Author: Calleen Hough

It’s a secret

A characteristic of God that differentiates him from man is that he is eternal, there is no beginning or end to his existence. Because Jesus was born as a man, it is natural to assume that he did not exist before he was born in Bethlehem. Perhaps that is why he made several visits to Earth before then to establish he existence beforehand.

“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art baren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son” (Judges 13:3). The woman’s name is not mentioned even though she is clearly a significant person to have had the privilege of a personal visit from God.

The woman describes her visitor as a man of God whose “countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible” (Judges 13:6). The word translated terrible, yârê’ (yaw – ray´) means stand in awe. Today we might say that the angel looked very awesome, but there is an element of holiness that would have been lost in the translation.

After the woman tells her husband, he prays that the man of God will visit him also. “And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her” (Judges 13:9). Eventually, Manoah joins his wife and has a conversation with the angel of the LORD and determines that he and his wife have seen God.

At one point, Manoah asks the angel of the LORD, “what is your name?…And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name. seeing that it is secret?” (Judges 13:17, 18). The word translated secret, pâlîy’ (paw – lee´) means wonderful. So in a sense, the angel was revealing his identity without actually telling Manoah his name. Isaiah wrote of the Messiah that “his name shall be called Wonderful” (Isaiah 9:6).

When the angel told Manoah that his name was secret, he may have been intentionally revealing his identity without giving his name away. If the angel had said his name was Jesus, it would not have made sense to Manoah that he was speaking to the pre-incarnate Christ because God was known to the Israelites as Jehovah. Rather than using his name the Israelites often referred to God by the characteristics that distinguished him from man.

The word paliy’ is derived from the word pâlâ’ (paw – law´) which means “to be marvelous, be extraordinary, be beyond one’s power to do, do wonderful acts” (6381). Another word that is derived from pala’ is pele’ (peh – leh´) which means “a miracle” (6382). Only God can do the miraculous and being able to appear on Earth before you have been born is definitely a miracle.

Mind your own business

One of the signs of a dysfunctional family is everybody getting into everybody else’s business. There always seems to be at least one instigator who spends all his time finding out what everyone is doing and spreading the news to others. Whether you want to think of them as busy bodies, gossips, or trouble makers, they feel it is their job to keep everyone informed.

My family is no different than any other. Our instigator happened to be the grandma with too much time on her hands. She thought she was doing the family a service, but in reality, she was just stirring the pot and perpetuating conflict. I believe the instigator in our family was motivated by a need to be the center of attention and a deep concern for the well being of her family. In a sense, you could say she was a worry wart that was not able to trust God for her family’s protection.

The men of Ephraim appear to be the instigators among the children of Israel. On two occasions, they asked why they had not been contacted regarding battle plans. Jephthah’s response to their question “Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us  to go with thee?” (Judges 12:1) my have been sarcastic because he uses a different word for call when he says “I and my people were in great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands” (Judges 12:2).

The word Jephthah used for called, zâ‘aq (zaw – ak´) is typically used in reference to crying out to God for deliverance. “Its first occurrence is in the record of the Israelites bondage in Egypt” (2199). There is a distinct difference between za‘aq which refers to divine aid and qârâ (kaw – raw´) which “signifies the specification of a name” (7121). So Jephthah may have been trying to make a point: I didn’t call you because only God has the ability to deliver us from our enemies.

“Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim…and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand” (Judges 12:4, 5). Family conflicts are sometimes necessary and can serve a purpose, but often the damage is not worth it. The loss of 42,000 men was significant. The Ephraimites might have been better off to mind their own business.

In process of time

The phrase “in process of time” (Judges 11:4) appears only a handful of times in the Bible, exclusively in the Old Testament. In all but one instance, the phrase “it came to pass” (Judges 11:4) accompanies it. The reference to time in conjunction with process gives the impression that there is a dependency between time and process, but it is not clear which one drives the other. It is possible that the process determines the amount of time that needs to elapse for it to be completed or it is possible that there is a time-table that is being followed and the process is being executed according to a schedule. Either way, there is a mechanism of control that is being revealed in these verses.

Since we know that God controls everything, we can assume that God uses process and time to control the actions he takes. Therefore, it is either the steps he is planning to take or his time-table that determines when we will get an answer to our prayer. I believe God is working to a schedule because it says in the Bible that he knows when the end will come. If you think of saving the world as a project plan that God executed after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, then he project was completed when Jesus died on the cross. Milestones in God’s project plan may have been marked with the phrase in process of time so that we could follow along and be aware that progress is being made according to a time-table.

If it is true that in process of time statements are indicators of milestones in God’s plan to save the world, then the fourth of five milestones is recorded in Judges 11:4, “And it came to pass in process of time that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.” The children of Ammon were descendants of the son that was born to Lot’s daughter through incest (Gen 19:38). The Israelites had begun to serve the gods of the children of Ammon (Judges 10:6). Molech was the chief Ammonite deity (1 Kings 11:7) and was sometimes worshipped by the offering of human sacrifice (Lev 18:21, 20:2-5, 2 Kings 23:10).

And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob…And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said if thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering…And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him…And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. (Judges 11:5, 30-32, 34, 39)

Misery loves company

I’ve heard it said that misery loves company, but I’ve never been able to find anyone that was willing to join me. I don’t know what it is about suffering that makes it less painful when you are not alone, but I know I seem to feel better when someone is with me, even if my condition gets worse.

I think there are people that believe God enjoys watching us suffer, that he causes us to suffer because he wants to teach us a lesson. I don’t see how that could be true given that he is always with us and would be experiencing the same thing.

When the Israelites sinned against the LORD, they always reaped the consequences of their actions. Misery or ‘âmâl (aw – mawl´) in Hebrew “depicts self-inflicted sorrow” (5999). Misery is not something we get from someone, it is what we bring on ourselves. “‘Amal means troublesome work, emphasizing the difficulty involved in a task or work as troublesome and burdensome” (5999).

The person that seemed to know the most about misery was Solomon. He wrote the phrase “vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Eccles 1:2). Solomon was extremely rich and had unlimited resources at his disposal, yet he writes in the book of Ecclesiastes that all his effort did not bring satisfaction, only misery when he thought about his accomplishments.

There appears to be a direct link between sin and misery and it may be that misery is what comes from or is the result of sin. The more sin in a persons’ life, the more misery they will feel. It could be that Solomon had so much misery in his life because he was so successful. He accumulated many possessions, more than anyone in the world, and had 1000 wives and concubines.

God is our deliverer, but even he has limits to what he will put up with. When the Israelites cried out to him, he responded, “Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation” (Judges 10:13-14).

Even though God does get angry and has limits to what he will put up with, he does not turn his back on his children. He is always with us, especially in our misery. After the Israelites put away their strange gods and began to serve the LORD again, “his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel” (Judges 10:16). The word translated grieved, qâtsar (kaw – tsar´) means to dock off or curtail. One way to express how he felt is he couldn’t take anymore.

Because the Holy Spirit lives inside Believers, I imagine he feels what we feel, our experiences are his experiences, and our misery is his misery. Whatever we are going through, he is going through it with us. One of the things the Holy Spirit does for us is convict us of our sin. The reason may be because he can’t stand misery.

Born to be bad

There are some people that may make you wonder if they were just born to be bad. Whether it is their personality or circumstances that have caused them to act the way they do, it seems like they have a track record of getting into trouble. I understand the born to be bad syndrome because I am one of those people. Several people that have known me well have nicknamed me “trouble” and even I have thought at times that trouble should be my middle name.

One of my all-time favorite movies is “The Man from Snowy River.” Although the movie is about a young Australian man coming of age, one of the main characters is Jessica, the daughter of a widowed rancher. Having been raised without a mother, Jess is a little too strong willed for her father and in one scene, she runs away because he tells her he is going to send her away to college. An issue that is subtly dealt with in the movie is Jess’ parentage. Her father Harrison believes she may be the daughter of his brother Spur because they were both in love with Jess’ mother and competed for the right to marry her. The question that is never really answered is where did Jess’ wild nature come from? Was it a result of losing her mother, the influence of her strong willed father, or was she designed that way to handle the rugged lifestyle she experienced?

Abimelech, the son and successor of Gideon seems to fit into the category of a man that was born to be bad. He was born by a female slave of Gideon’s from Shechem, the town where Jacob’s daughter was raped. It appears that Abimelech lived with his mother in Shechem and was well known by the people there. He used this to his advantage by getting the people of Shechem to make him their king. Abimelech killed all of Gideon’s other sons except one, Jotham. Jotham confronted Abimelech and put a curse on him that was eventually applied to all the men of Shechem.

It says in Judges 9:56 “Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren.” The word translated wickedness, ra‘ (rah) means bad (7451). It is derived from the word ra‘a‘ (rah – ah´) which means to spoil, literally by breaking into pieces or figuratively to make or be good for nothing (7489). So there seems to be a case for Abimelech having gone bad rather than being born that way. The interesting thing about this verse is that it says God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech. The word rendered, shûwb (shoob) means movement back to the point of departure, but it also refers to “the process called conversion or turning to God” (7725).

When my life got to the point where I could no longer stand it, things were so bad I was miserable and wanted to end my life, I turned to God. I don’t think I was born bad even though I know I had a sin nature from the start. Over time, I was affected by my circumstances and the people around me and learned that being bad was a way for me to even the score. Thank God I was converted and was brought back to the point of my departure.

No one’s perfect

Over and over in the Bible we are given examples of people who were used by God that either had made serious mistakes in their lives or had character flaws, I believe to remind us that no one is perfect. I’m the kind of person that strives toward perfection so I’m often disappointed when I read about someone who had achieved a great victory and then screws things up by doing something really stupid.

Gideon is no exception. Idol worship can take many forms and in Gideon’s case it took the form of an ephod which was meant to be worn by the high priest. It came to symbolize God’s direction of his people. The ephod can be thought of as a kind of personal GPS system. The ephod was supposed to be the instrument God used to direct his people, but eventually, the ephod came to be viewed as the source of direction instead of God.

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Gen 12:1). The word translated perfect, tâmîym (taw – meem´) means complete or to be complete. From God’s perspective, perfection is getting the job done. When God instructed Abram to walk before him, he was basically saying, you do the moving, I’ll do the directing, and together we will reach the desired destination.

One of the drawbacks of using a GPS system is that you can become dependent on it and no longer think about what you are doing. I have gotten lost using my GPS system because I wasn’t aware that it was malfunctioning. I’ve learned that I need to pay attention and check what it’s telling me to do against my own knowledge and experience of the area I’m traveling to.

When God wants us to do something, he always tells us, either through his clear communication to us individually or in the Bible which is his general direction for everyone. If I have not received any instruction from him, then that means I am to just go about my daily business and wait until he reveals the next step I am to take.

Gideon may not have realized that God was done using him, that his job was complete. If Gideon would have just gone home after defeating the Midianites and lived the rest of his life as a normal, typical person would, he would have been credited with having lived a perfect life. But that is not what he did, he made an ephod and kept it close by so that he could consult it for direction instead of God, it became a sort of good luck charm that he thought would keep him out of trouble, “and all Israel went thither a whoring after it” (Judges 8:27).

Children of a king

Even though we may know most of what happened in our parents’ lives, we usually know less about our grandparents’ lives and very little about our great grandparents because they were not around to tell us about it. Imagine if you knew the details of your ancestors lives that lived hundreds of years ago. The Old Testament of the Bible contains the history of what happened in the lives of the Israelites thousands of years ago. There are detailed accounts of how they came to live in the land we know as Israel and the names of their family members have become well known to millions of people around the world.

More people know the names Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob than probably any other names of individuals that have ever lived because the details of their lives are recorded in the Bible. One of the advantages of knowing the history of your ancestors is being able to know where you fit into their story and how your life will be impacting the lives of relatives that are yet to be born. Some of the things you do may not seem important now, but they could literally be changing the course of history for many years to come.

A key event in the life of Jacob was when he wrestled with God at Penuel the night before he was reunited with his brother Esau. It was at Penuel that Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and he received a special blessing; “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed” (Gen 32:28).

I’m pretty sure Gideon knew the significance of Penuel and chose to beat down the tower there to honor his great, great, great…grandfather Jacob. The interesting thing about Gideon’s stand at Penuel is that the victory he won after his arrival there seemed to be a turning point for him. His behavior was much more bold and courageous, perhaps as a tribute to or maybe even a result of Jacob’s blessing. In all, Gideon’s 300 soldiers defeated 135,000 Midianites. There is no way to account for the result except for divine intervention. The battle cry that was shouted as they entered the Midianite camp was “The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon” (Judges 7:18).

When Gideon’s conquest was completed, he confronted two kings of Midian named Zebah and Zalmunna. These two kings were directly responsible for the death of Gideon’s brothers who had probably fought against the Midianites in a previous war. The description of the men reveals that Gideon’s appearance had been transformed by his acts of courage. He was no longer the man who threshed wheat by the wine press to hide from the Midianites, but a leader, someone they respected. “Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, as thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king” (Judges 8:18).

A few good men

Most adults understand what it means to be under the influence of alcohol. It affects your judgment, your ability to function, what you say and do. Fear can have the same affect and when you are afraid it could be said that you are under the influence of fear.

Fear is a powerful emotion because it is hard to control and can make you do things you wouldn’t normally do. It can also stop you from doing things that you want to do, no matter how important they are to you.

Fear can be a strategic advantage to an enemy. I believe fear is the number one way the devil takes advantage of Christians and is used frequently to stop us from making progress in our walk with Christ. When we are under the influence of fear, we are like soldiers that are shaking in their boots, we can’t hear the commands of God and are looking for an escape route rather than concentrating on the battle plan.

When Gideon was given the assignment to engage the Midianites in warfare, the first thing God told him to do was weed out all the soldiers that were afraid to fight. Gideon’s troops were reduced from 22,000 to 10,000 after they were told, “Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead” (Judges 7:3). But, God didn’t stop there. The affect of fear can sometimes be subtle, we may not even be aware that we are under its influence. So, God used another method to determine who could be relied on in battle and who would most likely run if the going got tough.

So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Everyone that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself…And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you. (Judges 7:5-7)

God’s change agent

The primary responsibility of a change agent is to upset the status quo. A lot of times, bad practices are no more than superstitions that have become embedded in the culture. It worked once and so it became a lucky charm or a secret ritual that everyone followed and eventually relied on to get a certain outcome. I think the most superstitious people I have seen are athletes, especially in professional sports.

I don’t know much about pagan worship, but I believe it is mostly superstitions and rituals that have become a way of life and can be compared to going to church every week and expecting to become a better person because you do it consistently. Idol worshippers are very religious people, they don’t really care what they have to do as long as their worship brings about the desired result.

Gideon’s first assignment as God’s change agent was to “Take they father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath and cut down the grove that is by it. And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down” (Judges 6:25-26). This would definitely be perceived as an act of rebellion against his father and an offence to all the Baal worshippers in the area. Gideon knew his life would be in danger if he did what the LORD asked him to.

“Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night:” (Judges 6:27). Gideon was not a brave man or should I say a bold man. It took courage to do what the LORD asked him to, but he wasn’t ready to throw caution to the wind and publicly antagonize the enemies of God.

Gideon most likely feared his father’s household because they were numerous and strong. Gideon’s father may have been a leader in the town of Ophrah and because of his wealth was an example to others of how to get ahead in life. It’s possible that Joash was only faking his worship of Baal in order to gain an advantage with the Midianites. When the men of the city demanded that Joash turn his son over to them so that they could kill him, Joash responded, “if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar” (Judges 6:31).

Why me?

If you have ever thought, why me?, relative to God’s blessings in your life, you are probably a recipient of grace and can think of yourself as one of God’s chosen people. The word translated grace in Judges 6:17, chên (khane) means kindness or favor. In English, to show grace to someone would be equivalent to saying I like you or I love you.

A better way to understand grace is to put it in the context of the phrase in which it usually occurs, “grace in thy sight” (Judges 6:17). Looking at it this way, it is clear that it has something to do with God watching over his children. One of the characteristics of being in love is that you can’t take your eyes off the person, whenever he walks into the room, you immediately notice him and in a room full of people, he is the one that you pay attention to. To have grace in God’s sight means that he is paying special attention to you and is constantly watching you to make sure you are okay.

There are few people in the Old Testament of the Bible that received grace in God’s sight. Along with Noah and Abraham, Gideon is recorded as a recipient of God’s favor. Grace is neither earned or deserved, it is merely a result of the fact that God wants to bless people and looks for opportunities to do so. I sometimes wonder if I had anything at all to do with becoming a member of God’s family and the only thing I have been able to come up with to explain it is that I was a complete failure and had no hope of ever changing.

When the LORD looked upon Gideon and said, “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites” (Judges 6:14), Gideon’s response was “my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judges 6:15). Gideon did not understand why God would want to use him and felt he was the least qualified person to lead God’s people to victory, but God’s grace was all he really needed and it was obviously enough because it says when the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said to him, “The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” (Judges 6:12).

The word translated valour, chayil (khah´ yil) refers to power that is obtained through position, such as those that are a part of the upper class of society, or through wealth. Gideon’s recognition and acknowledgement that his family had no money and he was in the lowest position in the family indicates that he was a recipient of grace, there is no other way the angel’s statement could have been true. It is no wonder Gideon asked for a sign that God’s grace was really his, something he could rely on, it was truly unbelievable that he would lead the Israelites to victory against the Midianites.