THE LORD IS KING.
Judges 8: 22 - 32
Sermon by:
Rev. E. Moerdyk
PUBLISHED BY
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(February 2005)
LITURGY:
Votum
Psalter 266
Law of God
Psalter 324 (for a P.M. service Psalter 112)
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 10: 1 – 14
Text: Judges 8: 22 – 32
Congregational Prayer
Offerings
Psalter 87
Sermon
Psalter 386: 1, 4, 5
Thanksgiving Prayer
Psalter 321
Doxology: Psalter 400: 1, 2, 3, 7
Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, security is something that all of us long for. The
desire to feel safe is simply human, from our earliest years to our last moments. You see it in the
toddler who grabs his father’s pantlegs on a Sunday morning after the worship service, when he
sees strangers approaching. It is evident on the face of the boy who is just learning to ride a bike
without training wheels, and who says to his father as he runs along behind with his hand on the
seat, don’t let go. You see it in the life insurance advertisements claiming to be able to provide
you with peace of mind and security for the future – using such images like the rock. The desire
for safety is behind the recent demand in the United States for a new department of homeland
security, with increased powers and scope, to be able to combat the uncertainty that terrorism
creates. I am sure you can think of many more examples.
As we have discovered so often already in the history of Gideon, these very human desires and longings are portrayed in the pages of scripture. Israel is longing for safety and security, and Gideon is as well. They both recognize that what is needed is someone with power, someone who can rule, so that they will be safe. So far, so good. But as people sometimes our desire for security makes us blind, makes us idolators, and makes us forget the God who rules over all things. Sometimes our desire for security instead of bringing us to God tempts us from God. We also see this in Gideon and in Israel in our text this morning. In the middle of this very real desire for security and this struggle to find certainty, the text points us to the God who rules.
Theme: The Lord is King
I. This is confessed in Gideon’s prophetic words
II. This is clouded by Gideon’s priestly ephod
III. This is contradicted when Gideon seeks kingly glory
Congregation, just try to imagine the excitement and exuberant enthusiasm sweeping across Israel as Gideon comes marching home with his men. In the matter of a few desperate days of battle, the nation has been transformed from sneaking around in caves and forts in the dark, to being suddenly free to walk unafraid wherever they wanted, like free people. Remember the pictures that flooded the news not too long ago of the streets of Baghdad. Triumphant and jubilant throngs crowded the streets, dancing and singing. To great cheers statues came tumbling down, and pictures of Saddam on the sides of building were painted over. As you hear the jubilant Israelites reacting in the first verse of our text, you see that the glory of victory and the joy of conquest were a mixture these downtrodden people could not handle very well. It went to their heads, and as is so often the case when excitement reigns, they were carried away from the facts in their frenzy.
Then the men of Israel come to Gideon and say, rule over us, you and your son, and your son’s son. On the one hand you can understand this request. After all, for too long Israel has been dominated by these foreign kings, and now they want an answer to the constant cycles of oppression. They want their own king who can ensure that they remain in the enjoyment of the freedom that is now theirs. We need a king, they are saying! Gideon, you be our king. After all, you have delivered us from the hand of Midian. And here is where they have it completely wrong. It was the Lord God who had been with them in battle. The Lord had announced deliverance to Gideon. The Lord had overwhelmed the armies of Midian by his sovereign and powerful hand. It was the Lord who had called and equipped Gideon to lead. They had shouted it themselves on the hillsides around the Midianite camp – the sword of the Lord! The battle had belonged to the Lord, and essentially He was the victor. But in the glory of triumph, Israel’s attention is focussed not on God, but on Gideon. They saw in Gideon a hero, and also their hope, their possible first king. Their hope is set not on the God of their salvation, but on a mere man. We need a king, they are saying to Gideon. You are the man!
What a superficial evaluation of what really happened. You see here how horizontal Israel is in its thinking. They do not remember the words of the prophet that the Lord sent at the beginning of this account, to remind them of why they were being oppressed. They are not convinced that it is their sin that separates them from God, and that makes His hand heavy upon them. They are totally horizontal in their thinking – all they see is the world around them, and their desires for security and safety in this life. They do not think vertically, they do not think that they stand before the God of heaven and earth, and that it is His hand that is upon them for evil or for good, in blessing or in cursing. Israel does not stop to think that unless they are delivered from their sins, their situation will remain just as hopeless no matter who rules over them. There is no room in their calculations for God, whose mighty hand they have seen at work so remarkably in the last few days. They credit Gideon – you saved us they say, we need more of you. Rule over us. You are the man.
Congregation, we need to pause here and notice that this is a fundamental human tendency. It is part of our sinfulness to ascribe glory to ourselves, and to leave God out of the picture. There is a devious tendency in our hearts to glorify our own efforts, to trust in our own proven methods, to credit our own contributions, and to think well of our own cleverness. How often the modern world does this. There is poverty and need in the world, and the response is to set up the United Nations, and relief agencies, and to trust in human might and power. Now of course these things are not wrong in themselves because God Himself calls us to have compassion on the needy, but when they become substitutes for God, and when they leave God out of the picture, they are superficial and shortsighted remedies. How often the relief men want to provide ignores God, ignores the reality of sin, and the need for grace.
This can so very easily happen in the church. You can so quickly set up a ministry around a person rather than focusing on truth. We see the personality cult spreading in the church around us in imitation of the ideas of the corporate world. How quickly an individual becomes the focus, rather than the word. You start reading about the ministry of so and so, in stead of hearing about the gospel and the kingdom of God. Scripture over and over again reminds us of the fundamental message that we sing in one of our psalters - Trust not in man, who soon must die, but on the living God rely. Most blest the man whose help is he, who made the heaven, and earth, and sea. Is it possible that one of the reasons why God at times withholds his hand of blessing is that even his church would then say – my own hand has brought me the victory?
What a lesson this is when a church begins to describe its need not in spiritual terms, but in purely psychological terms. For example, someone will say – the preaching is not reaching my heart. Maybe we need a different minister. If only we could get him. Or – our minister is overworked, he needs more time to study for his sermons. Now obviously the Lord has given us sanctified common sense. But at times our use of our common sense can make us focus on purely human powers and resources, instead of relying on the living God and on the power of His Spirit. Perhaps it is prayer that is needed, perhaps we need to plead with the living God to bless the man he has sent us.
This point is made very powerfully in the book Iain Murray has written about revival. When the Spirit of God began to move in a certain area, a minister in a neighboring town was critical because he was afraid that what was happening was mere emotionalism instead of the work of the Spirit of God. So the pastor of the church where there was revival invited him to come and see. He was also asked to preach at one of the evening meetings. Some of the people objected – don’t let him speak after what he has said and written! But the pastor of the church insisted. When this visiting man began to preach, his heart was warmed by the Spirit of God and he preached as he seldom had before, with great blessing. It is the Spirit and power of the Lord that brings blessing, not a particular name or man.
But Israel forgets this. We need a king – Israel shouts. You are the man. Rule over us. What a powerful temptation this is for Gideon – to be offered such enormous power and prestige by his own people! However Gideon does not give in. I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. The Lord shall rule over you. Gideon is saying in so many words you already have a king! The Lord. What you need is not me or my sons, but what you need is the Lord who is already your king.
These words are the theme of the book of Judges. Remember when this book was written – it was written during the rule of David or Solomon, in order to remind the people of why they had a king. Over and over again the book of Judges ends a description of how bad it was in Israel with the words – in those days there was no king, and every man did what was right in his own eyes. God answers this condition by giving Israel a king after His own heart. But now the book of Judges reminds us that no human king ought to replace God in our thinking. The kings, the leaders God gives, are not substitutes for His rule, but they express His rule. The hope of Israel is the God who expresses His rule over his people through His chosen king, and not simply a king as such.
Congregation, we learn in these words the importance of giving God the glory in all things. In the words we have sung a couple of times already in this series, not unto us, O Lord of heaven, but unto thee be glory given. Is that the theme of your life? Let me look a moment at the office bearers of the congregation – is that the spirit in which you conduct your work? Remember the words of John the Baptist when his disciples complained that Jesus was getting more attention and honor than he was. John says – He must increase, I must decrease. The Lord is the one who rules in His church! Remember the words of Paul to the Corinthian church that was idolizing the leaders God had given to them. Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
The Lord shall rule over you, Gideon tells the men of Israel. What a way to end. If only that was the end of the story.
II. This is clouded by Gideon’s priestly ephod
Gideon is not willing to rule if it means that the people forget the God who rules. But Gideon does have a request to make of the people. He says to them – let me have the gold earrings that you picked up as part of the plunder. The Midianites apparently had golden earrings, like many other tribes of the desert. They are called Ishmaelites here – not because they were descendents of Ishmael, but because all of the tribes in that area were called Ishmaelites. Having golden earrings was a mark of belonging to this group. Israel was willing to give these earrings to Gideon. Someone spreads out a coat, and the men file by and toss the earrings onto the coat until there is a mound of gold – 1700 shekels, or about 50 pounds of gold. Gideon got the ornate saddles and bridles of the kings as well on top of that. When you calculate the value by today’s standards, the gold alone cost a quarter of a million dollars. It is a real rags to riches story.
So what should we think of this? There are some commentators that accuse Gideon here of giving in to the magnetism of materialism, or to put it more popularly, of having dollar signs in his eyes. Is that really the case? We are told in verse 27 why Gideon wanted all of this gold. He makes an ephod to put in his hometown of Ophrah. We should not think here of a war memorial, but of a permanent fleece much like the ones at the end of chapter 6. An ephod was a garment a priest wore. An ephod could be woven with gold thread, and would include jewels and other stones. Part of the ephod was two stones by which you could ask for the will of the Lord – the priest would look at the two stones as he stood before the Lord, and ask a question. Depending on which stone moved, he would know the answer. The Lord himself had told Moses to make an ephod for the high priest, to be worn in the tabernacle. The Lord also often gave guidance and instruction through the ephod in the Old Testament. So you could say it was a way of trying to figure out the will of God.
At first sight this might seem innocent enough. After all, Gideon has just said that the Lord must be the one to rule. If that is so, then you need a way of finding out what the will of the Lord is. You could argue that Gideon is simply being consistent with his desire that the Lord be king in Israel. And no doubt this was what Gideon had in mind. Gideon probably thinks he is providing spiritual leadership here, and that he is teaching the people to submit to the rule and direction of the Lord.
But when you look at this request more closely, something different comes to light. In asking for such a large gift from the people, Gideon is acting as if he had something to do with the victory after all, and as if he deserves payment. This was how a pagan priest or guru would do his business – he would claim the gods acted, but in the meantime make a little money in the bargain. Remember the story of Naaman and Elisha. When Naaman comes back cured of his leprosy, he wants to offer Elisha a present out of gratitude. Elisha responds like this “as the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.” Why not? Because then this man converted fresh out of paganism will think Elisha deserves the credit. The same is happening here among Israel, where the covenant people show by word and example that they are thinking like pagans. Gideon says – no the Lord will rule, the Lord is the one who gained the victory. But his actions contradict this claim, because then he asks for payment. Gideon is helping Israel here to forget God, and to remember Gideon. Gideon is clouding over the Lord’s honor in the victory.