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25. Gideon.
After the death of
Joshua, the Israelites no longer had a communal leader who governed them
in the power of the law and led them to protect their homeland against
their numerous and powerful enemies. They also became idolatrous again.
They did not fulfil what they had promised Joshua. Their hearts were not
yet accustomed to God.
But when their enemies came against them, the Moabites, the Philistines,
the Midianites and the Ammonites, they turned back from their idols and
their evil ways and prayed to the pious God of their fathers. Lord, when
there is trouble, they seek you. Then God raised up heroes among them.
These delivered them again from their tribulations and ruled over one
tribe or over some as long as they lived, and were called Judges. But it
was an uncertain and miserable time. Where there is no legitimate
authority in a country, where no law is respected and the most cunning
or the strongest has the upper hand, such times do not flourish.
The Midianites and Amalekites, numerous marginalised peoples, had become
powerful over Israel. When the Israelites had sown their fields, when
the promising seed was at its best, the Midianites came out of the
desert with herds without number. The flocks grazed the beautiful seed
fields from the desert to the sea, and when the enemies returned home,
they also took the Israelites' food, what they found, their sheep and
cattle.
When the Israelites turned back to the God of their fathers, God raised
up a strong young man from Manasseh by miraculous appearances to save
his poor fatherland. God can perform great miracles through weak human
strength that trusts him. This young hero, with an army of three hundred
courageous men, delivered the fatherland from a countless swarm of its
enemies, and their battle cry and victory cry was: ‘Sword of the Lord
and Gideon!’ The enemies fled, leaving behind immense spoils. When
Gideon returned victorious from the pursuit of the enemy, the people
wanted to make him king: ‘Lord over us, you and your descendants,
because you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.’ In human terms,
Gideon could have done his homeland a much greater favour than by
defeating the Midianites.
But Israel had to learn even more painfully what it meant to live
without authority and without laws. Gideon said: ‘I will not be lord
over you, but your God shall be lord over you.’ For when God called him
to deliver his fatherland, he was not told that he would be repaid for
this favour through his rule. Gideon is also called Jerubbaal. He died
at a happy old age. God-fearing youth prepares for a good old age. After
his death, Israel fell back into idolatry.
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