We
read in Judges that Gideon and his men killed one hundred and twenty thousand
Midianites. As we have asked before, we have to ask again. Why such a large
death toll? Zebah and Zalmunna were (2) two kings/commanders of the Midianites that
had managed to escape previous destruction at the hands of Gideon and his men.
It appears Gideon had caught up with them in Karkor. It seems as if Gideon came
upon them with surprise and they were routed. The kings were subsequently
captured. At the time of the rout we read that the remaining 15,000 that are
attacked at Karkor are actually a remnant of a force of about 135,000. That
means 120,000 were summarily killed. Although it is not explicitly stated, the
remainder are probably killed here. The truth is that if Gideon does not wipe out the remaining 15,000, he has left the charge to him incomplete. He only would've done a partial job. If God is anything, He is thorough and He expects the same of His people. When Christ came to die for our sins he completed the job and then said, "It is finished." What do we suppose would've happened if Jesus pulled up just short of the Cross or Resurrection? There would be no salvation for anyone. Getting the job done is what God is all about.
Unlike the previous chapter Gideon's blood
vengeance seems to replace national deliverance as a motive for his actions with the Midianites when he subsequently deals with his "allies" that wouldn't help his men. A
once doubting and fearful person has not become a brutalizing aggressor. In
this passage Gideon seems to deal ruthlessly with his own Trans-Jordanian
countrymen who reject his request for supplies of an exhausted group of men. So
why does the one who had accomplish so much for God in the previous chapter of
Judges turn certifiably homicidal in chapter 8 with his allies?
I
believe here we see the definitive need for a divine Savior. A divine king. A
divine liberator or vindicator. In Gideon we see a flawed man and the flawed equivalent of all the positions mentioned above. The sword that
had belonged to the Lord and Gideon (Judges 7:18-20) is now tainted because of
the human hand that holds it. The writer of Judges paints of picture of a
horribly flawed human deliverer that is the virtual antithesis of a divine/human
deliverer, judge and king which the era of the judges and kings would inaugurate. In
stark contrast to the patience and grace of God, we see a brutal, harsh and
graceless man killing tens of thousands in a vengeful rampage. We as readers
must be careful to distinguish the difference between the national interests
that Gideon is used for by God and the personal vendettas that often distract
Gideon away from his duty as a judge.
We
will later read in 1 Kings 20:29 that the children of Israel slew 100,000
Syrian footmen in a single day…and a wall would fall upon the remaining 27,000.
1
Kings 20:26-30 ~ “In the spring, Ben-Haded mustered the Syrians and went up
to Aphek to fight against Israel. And the people of Israel were
mustered and were provisioned and went against them. The people of Israel
encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Syrians filled
the country. And a man of God came near and said to the king of
Israel, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is
a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore I will
give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am
the Lord.’” And they encamped opposite one another seven days. Then
on the seventh day the battle was joined. And the people of Israel struck down
of the Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day. And the rest fled into
the city of Aphek, and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left.
So
why did so many men die at the hands of Ahab who was such an evil king? Ben-Haded
and Ahab face off in Israel and there can be only one winner. Ahab is informed by
an unknown prophet that if he would call on select officers of provincial
commanders to lead the attack, God would give him the victory. In one of the
few instances of Ahab actually obeying the command or statutes of God, Ahab
gains the upper hand here. The Arameans suffer heavy causalities and Ben-Haded
barely escapes with his life. Ben-Haded then replaces lost commanders and re-engages
Ahab the following spring. He and his army face near total annihilation to the tune of 100,000
troops in a single day. The remaining 27,000 appear to be crushed by the
falling walls of Aphek.
Although
Ahab initially obeys the prophet of God and gains the victory, Ben-Haded’s counselors
come to him seeking leniency and Ahab grants it based on his own self-trust
thereby going against the will of God. Ahab makes a treaty with Ben-Haded which
flies in the face of God. Ahab was condemned for forming a treaty with God’s
enemy. The irony is that we are condemned when we too make a treaty with God’s
enemy and accept it into our lives and live with it. That enemy is sin. It is
by holding on to our sins and refusing to relinquish them...that we end up doing the very same thing that Ahab
did. The good news is that Jesus takes our condemnation onto Himself in our
stead.
As
we will see with many incidents involving Ahab, his obedience to God ebbs and
flows like a shifting tide (just like ours). Most often Ahab will stand against
God /God’s will and he will pay dearly for this oscillation at the end of
his life (just like us). Ahab represents a man that pretends to be something he
is not and he dies the same way. He pretends to be a believer but only obeys
God when it suits him. He pretends to be king but in reality he is second
behind the whims and desire of Jezebel. When he dies he is pretending to be a
common soldier instead of the king that he was supposed to be. Just like the
rest of his life…he should’ve been a king but instead he was only a pretender.
So
why the decimation of Ben-Haded’s troops? Ben-Haded is Aramean and is the king of
Aram, Damascus. In reality we do not see a victory by Ahab’s military might...we see a
military victory because of the might of God’s intervention. It is the prophet
of God steering the king behind the scenes that effects the outcome of the
battle that wipes-out Ben-Haded’s army. There are in reality two battles against
the Arameans. One is a siege against Samaria itself and then a battle of Aphek
where walls come down in the end crushing what amounts to the population of
substantial town. In the first the Arameans are soundly defeated. In the second
they remaining forces are decimated. The truth is that the Arameans were in constant hostilities with
Israel. These constant merciless incursions by the Arameans would have justified
the cost of life but there is more here. Two battles give Ahab two chances to
see the omnipotence and sovereignty of God yet Ahab persists in is apostate and
rebellious ways. Ahab’s eventual victories come at his submission to the will
of God but he he receives judgment for the opposite. Not only is judgment visited on the pagan Arameans, it will also be visited
upon an apostate Ahab.
We
see God’s unconditional love to His people too. There is nothing in this
passage to make us believe that God’s mercies upon Israel are warranted. If
anything, both Gideon's secondary behavior and Ahab’s misdeeds dictate against this. Yet God’s faithfulness to His
people persists. God is long-suffering with His disobedient followers and still
watches over them and protects them from the contamination of other pagan
cultures even when His own people may be just as guilty at times. How often do we see the sins of the Church outpace that of society-at-large in things like divorce, adultery, immorality...yet God is still faithful? The mercy and forbearance of God is riddled throughout this narrative (and our lives) more than any other divine attribute. To overlook this is to miss the
theological point of this narrative all together.
If
modern man learns anything from this we need to learn that we have much to be
thankful for…not the least of which is God’s patience, mercy and faithfulness to His word. It behooves us
to repent and seek His forgiveness. To not do so is to tempt the judgment of
God just as Ahab did or worse...to incur the judgment as the Arameans received. We
are under enough wrath without provoking God, why look a gift horse in the
mouth?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Intelligent Responses