Title: Gideon's Mistake (Judges 08:24-35)
Contents
(Judges 8:24-35) Gideon's Mistake (98.1.2. Salt Mining Friday Night Prayer)
Following Israel who made a mistake by obsessing over victory and paying attention to humans, this time Gideon also made a mistake. Gideon's mistake involved three types of lewdness.
1. Mental Obscenity (24-28)
Gideon's first mistake was mental. Gideon fell into mental complacency. The situation was as follows. When Gideon asked the Israelites for the gold earrings they had stolen from the Ishmaelites, the Israelites gladly offered them up. Gideon made an ephod out of the gold he had gathered and kept it in his city of Ophrah, 'it became a snare to Gideon and to his house, because all Israel committed harlotry' (27). Here, the expression 'to commit adultery' appears again in verse 33. This refers to idolatry. Victory monuments have become idolatrous.
Gideon did not realize that the people of Israel were inherently corrupt, turning away from God and returning to their idols. Gideon was not to ease the hearts of the people even for a moment, and he was not to give any motive to idols. All humans are perishable. It is hidden, so it is not easily expressed and cannot be discovered. But when the opportunity comes, this corruption explodes. If you do not have the awareness of evil and the activeness of righteousness, this corruption will lift your head. In order to have awareness of evil and activeness toward righteousness, the following should be done.
We should strive to learn the truth. Those who learn the truth do not make mistakes because they are shocked by the Word of God. You should put effort into your prayers. A person who prays does not make a mistake because he has the consciousness of facing God. You must do your best to evangelize. Evangelists rarely make mistakes because they are always nervous. Attack is the best defense. Gideon's mistake was that he did not teach the Israelites these positive methods.
2. Ethical Obscenity (29-32)
Gideon's second mistake was ethical. There were problems with his family. Gideon had many wives. This is a violation of the great principle ordained by God. 'Therefore a man shall be united to his father and mother and become one flesh' (Genesis 2:24). Gideon was good religiously, but morally disorderly. Gideon's home was based on lewdness. Gideon's ethical problem lies in his failure to learn the Word. (This is a general problem for judges).
Even today, domestic ethics are very chaotic. Loyalty, adultery, divorce, filth… these things are increasing day by day. When family ethics is broken, social ethics is also broken. In the end, in the ethical aspect, the disordered family is destroyed. Besides 70 sons, Gideon had Abimelech, the son of Shechem's concubine, who killed 70 sons in one day (9:5). Problems are bound to arise in lewd families. We must return to the Word of God. We must return to God's standards.
3. Religious obscenity (33-35)
After Gideon's death, the Israelites immediately fell into religious harlotry. The writer of Judges points out the religious lewdness of the people of Israel in three ways. First, Israel committed harlotry to Baal and made Baal-Brit a god (33). Second, Israel did not remember Jehovah God (34). Third, Israel forgot the grace of Gideon (35).