the tribe that he wanted to separate them. And to this day, if you look at a map,
Genesis 25:7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, a hundred threescore and fifteen years.
So he lived to be 175 years old and about 30 to 35 years he spent with Keturah after the death of Sarah.
Genesis 25:8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years; and was gathered to his people.
Let me just read what the Bible Encyclopedia has to say about
Midian. The meaning, the term Midian,
the name means “strife”. That is what
Midian means. It says “Midian was the
fourth son of Abraham by Keturah, Abraham’s wife after Sarah’s death, who had
five brothers. Midian became the father
of the Midianites. [And, of course, it’s
in Genesis 25:2-4 and I Chronicles 1:32.] Of Keturah’s six sons, all probably
born early in Abraham’s 35-year period with her, Midian is the only one whose
descendants, the Midianites, are adequately identified. The others probably mixed with the various
descendants of Ishmael,
Going on in the Bible Encyclopedia it says, “they
inhabited, principally, the desert north of the
The Midianites were friendly
with them as long as they stayed out of their territory and it was when they
finally came into the territory—when they encroached on it—when they became
bitter enemies. If we look at the
relationship in modern day between us and the Arabs, we have always had a
friendly relationship. I spent a bit of
time over in the
Look back at when Osama bin
Ladan finally declared war against the
I’ll just continue reading, it
says: “The Israelites [this was when
Balaam went]—Balaam had been sent to curse Israel, and having utterly failed to
do so, was dismissed by the King of Moab, nevertheless he still tarried among
the Midianites and induced them to enter into correspondence with the
Israelites so as to bring them in association with the licentious orgies
connected to the worship of Baal-peor.
This crafty counsel prevailed.
The Israelites took part in the heathen festival and so brought upon
themselves the curse indeed. Their
apostasy brought on them a severe punishment; a plague broke out amongst them
and more than twenty-four thousand of the people perished. (Numbers 25:9) But
the Midianites were not left unpunished.
A terrible vengeance was denounced against them, a thousand warriors
from each tribe, under the leadership of Phinehas went forth against them. The Midianites were utterly routed; their
cities were consumed by fire, five of their kings were put to death and the
whole nation was destroyed. Balaam also
perished by the sword, receiving the wages of his unrighteousness. [You can
read this account in Numbers 31] The
whole of the country on the east of
Let’s go back to verse 6 in Judges. It says:
Judges 6:6 And
They went back into
bondage. This is a recurring theme for
the Israelites. They would go into
captivity and be sorely oppressed, and then they would cry out to God and He
would hear them and deliver them. I know
I’ve been guilty of this. We can
sometimes look at the Israelites and what they went through and, perhaps, think
“What were they thinking? How could they do that? What a bunch of dough
heads!” Here the Israelites were in bondage in
I Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2) And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3) And all did eat the same spiritual meat; 4) And all did drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ. 5) But with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. [notice] 6) Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. [And what was that? That was idolatry—that was the ‘good old days’ that they came out of, that was looking back, that was wanting to continue to be a part of what they went out of.] 7) Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8) Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9) Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 10) Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 11) Now all these things happened unto them for examples; and they are written [notice] for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. [For us, the end-time generation. They were written for us.] 12) Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Brethren, think about the miracles
that were performed for you. It is true, a
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
We are going to become a slave and it says there are two we can become a slave to: one is to that bondage that once had a claim on our lives and the end of that is death. Or, we can become a slave to righteousness and, of course, we know the end of that is eternal life.
Romans
When he asks, ‘what fruit?’ Remember what the Israelites said when they
went out of
Romans
Christ’s job on this earth was to pay the price for us and to take that bondage that we were in, to pay that, and to set us free. Look over in Psalm the 68th chapter—a Psalm just to that effect—let’s start in verse 18:
Psalm 68:18 You have ascended on high, [notice] You have led captivity captive [Remember, one of the things that’s going to be put away, that’s going to be destroyed is death! What has us captive? It says] You have led captivity captive, You have received gifts among men, [that word received is from the Hebrew word la qach; it can also mean “to bring or to present”. It says] You have received [and we will see later that what this means is that “You had given” gifts to men] even from the rebellious, that the [Eternal] God might dwell there. 19) Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits [It says daily loads us with benefits—with gifts]. The God of our salvation! Selah.
That intervention—that miracle—those miracles are on a daily basis. It wasn’t just one time where we needed that sacrifice and never again. We need it daily, because we, brethren, continually put ourselves back into that bondage. Let’s understand that scripture a little more. Look over in Ephesians the fourth chapter. This very scripture was quoted and then explained a little more. Remember, it talked about receiving gifts or to have gifts.
Ephesians 4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8) Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, [Here Paul was quoting out of Psalms] and gave gifts unto men. [So He ascended, He took that captivity out of the way, and then He gave gifts. What were those gifts? It says] 9) Now that He ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10) He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. [Here are the gifts] 11) And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; [In other words, He gave us teachers. Why?] 12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; 13) [to the end] Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, [and, of course we know when we’re going to become a perfect man, not while we’re still flesh and blood but after our change comes] unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Brethren, let’s realize that we’re no different from our forefathers, and we need to constantly remind ourselves of the fact that we, like they, can return to captivity again and become slaves to sin which, remember, we can’t extricate ourselves from. You know, once we sin, it’s all over, if we look at what we can humanly do. We need to be saved from that. God has to do it. God in His love has given us His Son to lead us from that captivity. He’s also given gifts to some to be our teachers, to be our servants to help us all come to the unity of the faith.
Now we have the historical and geographical perspective, let’s take a look at the chosen leader, Gideon. In Judges 6—I should have told you to put a bookmark there—we’re going to be going back and forth to Judges 6. (I could have also told you to hold your finger there, but I know Mr. Buchanan did that to us in the Feast and I had about four fingers in the books and then I had to turn, but I couldn’t turn without taking my fingers out, so I sometimes think he thinks we’re contortionists or something!☺) Judges 6:11, we’ll just skip forward and then we’re going to go back and pick it up, because I just want to make this point. It says:
Judges
Now, remember, they were so impoverished that they were threshing their wheat and doing it inside in the winepress so the Midianites couldn’t tell, because they knew if they saw them, they would come over and steal all of their wheat. So, here they were, inside the winepress. I don’t know what they were doing for a winnowing fan. Normally, you throw the wheat heads up and the wind will take it away, but inside, maybe there was some one with palm leaves or something trying to blow the chaff as they were throwing it up. But here they were—I mean, they were in a survival mode—they were sorely oppressed and if you read this and you get the sense of it, these people were in a tight spot. They were really oppressed. Now just skip forward a few verses to Judges 6:14 to just get a little history of Gideon. It says:
Judges
‘I am the youngest, I’m the youngest one in my father’s house.’ Gideon was from one of the minor tribes of Manasseh and was the youngest son in the family. The name Gideon means a slasher or a hewer; in other words, someone that harvests—a farmer. That’s what Gideon means. Now, remember, this was unlike the modern days where we have tractors and one farmer does it all. The farmer today gets on his tractor and his 12-row plow and in the spring he plants and then, in the fall he gets in his combine and harvests.
In the earlier days, the sons in the families tended to have different responsibilities and jobs due to their age and their abilities. It’s not always true, but in an agrarian society, the older sons, who were larger, tended to be the sowers or the plowers. They could handle the team of oxen and plows better just because they were larger. The hewer or the reaper was usually the younger sons because it didn’t require the heavy work. Their job was at the end to go out and cut the shocks and stack them. They let them dry and then, after that, they would thresh the grain, which consisted of putting it on the ground and then driving the oxen around in circles walking over it. The big brothers tended to look down on the younger brothers because, unlike them, who would lead the oxen and the plows out into the field, the reapers just sort of went in circles all day. That was sort of a job that was relegated to the younger ones—it wasn’t as hard to do—“all you have to do is just walk the cow in a circle, where we’re out driving this.”
We usually consider the firstborn and all the honor placed on them many times in the Bible. God saw to it, at different times, that particular jobs were given to the lastborn—if you think about it. Moses was a lastborn. Aaron and Miriam were both older than him. David was the lastborn and, if you remember, David’s brothers looked down on him. We won’t turn there, but you’ll remember that David went out to the battle to bring his brothers their food. Of course, they didn’t have the mess sergeants to set up the tents. A lot of times at a battle, which wasn’t fought “over there” but rather right there in the area, the families provided the food for the soldiers. And, of course, David went out to his brothers and, when he showed up on the battlefield to bring his brothers their lunch, they belittled him and accused him of neglecting his chores at home. “What are you doing here? You should be at home taking care of the sheep!”
Now if you read, David did take
care of his sheep; he did [do] that. Gideon, due to a couple of unusual
circumstances, was the least of the tribes of
Genesis 48:3 Then Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 4) And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession. [Now, here is Jacob talking to Joseph. This was after they were in Egypt, and he basically said, “look, here’s the promises God made to me” and, notice] 5) And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. [In other words, I’m adopting them—I’m grafting them into my lineage. They are heirs to what I have. He says:] 6) Your offspring [and again, this is Jacob talking to Joseph] whom you beget after them shall be yours;
In other words, I’m claiming Ephraim and Manasseh to be mine. Any more sons will continue to be your lineage, but these are going to be mine and are going to be in my lineage just as Reuben and Simeon are mine—they’re going to be mine. So he grafted them in. The second unusual circumstance was very deliberate and it took place when he was old and was blessing the two children of Joseph. Over in Genesis 48 verse 13—just down a few verses.
Genesis 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his
right hand toward
Now Joseph was born before Benjamin so, technically, in the lineage, Benjamin was the youngest. However, after they grafted in Ephraim and Manasseh, because they were younger than Benjamin and they were born after them, they were, technically, the youngest of the tribes. And, although Manasseh was the older of two, by the very deliberate blessing that was given out of Ephraim, who was placed ahead of Manasseh, so Gideon, when he felt he was the least of the least of the least was correct. He was of the youngest of the tribes and, of course, the least of the tribes and he was from the least of the families—there was no royal lineage, there was nothing in his line—and he was the youngest in his family. So, he was, as my father used to say to my younger brother, he was the caboose! Nothing else comes after that; he was the last one.
As we discussed earlier, sowing and reaping happen at different times. I won’t turn there but in Mark 4 there is the parable of the sower and that takes place at the beginning of the season. On the other hand Matthew 20 is the parable of the reapers. And, of course, that takes place at the end. The reapers or the hewers come at the end of the growing season. This is a cycle that God established in the beginning and it was part of the order of things. Look over in Genesis the eighth chapter, in verse 22, it says:
Genesis 8:22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease!
So, when God set up these cycles—the order of things—He set it up so there was a seedtime and a harvest. You know, there was winter and there was summer. There was day and there was night and that is the natural cycle of life. Turn over to Ecclesiastes the third chapter. Mr. Buchanan read this yesterday at Mr. Loy’s funeral and maybe even at a time like this, it has a greater meaning when we think about that.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; 2) A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up [or, to harvest] that which is planted.
That is the way God made the order of things. That’s the way it is. But planting and harvesting are two separate events. Now, we’ll see later how Gideon—whose name means thresher—was used for that purpose, in carrying out the deliverance that God was to do through him. It’s interesting that we look at what God has done since He founded the church; there was a time—in other words, Christ came and He planted and He started the seed of the church and, of course, it has gone through two thousand years. We know it has gone through a number of eras, some up and some down and, of course, we’re getting very close now to the harvest time. And, as we think about that and think about where we’re at, we need to think how ready we are. Are we, in fact, ready?
Thinking back, there was a time I can remember in the early 70s, when we thought it was all going to end and kept saying, “Well, why isn’t it?—we’re ready! Why is God delaying it?” And we would come up with all kinds of theories about why God was delaying it. When we look back now, thirty-some years later, we go, “We were no more ready than a man in the moon!” And I have to say now, “Are we ready?” I don’t think we’ll ever come to a time and say, “Okay, we’re there—we’ve done it, we’ve overcome.” I don’t even think God intended it to be that way. I think the cycle to be born and to die, for the most of the ones that God has called, is going to be the cycle. I mean, there will be some that are left. But I don’t think there’ll ever be a time that we can sit back on our laurels and say “Okay, I’m ready.”
And, even if you think you’re ready, what about the church? Remember, we’re all in this together! This is not about me, it’s about the Bride and if we understand that, we’ll realize that we don’t have enough time. I was thinking about this while driving back. There are a couple of things in life that we can’t control. We can’t control when we were born. We have no say in the matter. For the most part (and yes we can try to live a healthy life and everything) we have no control of when we die. Nobody asks our opinion on that. What we can control is what we do in between those two and how we live our lives. That we can control, and that we’re responsible for. And I’ll guarantee you—and I’m still young by a lot—let me tell you, mine has gone [snap of fingers] that fast! It’s just way too fast. And I think if we understand that, we’ll realize that time is short, and we really need to be about our Father’s work. Let’s go back to Judges 6:12. This is probably the last point that we’re going to be able to cover today. Notice when the angel appeared to Gideon, what he said.
Judges
I always think about this, because I imagine, here’s Gideon, hiding in the winepress and he’s winnowing the wheat and somebody’s probably there trying to fan it. It’s at night, that they’re doing this. And here an angel shows up and says “you mighty man of valor” and you’re going, “that just doesn’t seem to fit!” I mean, “here I am, we’re living in caves, we’re impoverished and someone comes along and says that. Here was Gideon, the youngest of the family, hiding in a winepress and he’s told, “You mighty man of valor.”
Brethren, did you ever consider that God looks at us as mighty men of valor? That’s hard to think, but the reason isn’t our strength. It’s our trust and our confidence in God that makes us so. It’s not us. Remember what Joshua told the Israelites over and over again? Look over in Deuteronomy 31:6. Notice what he told them. He said,
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not nor be afraid of
them; for the [Eternal] thy God, He it is that doth go with thee. [And, listen to this] He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 7)
And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all
Joshua 1:6 [notice what Joshua said] Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto your fathers … 7) Only be thou strong and very courageous [It’s not just be strong and be courageous; be strong and be very courageous] that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. 8) This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. 9) Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be dismayed; for the [Eternal] your God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
We are men of valor. God wants us to be bold, not because of our own strength but because we have faith in Him and we rely on His promise not to fail or to forsake us. Look over in Isaiah 35.
Isaiah 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. 4) Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not; behold, your God will come with a vengeance, even God with a recompense, He will come and save you.
Now we can be strong because God is going to save us. God has promised that He is not going to fail us. Being a man of valor is not just an optional attribute that God wants us to have. Do you realize that it is a requirement for salvation? Look over in Revelation 21—these two verses sort of contrast one another. Notice, it says:
Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8) But the fearful and unbelieving, [and notice what they’re lumped in with] and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.
It is fear that causes us to shrink back will inhibit our spiritual growth. That will make us afraid. That is why we need to understand that God is for us; that sacrifice is for us to deliver us from bondage, and we should not be fearful. We should be able to move forward because we know there’s a safety net under us and that’s God and Jesus Christ there for us. We won’t turn there, but I’ll just read Luke 12:32.
Luke
We are men of valor not because of our greatness or because of something we muster up within ourselves. When David faced Goliath, he didn’t look to himself and his strength. Let’s just read this over in 1 Samuel 17:45. This is when David went to the battlefield and there was Goliath and he was blaspheming the Israelites.
1 Samuel 17:45 Then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword, and a spear, and with a shield; [in other words, your weapons of the war are the sword and the spear and a shield] but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 46) This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47) And all this assembly may know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear; for the battle is [His] and he will give you into our hands.
Everyone else in
Brethren, our confidence should never be in ourselves, but in God. We have God’s Spirit and that Spirit gives us confidence in our Father and His promises. 2 Timothy 1:7, you don’t have to turn there,
2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.
The Spirit dispels fear because we have confidence, but not in us and not in what we can do. And let me tell you, if you want to frustrate yourself, try to do it on your own. You know you’re doomed to fail, but with God’s Spirit and God’s help, we are truly men of valor.
I think we’re going to wrap it
up there. Just to recap…so far, we’ve
looked at the historical and contemporary context. We’ve seen the tendency of
Brethren, we must become men of valor. Not because of our strength, but because we have faith in our Father and our older Brother that They are going to deliver on Their promises. We shouldn’t see ourselves. We should see Them. With this framework, we’ll look at the selection of the army, the weapons that they take into battle, and the vision of the barley loaf Sabbath after next.
Transcribed by Karen Owen
March, 2004