Judges 8 Commentary

Joshua 8 Commentary

Now we can approximate the size of the army that had gathered against Israel. How can an army of 120,000 be defeated by 300 poorly equipped men?

With God, nothing is impossible.

We are also reminded of the promise that one would put a thousand to flight. This is one important fact that the triumphant Gideon quickly forgets. He returns, humiliates, and kills his fellow Israelite men who had declined his request for help.

Keep the two figures in mind (120,000 and 300) and you won’t bother anyone! You know the LORD has done it. Why pick up issue with mortals?

There are many mistakes in this chapter save for one moment of brilliance when Gideon gracefully cools down the enraged Ephraimites.

The biggest of them all is Gideon’s idol. Did Gideon fabricate this idol to honor himself? Whatever the reason, Gideon is very ignorant of the Ten Commandments. A leader with this level of ignorance is a danger to both himself and the entire community.

Another forty years of peace would follow Gideon’s triumph over Midian. Take note of this number, again.

The human author zooms in and reports to us another low point. Israel forsakes her God again. She also forgets Gideon’s family. It is always the case that a lack of respect for God’s commandments is always followed by a lack of respect for fellow man.

Evil is actually the fruit of ungodliness rather than the cause.

We can look at Gideon as a man the LORD uses, but he is ignorant of the character of his God. During his time, there is orderly idolatry under his leadership, as men flock to his town to worship Gideon’s idol.

After his death, Israel needs another god, so they set up Baal-Berith as the new god.

These are desperate times for the name of the LORD. As we shall see from the next chapter, Abimelek’s crimes are actually sponsored by money from the temple of Baal-Berith. These idol temples are serious institutions operating from within the borders of Israel!

What we can tell for sure is that the physical salvation from physical enemies has an expiry date. That could be the reason why we are seeing these 40s everywhere as rest periods for Israel.

The chapter closes with an ungrateful Israel looking at Gideon’s baseborn son Abimelek. He is the subject of the next chapter.

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