Quick Learners

Judges 7:7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, by the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. KJV  In Judges 6-7 we can read the well-known account of Gideon being used by God to defeat a powerful military force of thousands of Midianites and the Amalekites in the Valley of Jezreel. He accomplished this amazing feat with a small handful of 300 men who had been selected from a larger force of at least 32,000!

Historical Background

We need to go back in time to the days of Joshua. He was called Moses’ minister or servant as a young man. Before Moses died Joshua was selected and installed as his successor to lead the Children of Israel into their inheritance of the lands of Canaan. Earlier Joshua was also selected as one of the 12 spies, along with Caleb, sent to spy out the land in Num 13. They were the only two to bring a positive report that the enemies there could easily be defeated! In the Book of Joshua we can read the account of him leading God’s people into the new Promised Land. Great military victories marked this period of time in Israel’s history.

But all was not well when we look more closely at the situation. There were many remaining pockets of resistance as the 12 Tribes of Israel took up residence in the new land. God had commanded both Moses and Joshua to destroy all the living in the areas which they took over. As we read through the Book of Joshua it can be seen that several regions and tribes were not displaced or destroyed. There are references that state God allowed these people to remain as a test of Israel’s obedience. Later on those remaining enemy tribes became hindrances to the Children of Israel. In some cases, Israel turned from God and began to worship the idols of the tribes they did not destroy. There also were times when Israel turned from following God and these opposing tribes were used to punish Israel which was the case at the time of Gideon.

While reading the Books of Joshua and Judges we can feel a strong word of caution for us as believers today. There are areas in our lives which may cross God-ordained boundaries that we are to avoid in order to live a robust and healthy Christian Life! When we received Christ as our personal Savior there are things of this world that we are responsible to destroy or abandon completely. To fail to do so may also leave a door open for temptation for us to return to the life that we were delivered from by the Blood of Jesus Christ. These areas may seem to be insignificant and are sometimes left unnoticed. We will bristle and strike back at someone who may point these out to us stating that we are living under Grace and that it does not matter… until it is too late!

God’s Method of Salvation

Joshua 24:31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over lived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel. KJV This verse seems to indicate that things continued to go well with Israel after their leader died. The following verses speak well of life for Israel while he lived. Joshua 21:43 So in this way the Lord gave to Israel all the land he had promised to their ancestors, and they went in and conquered it and lived there. 44 And the Lord gave them peace, just as he had promised, and no one could stand against them; the Lord helped them destroy all their enemies. 45 Every good thing the Lord had promised them came true. TLB

Trouble was brewing for Israel. It did not come suddenly or with much warning. After Joshua died and those who had “known all the works of the Lord” life continued smoothly for quite some time. Each tribe of Israel was responsible to attack and destroy the enemy tribes living near them. At first, they faithfully sought God’s favor and direction in their efforts to obey Him in riddling the new land of idolatry. There was no single powerful permanent charismatic leader in office to be looked to for guidance or protection from the enemies surrounding them.

After the death of Joshua and his peers Israel entered into the Period of Judges (1380-1050 B.C.). The people tended to fall into worship of idols time and time again. When they sinned God caused the neighboring nations or tribes to oppress them as a form of punishment meant to bring them into a state of repentance. When they repented and cried out to God, He raised up a judge who lead them to victory against their enemies. For a period of time they would serve God. After the death of the judge, Israel would return to idolatry and the cycle started all over again. This kind of behavior continued for nearly 300 years.

The Time of Gideon

The story of Gideon begins with Judges 6. Before this, God raised up a number of men and women who were used to bring deliverance to Israel. These spiritual champions included: Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, Ehud the left-handed judge, Shamgar, and Deborah the prophetess. The methods of deliverance varied including a dagger, ox goad (sharpened stick) and a tent peg and hammer in the hand of Jael the wife of Heber.

In Judges 6 we find Israel suffering for 7 years under the cruel hand of the Midianites. After a previous period of 40 years of peace, this oppression must have been unbearable. We are told that the Israelites hid themselves in caves and dens in the mountains since their enemy covered they land like “grasshoppers” stealing and carrying away all crops and available food. So we see Gideon hiding behind a winepress threshing some wheat out of sight of the enemy who would surely steal it from his hands if it were seen. He is greeted by an angel who was seated under a nearby Oak tree.

The angel begins the conversation by calling the obviously timid Gideon a “mighty man of valor”. He also reminded Gideon that God was with him. Gideon did not attempt to hide his disbelief from the angel. Judges 6:13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." NIV Undaunted by the initial negative response from Gideon, the angel continues to deliver his message from God. Judges 6:14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" NIV

There are a number of further exchanges as Gideon protests that his family is of Manasseh which is one of the weakest of 12 tribes and that he ranks lowest in his own family. Properly so, Gideon hastens to prepare an offering of meat, bread and broth. The angel performs a miracle in burning up the offering causing Gideon to realize he was in the presence of an angel sent from God. He is instructed to pull down an altar to Baal and to offer a proper sacrifice to God. The neighbors are incensed and afraid of the wrath that may come upon them because of destroying the altar. Thankfully his father Joash defends his son against the crowd of people.

God’s Strategy

The Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel threatening to destroy Israel. The “Spirit of the Lord” came upon Gideon and he blew a trumpet and sent messengers throughout his tribe of Manasseh and three others calling them to come together to fight against the huge enemy force that was gathered together against Israel. Just as a large number of Israelites answered the call to battle Gideon suffered another challenge to his faith in God. In Judges 6:36-40 he asked God to perform the miracle of the wet ground and dry fleece. Of course, this is the source of the often used phrase of “putting a fleece before the Lord” in determining if we are hearing God’s Voice in a decision.

In Judges 7 we can see that at least 32,000 people responded to Gideon’s call to battle. As they gather God tells Gideon there are “too many” and when Israel wins they will take the credit for themselves and not give God the glory for the victory. So Gideon is instructed to send all those home who are willing to admit they are afraid. 22,000 took advantage of the chance to leave. But God declared that the remaining 10,000 were still too many for His plan.

God prepared a simple test which man would never have considered using for this task at hand. The group was ordered to drink from a body of water. Those who drank water from their hands rather than putting their mouths in the water were chosen to go into battle for the Lord. Only 300 were found to drink water that way. I realize a lot has been written over the years about this test and the whys and wherefores, but I still do not understand it. I simply know that God used it to select the men that He knew would obey and fulfill His Will in the battle against Israel’s enemies.

Gideon’s Army

These are the “Quick Learners” I am writing about. There is no reference to any special qualifications or training about these 300 men. No mention is made of which tribe they came from, their age, or any particular kind of experience or profession that they may have had before being chosen by God. The instruments to be used were simple consisting of a trumpet, empty clay pitcher and lit candle. They were divided into 3 companies of 100 each. They were instructed to stand in their appointed place and blow the trumpet, break the pitcher, and hold the candle in the left hand while shouting “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon”. As the 300 men followed the simple instructions and stood still in their place. The enemy turned their swords on each other resulting in a great slaughter. After this Gideon and his army pursued the remnants of their defeated foes.

No matter how many years I have been reading the Bible or how many times I study this portion of scripture I am still amazed at how God used a weak vessel like Gideon along with a small quickly assembled group of men to defeat a large force of trained men. There was just no real “training time” allowed. They had to learn their job in a very short time. They were truly willing vessels who learned their simple lessons of warfare quickly were used by God to bring a great deliverance to His people in a manner which brought Glory to God only!

Present Day Application

The parallels between God’s people in the days of Joshua and the Period of Judges and us today are many. We have seen great charismatic leaders arise in the Kingdom of God. Some ministers like Billy Graham and Pastor Yon Gi Cho did great works reaching millions in evangelism and building the world’s largest church. There have been many others. In each case their children or successors rarely are able to repeat the feats which were accomplished through their ministry. There is some concern about the true spiritual depth of some of the present day media ministers who hold large meetings and command much attention through various media channels. We need to be careful about judging. The Bible says we will know people by their works.

The Period of Judges for Israel reminds me of much of my life time in ministry over the past 40 years. Much of the ministry was driven by money and membership. Decisions were made by committees who lived in one western nation only venturing out on occasional trips to large conferences. They did not live among the members or ministers that they “ruled over”. Much good was done, but a lot of effort and funding was wasted rather than being placed where it would produce the most spiritual fruit.

We minister in Japan. We have conducted traditional western-style ministry for many years. Again ministry took place, but lasting results and spiritual fruit is scarce in many aspects. The Gospel was first introduced into Japan over 450 years ago, but today only 1% of the population of Japan is Evangelical Christians. Whatever has been done over the past many years is obviously not working well, including much of what we did during the past 30 years. For the last 3 years a network of prayer has been set up for Japan. Many others are doing a great work in this aspect also.

In response to the intercessory prayers that have been going up from around the world, God is raising up a group of young Japanese who are in their mid 30’s. They come from all walks of life and even from staunch Buddhist families. They have braved tremendous pressure and even family persecution to publicly confess Christ as their savior. They are highly intelligent and possess a tremendous hunger for the Word of God. They devour large portions of scripture on the buses, trains and subways to and from work. They listen to Christian music which lifts up Jesus Christ constantly. They are like sponges listening to every bit of teaching, training, counsel or advice that is offered to them. They can sit for hours on end in worship, fellowship, prayer and Bible study. They share God’s love and their testimony with all they come in contact without having been told to do so.

Some of the traditional Japanese churches are not comfortable with this new group of believers. They do not prosper very well spiritually under the normally strong pastoral control that is so often found in many churches in Japan. They have quickly learned who they are in Christ. They hunger for the fullness of the Holy Spirit and are frequently used in prophetic areas soon after conversion to Christ. That is just too fast for many pastors and churches. So after attempts to control or stifle the moving of the Holy Spirit in them they may be asked to leave the church.

Gideon’s Army of Today

Could it be that God is quietly raising up a generation, not only in Japan, but also in many other nations around the world to confront the spiritual enemies of God’s Kingdom. We need to be careful about judging from the outward appearance. When God sets the tests for membership in His Last Days Army how dare we attempt to decide who is qualified or who isn’t? What sets these army members apart from the average citizen of any nation? Why doesn’t God use the local churches as His only place or means of recruitment? The answer to that question is very obvious to me anyhow. When Sharon and I accepted our call to be missionaries as young teenagers our greatest criticism and discouragement came from inside our local churches. It didn’t take long to learn to be very discerning about who we talked to about our calling since we were so young.

God is sovereign and can do whatever He desires. This concept of a Gideon type of army being raised up today should not be hard to accept by truly spiritual and mature believers. Look at David when he defeated Goliath. He was rebuked by his own brothers. He was considered too young, untrained and unequipped, but God used him to bring a great deliverance to His army that was stalemated and stagnated unable to confront the enemy that mocked them and their God Jehovah. In the New Testament Jesus used a sinful woman to work as an evangelist in Samaria. He sent a previously demon possessed man back to his home town to preach the Good News very effectively! I believe we live in a similar set of circumstances today.

It is very likely that what we are seeing and experiencing here is taking place in other parts of the world in the Kingdom of God. We need to be careful to not be a naysayer when God is working in the lives of young people calling them into His Service and harvest field. We need to be prayerfully on the lookout for those anointed young people in our own families, local churches or in the local schools that God has singled out to be a part of His unorthodox army to go against the spiritual giants that are attacking families, churches, cities and even nations. As we have opportunity we need to be available to encourage them, pray for them, to cheer them on as they march off to war in Jesus’ Name! They need older experienced believers and ministers to offer counsel and advice to make them even more effective in God’s Kingdom.

Gideon’s Army – Epilogue

It would be nice to close this article with “and they lived happily ever after”. But it does not go that way. Judges 8 gives a sad ending to a great victory. In brief,. Ephriam was jealous because Gideon did not call them first. Then Succoth refused to give any bread to his weary 300 men who had been pursuing the Midianites. Later the Israelites at Penuel also refused to help him. In the midst of great victory and deliverance there was still jealousy and selfishness among God’s people. May God help us today to learn from the past and to seek His Face for victory over the spiritual enemies facing us today! Pray for God to raise up His Army today. Oh God call out Your Gideon’s of today and raise up Your Army who will obey and do Your Will in the earth today!

May God bless you as you pray!

Dan Corbett

“Reaching One Among Millions”