I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
This passage recounts what happened after Gideon defeated the Midianites. The story tells us that after the battle Gideon refused to become ruler of Israel. He reminded the Israelites that God was to be their ruler. Gideon did however gather gold from the plunder taken in order to make an ephod which he placed in his hometown. The story does not tell us what Gideon’s purpose was in doing this, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he made this ephod to serve as a reminder of God’s greatness. However, the story tells us that the Israelites began to worship the ephod rather than God and that it became a trap for Gideon and his family. This is the danger of symbols. Too often the symbol becomes the object of worship rather than remaining a guide to help us worship God. Despite the fact that the Israelites began worshiping the ephod, they did not abandon the practices of worship that God had commanded until after Gideon’s death. After the death if Gideon, the Israelites began worshiping Baal. What makes this significant is that Baal worship involved child sacrifice and sexual orgies. I did a little reading about Baal and the word Baal means “Lord” or “Master”. As one source pointed out, there is no reason that such a title could not be applied to the God of Abraham. This also suggests how the Israelites fell into worship of Baal time and again. They succumbed to the argument, “We worship the same god.” I, also, found this article which makes a comparison of those today who support abortion on demand and sexual licentiousness to Baal worshipers. It is a thought that has occurred to me in the past.
Gideon had over 70 sons by various wives and one son, Abimelech, by a concubine from Shechem. Abimelech convinced the leaders of Shechem to support him as ruler over Israel. They gave him financial support and he hired mercenaries with it. With the support of the mercenaries Abimelech put to death all of his half-brothers but one, Jotham. Jotham makes a prophecy against Shechem, one might even call it a curse. Jotham tells the people of Shechem that if they have acted honorably towards Gideon and his descendants by making Abimelech king over them, than he wishes them joy of the relationship. But if they have acted in bad faith towards Gideon and his descendants, he wishes that they destroy each other. I would call this a prediction based on human nature. The leaders of Shechem chose to offer their support to Abimelech because he was related to them (his mother was from Shechem). Yet Abimelech killed his half-brothers for no reason than that they threatened his power (they had as much claim, if not more, to rule as he did). Is it not likely that at some point he would turn on the leaders of Shechem when, inevitably, their interests came into conflict with his?
The first thing we see is that the way that Jesus faced His death led the Roman centurion overseeing His execution to worship God. It should be our goal to face hardship and death in a manner that has a similar effect on those who witness us doing so. I strive to behave that way, I do not know if I succeed. The next thing we have is the account of Joseph of Arimathea arranging for the burial of Jesus’ body. What strikes me today is that Joseph was a member of the Jewish high council, but he did not agree with its decision. Up until now, the picture we have been presented with in the Gospel of Luke is pretty uniformly one of the Jewish leaders being in opposition to Jesus. Here we receive an indication that the Jewish leaders were not uniform in their resistance to the teachings of Jesus. This is a reminder that no group is in complete agreement on every subject and that the Spirit of God can reach into even the most unlikely of places.
Then finally, we have the women going to the tomb and finding it empty. This is one of those passages that should give those who think the Gospels are just made up stories significant pause. In that culture women were not considered reliable witnesses, yet in this story it is the women who first resurrection and told everyone. The men thought their story was nonsense and all but Peter (other Gospels mention John as well) ignored it. Peter goes to the tomb and sees it empty and see the cloth the body had been wrapped in lying there empty. But Peter does not go and proclaim that the women’s story is true. He goes home wondering what happened. The men are not portrayed in a very flattering light in this story. If I was making up a story like this, I would tell it so as to make me look like a grand hero, not like a bumbling fool who had to have every little bit spelled out to me in explicit detail time and again until I finally started to sort of get the picture after the unreliable women had long understood what was going on.
This psalm calls on us the glorify God and worship Him. It tells us that He is a lover of justice. It speaks of those who called on the Lord and it tells us:
You were a forgiving God to them,
but you punished them when they went wrong.
We must remember this. God will answer us when we call on Him, but He will punish us when we go wrong.
The first of these proverbs tells us that failing to acknowledge our guilt is foolishness. Those who laugh at the reaction of those they have offended are fools. It is wisdom to acknowledge fault when you have done wrong to another and to seek their forgiveness and to be reconciled. The second tells us that we cannot fully share someone else’s grief, or joy. We should always temper our advice to those experiencing these emotions with this understanding.