July 2, 2019: Day 66 – Judges 8

So Gideon has a bit of a checkered history.  We find that he is a mighty warrior, able to take down the Midianites and the Canaanites with just 300 men.   We find here in vs.10 one hundred and twenty thousand soldiers who had fallen at the hands of Gideon in the war against them. Gideon then pursued his enemies and their kings.  On their pursuit they ran across villages which they hoped would sustain them with bread and water.  These village were not aware of the shift in hegemony and refused to provide any help.  They were afraid that the Midianites and the Canaanites would punish them for helping the enemy.

Gideon lets them know in no uncertain terms that if they do not help then they are going to be destroyed once he catches the kings of these other nations.  They didn’t budge so it plays out.  The warriors on the enemy side were still around 15,000, which should be pretty good odds against the 300.  But they were no match for God’s army headed by Gideon.  They catch the kings, they destroy the towns which didn’t help out, and Gideon lived happily ever after.  There was peace in the land for the next 40 years.  We are then introduced to Abimelech who plays an important role in the next chapter.

But wait, there is more.  The checkered history finds itself not only in Gideon wanting to be sure that God was on his side in previous chapters, but after he conquers all these people the people want to make him king and he kind of obliges them.  He gathers earrings from all of them, melts them down and makes a statue that he and the people prostitute themselves to.  Not a good plan.   But God continues to watch over Gideon.  But once Gideon dies then they completely turn away from God and they do what was evil in the sight of the Lord.  The trend continues.