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CALLED Session 9 2 AUG 26
JUDG 6:1-6 The sin of Israel got them into formative discipline with God once again. The agent this time was the Midianites, who harassed them any chance they got. So in physical hurt, and not in repentance of sin, the Israelites turned to God.
Gideon ignored the fact that Israel's turn to idolatry and failure to eliminate the seven pagan nations in the land were the cause of their trouble. (Judg 2:2-3, 11 KJV) "And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? {3} Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you….And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:" Note (Judg 2:6-7 KJV) "And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. {7} And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.”
JUDG 6:7-10 So God sent a prophet to preach revival to Israel. The message of revival was an old message: (Judg 6:10 RSV) "and I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.' But you have not given heed to my voice."" But Israel would do so only until the trouble left. The key false belief was that false gods were real. Note (Judg 2:2 RSV) "and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not obeyed my command. What is this you have done?"
This must have really hurt God. Not even the 40 years of wandering and the death of the original people who left Egypt made any difference to this new generation.
JUDG 6:11 Gideon was a farmer's son to whom the "angel of the Lord" appeared. Just who is this "angel of the Lord"? "Angel" in Hebrew means 4397. mal'ak, mal-awk'; from an unused root mean. to dispatch as a deputy; a messenger; spec. of God, i.e. an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher):--ambassador, angel, king, messenger. In Greek "angel" is 32. aggelos, ang'-el-os; from aggello [prob. der. from G71; comp. G34] (to bring tidings); a messenger; esp. an "angel"; by impl. a pastor:--angel, messenger. "Lord" here is 3068. Yehovah, yeh-ho-vaw'; from H1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal, H3050, H3069; i.e. Yahweh. It is vital to know who is this messenger.. Note that Gideon did not know at first who this messenger was. The messenger looked as a human being, not as the modern depiction of angels. The fundamental problem here is poor translation by words and not ideas, compounded for the American fetish about angels when New Age people made angels popular. By wrongly translating the Hebrew here as angel, everyone naturally thinks a real angel.
The context shows it is one of the three Persons of Yahweh. Which one? A lot of people claim it is Jesus. However, the facts do not support anyone except the Father. Yahweh is not an angel or angels. Thus the father was the messenger of the Trinity to Gideon at this event. Note (Gen 22:15-16 KJV) "And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, {16} And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:" It is vital to always realize that Yahweh is the Trinity and the Persons did their own work with humankind in the Old Testament as they did in Jesus' day and today.
JUDG 6:11-13 Clearly Gideon did not recognize this human-looking being to be either an angel or God. He used the Hebrew word adonai which means basically sir. As in the days of Adam and Eve, the Father still walked the earth at times to be with and help his salvation children. Today, Yahweh's permanent messenger is the Holy Spirit within every saved person. Gideon and his father were functioning as part of an underground resistance movement. They tried to keep any food supplies away from the oppressive Midianites. But Gideon spoke the common sentiment of his day that Israel was in trouble because of God. He (they) loved to hold the view that God would protect and prosper them no matter what he did or didn't do. They believed that their covenant with God was really one-sided thereby making God their eternal protector.
But what did the covenant really say: (Exo 19:5-6 KJV) "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: {6} And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." The obligation of obedience was not with God to them but them to God. It was a lesser to greater covenant. In such a covenant, the greater had not obligation until the lesser fulfilled his part. The fact is God is so loving and generous; He did not wait at times to do so. But at other times He did as He had said.." Note carefully (Judg 3:1, 4 KJV) "Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;…And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses." God expected the lesser to keep their promise recorded in the Law. So far they had failed. (Judg 3:6 KJV) "And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods."
JUDG 6:14-16 As is typical, and still not knowing to whom he was talking, Gideon (like Moses) tried to get out of the task of deliverance leader by claiming an inability to meet the necessary standards. Gideon expresses doubt about his ability and status, feeling inadequate. Gideon was weak in faith, which made it hard to reconcile the assurances of the presence of God with the distress to which Israel was brought.
In verses 14 and 16 it reads "the Lord." The Hebrew is again Yahweh. God reassures Gideon of His presence, promising victory. Gideon will respond to this call with hesitation and skepticism. Still, there was an irony in the way Gideon's observation about Israel's plight was immediately followed by a command from the Lord to go and fix it with the power of the Lord. Complaining to God about what's broken sometimes results in being recruited by God to take on responsibility for making the situation right.
APPLY THE WHOLE BIBLE BEFORE YOU STATE A DOCTRINE!
Best Study Guide: How to Study the Bible Principles with Bible, A Study Sources by Orin T. Binkley.
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