You’re too Large a Group!

The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Judges 7:2 (ESV)

Background

Before I start, let’s get some background on Gideon. At first we see the Angel of the Lord coming to proclaim Gideon as the person that will deliver Israel from the Midianites. Gideon answers the proclamation with doubt and fear; however, after many proofs from the Lord, he responds to the call and raises an army to fight the oppressors of Israel.

It is at this point that we need to put ourselves in Gideon’s shoes. The Lord has just told Gideon that he is to fight the Midianites, the cruel oppressors of Israel. The first thing he does is raise a large army of people. In retrospect, it seems obvious to us that Gideon did the wrong thing. However, at that time it may not have appeared that way to him. After all, he was going to fight a tough, almost intractable enemy. Raising a large army may have seemed the only logical thing to do. After all, that is what every one else does in similar circumstances.

When Gideon raises the army that he believes is large enough to do the job, he then marches off to do battle. When they reach the place where they will camp before doing battle, the Lord appears to Gideon and drops a bomb on his plans. Your group is too big. The army of Israel needs to be smaller. After making that statement, the Lord puts forth a series of directives to whittle down the size of the army. Eventually, the Lord considers Gideon’s army ready when the size is at 300 people. The complete opposite of what most armies would consider the correct way to do battle

Learning from this situation

Did anyone notice that the Lord did not give directives to Gideon on how to do battle at the same time as he received his calling? Did you also notice that Gideon did not make the effort to ask the Lord how to do battle?  He simply assumed that bigger is better.

We need to ask ourselves some questions:

• How many of us, after receiving direction from the Lord, would do the exact same thing as Gideon? Be honest!
• How many of us would go out and do what we thought is the right way to do things?
• Would you assume that bigger is better?
• How many of us would do things simply because everyone expects you to do the job this way?
• How many of us failed to inquire of the Lord for His battle plans?

Eye-Opening Book

How Christianity Changed the World

If you ever wondered what the world looked like before the spread of the gospel (Good News) then I have a good book for you. The book title: “How Christianity Changed the World.” In fact, I predict that it will be an “eye-opening” experience. This book starts out by showing you what life was like in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire and then contrasts that with a view of the attitudes and lifestyle of those that took Yeshua, His words and the Bible in general seriously. The book continues past the Roman Empire into the middle ages to the Reformation and beyond.

As you read this book, one of the concepts that you may find yourself pondering is the view of where the United States seems to be heading as we move into the future. The irony is that many special interest groups tout ideas, concepts and lifestyles that appear modern, futuristic and necessary. In fact, when you read this book you will realize that the lifestyles they advocate are rooted in ancient pagan, Anti-Biblical practices. Many of their agendas are a move backwards ethically and morally, not forwards.

No Man is an Island

“But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.” Joshua 7:1 (ESV)

¹⁰ The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. ¹²Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies.
Joshua 7:10-12 (ESV)

And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: ²¹when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” Joshua 7:20-21 (ESV)

The context for these scriptures was the command by the Lord to Israel that they were to destroy Jericho along with everything and everybody in the city. It was all devoted to the Lord for destruction. The people of Israel obeyed the command, everyone but ONE person. Yet scripture records the actions of that one person as “the people of Israel broke faith. . .”

I suppose Achan’s thought process was something like this:

“I really like that coat and a little silver and gold couldn’t hurt. Who knows what will happen in the future. I’ll just take a few items. No one will notice the difference and I doubt my taking these few items will hurt anyone.”

It’s a great example of how the thoughts and beliefs of men and women are different from the Lord. We see ourselves as a collection of individuals and that is true, but only to a point. Yes, we are a community of individual people, each with a separate relationship to the Lord, each with personal accountability to His Maker. Yet, according to the Bible, we are part of community, the Body of Messiah. We are all a different part of Yeshua’s body, yet we are all of one body. Therefore, the actions of one individual not only affect the one person but also the body, usually at a local level but eventually spreading beyond the local congregation. The other side of the situation is that the consequences of the actions of an individual, whether good or bad, also affect not just the one person but extend to others as well.

What would have happened if the Lord did nothing? What if the Lord had not judged the sin of Achan?

I believe several things would have happened.

• The Lord would have not acted in character with His nature. He would have ceased to be God. The Lord will always act true to His nature. He will always judge sin.
• Achan would have started to believe that there are no consequences for disobedience. He would have continued to disobey the Lord and the leadership of Israel.
• Achan would start to display greed (idolatry) by amassing more and more things.
• Achan would become a symbol to others that there are no consequences for disobedience. The rest of the people of Israel would start imitating Achan, becoming a nation of individuals thinking only of themselves.

Failure to deal with the leaven of sin in Achan’s life would allow that sin to spread to the whole loaf, the nation of Israel.

We should be asking the same question. What would be the consequences if the Lord does not deal with our sins? The answers would be similar to the list.

• The Lord would have not acted in character with His nature. He would have ceased to be God. The Lord will always act true to His nature. He will always judge sin.

• We would start to believe, consciously or unconsciously, that there are no consequences to our actions. Disobedience would continue towards the Lord and to those in authority.
• Idolatry (lust, greed etc) would increase.
• You become a symbol to others that there are no consequences for sin. Others would imitate you.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷ Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. 1Corinthians 5:6-7 (ESV)