conflict – Page 3

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).

I’m not really sure what the Israelites’ lifestyle was like during the time they were settling in the land of Canaan, but I imagine it was a little like when I go camping with my family. We like to tent camp, so we are pretty much out in the open spaces of the campground most of the time. There is little privacy and it is difficult not to get in each other’s way or interact with the campers around us because we are all sharing the common areas. Therefore, most everything happens in public including our emotional upsets and the tension that may develop between us.

A couple of years ago, we had a big family blow out on one of our camping trips and it resulted in so much tension that the trip was cut short because we couldn’t deal with the public airing of our dirty laundry so to speak and wanted to go back to the safety of our homes where we had four walls to contain things.

Camping among the inhabitants of Canaan had to be challenging for the Israelites. Their presence was a constant reminder that war was inevitable and their track record of annihilating their enemies left no doubt that they intended to conquer every nation within the territory that God had given them to possess. When it says “the land had rest’ (Judges 3:11, 30), during the interim periods of their engagement in warfare, it means there was a period of time when the atmosphere was peaceful, a time when the people were able to relax and take it easy.

When I was growing up, it seemed like our home was always filled with tension, at least it was when one or more of my parents were there. My mom and dad fought constantly and my dad who was an alcoholic had a tendency toward violence. Aside from the fear that was always present in my life, I had a problem with not being able to relax. I was always on the alert for my dad being triggered or my mom having a bad day at work. There was never any relief, even when I was sleeping. I was often awakened by shouts and screams and witnessed my dad beating up my mom on more than one occasion.

For the past 3 1/2 years, I have been living alone and have begun to enjoy the benefit of being able to relax whenever I am at home. I think the rest that came to the land after conflicts were resolved was God’s way of showing the Israelites what things would have been like if they had obeyed him and driven the occupants of the Promised Land out. The 40 years of rest may have been a type of compensation for the 40 years they spent in the wilderness or it may have been how long it took the Israelites to forget that peace and prosperity are a whole lot better than being unequally yoked to someone that believes a marriage license gives him or her the right to treat you like a sex object.