Gideon’s Two Faces
Judges 8:1-35
Key verse / 8:23 “But Gideon told them, ‘I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.’”
There is an American film called “The Man with Two faces” (Original title: The Incredible Hulk) that was very popular when I was in elementary school. Dr. David Bruce Banner, the main character of the movie, transforms into the Incredible Hulk when angry. I still remember how his clothes were torn and how his whole body would turn green each time he transformed. My friends and I also had a heated debate on why the Hulk’s pants wouldn’t rip until the end. Today, we also learn about a two-faced man, Gideon, who we have been following the past three weeks. Let’s look at three different events that took place to see one of Gideon’s faces:
1. Ephraim
The people of Ephraim (one of the tribes of Israel), who came later to the war, asked Gideon, “Why have you treated us like this? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?” (Judges 8:1).
(For context, the people of Ephraim were very prideful in their size and strength. Though they acted like they cared and wanted to fight alongside with Gideon, it was all just for show.)
They argued with Gideon about why he did not call them from the beginning. The Ephraim tribe was a large tribe and liked to show off their strength. What would you say to the people of Ephraim if you were in this situation? I think I would get angry and say something along the lines of “You should be grateful that you were able to participate even if it was at the last moment. Why are you complaining?” But instead, Gideon says, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim’s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer? 3 God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?” (Judges 8:2-3).
Ephraim captured the two fleeing Midian Generals, Oreb and Zeep, and Gideon praised Ephraim for their work saying that it could not be compared to what he did. He treated this situation with modesty by lowering himself and raising the people of Ephraim. And despite their rude attitude, he pursued peace without fighting.
Gideon’s humility relieved Ephraim’s anger. It could have been a big problem for Israel to fight among themselves and split, but Gideon prevented such risk peacefully. Later in chapter 12, we see that Ephraim complains to Jephthah as they did to Gideon, but Jephthah does not take it well and kills a lot of the people of Ephraim. Compared to this, Gideon definitely seems like a more mature figure.
2. Capturing the kings of Midian
Gideon, who wisely dealt with the problem with Ephraim, pursues the Midian people who lost the war and fled. Tracking down the enemies, attacking them, and chasing the fleeing enemies again – I think that this is good enough, but Gideon does not stop until he gets the two kings of Midian. He does his best to catch them.
“Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.” (12)
As a judge, Gideon did not give up and did not stop until he captured the kings of Midian and completely wiped out the enemy. He was hungry and tired, but overcam all difficulties while still being able to capture the enemy’s kings. It is a perfect victory! Given this, Gideon is a loyal and committed person.
3. Will you rule over us?
Gideon, who defeated the two kings of Midian, finally puts an end to the war. Then the Israelites say to him:
“Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” (22)
Because Gideon saved the Israelites from the hands of Midian, they asked him and his descendants to rule over them: "You, your son and your grandson rule over us!" (22). What does this mean? It is not just a request for Gideon to rule over them, but for Gideon and his descendants to rule over them. Although the Israelites did not directly used to word “king,” they were clearly asking him to be one.
How does Gideon respond to this request? He could have said, “I did not have even the slightest intention of becoming a king. But I cannot help it if you really want it. I will do my best as a king.” But instead, he answers, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you" (23).
Wow what a response! “God, who is our king, will rule over you.” Even while Gideon was experiencing success with a great victory, he rejected their offer even though it was tempting. Gideon’s response really reminded the people who their true king was.
So, we briefly looked at these three different events from the passage. What can we say about Gideon’s character? In short, Gideon is a mature person who is humble, loyal, and gives glory to God. That is what we should see and learn. However, it is still a bit premature to make such a judgement on his character. As we read further in the passage, we see some unexpected sides of Gideon. We sometimes say that a person is charming when we see an unexpected side of them. But Gideon’s unexpected side is more shocking than it is charming. Let us look at another three events to see the second face of Gideon:
1. “I will tear down this tower”
To properly evaluate Gideon’s character, we need to follow the story that comes afterwards. We see in the beginning that Gideon showed humility to the people of Ephraim and did not fight with them. However, he has a totally different response when approaching the people of Succoth.
When Gideon and his 300 men were chasing an enemy, they reached a placed called Succoth. Gideon asks the people of Succoth for food because they were hungry and exhausted. In response to this request, the leaders of Succoth say, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?” (6).
The people of Succoth have been oppressed by Midian and were cautious of Midian’s military power. They were afraid of the consequences they would receive if they helped Gideon. In response to Gideon’s request, they stated that they could not help unless Gideon had already captured the kings of Midian.
How did Gideon react to this? He dealt with Ephraim in a humble and wise way, so shouldn’t he be able to do the same? We see that Gideon’s behavior is completely different.
“Then Gideon replied, “Just for that, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.” (7)
Gideon then goes to Peniel and makes the same request to the people there. After experiencing rejection again, He says, "When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower." (9)
What Gideon said was very cruel and threatening. Why did he respond like that? He was angry about not being able to satisfy him and his men’s needs, so he was going to make Peniel pay for it.
Succoth and Peniel were not strangers. They were also Israelites. But Gideon’s reaction was like this. Of course, it is not the people of Succoth and Peniel’s fault that they could not help him. Their hands were tied too! They had thanked Gideon for leading the war to victory, even if there was danger, and helped him by entrusting the situation to God. But even so, Gideon’s attitude quite different from what he did to the Ephraim people. If Gideon showed the same humble attitude to Succoth and Peniel, he could have peacefully persuaded them that they no longer needed to be afraid of Midian because he won a great victory with God’s company.
But Gideon did not do that. Instead, "He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Succoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers. He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town." (16-17)
And so, Gideon became a judge that killed his own people. Him who was called to be Israel’s savior from oppression of the Gentiles became Israel’s oppressor. He was doing the opposite of God’s call.
When we review the first event, it appears that Gideon did not want to fight with the tribe of Ephraim who were on the same side. However, the tribe of Ephraim were actually very powerful. So, Gideon did not want to anger them because he would have a hard time fighting them. Gideon did not do this for the sake of unity or kindness.
On the contrary, Succoth and Peniel were weaker groups of people. So, Gideon dealt with them differently. Where did the Gideon who was shy, timid, and cautious about everything go? Is it okay for a person to change like this once they experience power?
2. Personal Revenge
Gideon did not give up and worked hard to capture the two kings of Midian. What was the point of this long pursuit? Was it to thoroughly complete the task he was entrusted with?
“Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, ‘What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?’
‘Men like you,’ they answered, ‘each one with the bearing of a prince.’” (19)
And Gideon replies, "Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the LORD lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you."" (19)
Gideon asks the kings of Midian, who he captured, what kind of men they killed at Tabor. The two kings say that thet were princes like Gideon. This means that before this war, the Midian kings killed the Israelites at Tabor, who were Gideon’s brothers. We can see why Gideon was so desperate to go after the two kings. He wanted revenge. I thought that Gideon was pursuing these two kings about of loyalty to the mission, but instead it turned out to be a personal vendetta.
3. The Unofficial King
Let’s review the third even again. Gideon rejected the request of the people of Israel and said that God would rule and not himself. Gideon said something really inspiring to the people – can you believe them? If Gideon’s word were sincere of course it would be proven through his actions.
What did Gideon do after this?
"And he said, "I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder." (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)" (24)
Gideon asks the people for the gold earrings that were taken from the enemy. In total, Gideon has 1700 shekels (200 kilograms), which is a large amount. In addition, Gideon has the purple garments and decorations that the Midian kings wore. In those times it was a big deal to take that the clothes and decorations that symbolize the king.
"Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family." (27)
Gideon made an ephod (an apron that was usually worn by the high priest) from the gold he collected and placed it in his city. By doing so, it placed Gideon on a pedestal and make people pay more attention to him. As a result, he gave birth to another new idol. Doesn’t this remind you of the golden calves that the Israelites made after they came out of Egypt?
"He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives." (30)
Afterwards, Gideon had many wives (like a king usually does). He gave birth to 70 sons through his wife and concubines. The name of one of his sons (through a concubine) was “Abimelech,” which means “My father is a king.” Who is the king? God? Gideon? While Gideon did refuse to become the king, he still acted as if he was.
What is wrong with Gideon? He was living a self-centered life. Though he claimed that God would rule over them, he was doing the exact opposite and was pretending to be one. He was living a life where his own words contradicted his actions. Instead of choosing to follow God’s path and calling, he was living according to his own desires and human wisdom.
So far we have looked at both sides of Gideon’s face. On one side, we see a mature Gideon that is humble, loyal, and gives glory to God. On the other side, we see a immature Gideon that is petty, emotional, and a self-glory seeker. Which is the real Gideon? I am confused. I would like to meet Gideon and ask him, “Who are you?”
Gideon was not always a two-face man from the start. At first Gideon was well aware of his weakness. He knew very well that he lacked skill and capability, so he had no choice but to rely on God. In chapter 7, we saw that Gideon worshipped God just before the battle, which was quite moving. It was an expression of faith and trust in God. In this way by relying on the grace of God, he could be the blade of Jehovah.
But Gideon starts to change little by little right after he wins. Little by little he became arrogant and starts to put his desire first. He doesn’t worship God after his success. He created his own ephod and honored himself. He declared that God is the only king, but lived like a king. Gideon’s remarkable success was rather poisonous to him.
What is the worst thing that can happen in our lives? Most would say failure. Failure is never a pleasant experience. It is a painful and hard thing. But through failure, we realize and learn something. It can become an opportunity to realize our limitations and weaknesses and reveal what vain idols we have relied on other than God.
Paradoxically, success can be the worst thing that can happen to a person. The experience of success is too thrilling. Once you taste it, you are likely to be addicted to it. You become dependent on it and are under silent pressure to achieve even greater success the next time. In the end, you idol worship your own success and achievement and value it over God.
Success, like this, can put us in spiritual risk by making it easy to forget God’s grace. We forget the God who called us, held us, gave us confidence and victory, and allowed us to succeed. Then we forget that all has been given by grace and we think that it has been achieved by our own efforts, our own skills, and our own talent. We make ourselves god. The satisfaction, wealth, honor, comfort, and self-esteem brough by success can make us forget about God and place ourselves on the throne.
At this point, the gap between the words we say and the things we do widen. We confess that God is our king and at the same time put ourselves on a pedestal. Instead of wearing the Holy Spirit given by God we try to wear the colorful ephod that we made. We say that we are satisfied with God alone but go seek satisfaction from something else. We say that God is our shepherd but rely on something else. We call him Lord but are not obedient to him. This is how we turn into two-faced people.
Therefore, there is something we should never forget. It is the fact that God is guiding us, is with us, and gave us great grace that could not be repaid even if we spent our who life working on it. We often fail. Whenever that happens, we must remember God’s grace. But if we success, we should remember even more about God’s grace. Whether it is a time of failure or success, there’s a key verse we need to hold on to.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph 2:8-10)
Gideon is a hero who saved the country. He had faith that relied only on God. But Gideon is also the anti-hero who fell into the trap of success and decayed. But we have a complete savior who made up for Gideon’s failure. He is Jesus Christ, whom we believe in and follow. Jesus put living according to God’s will above worldly success and honor. He made obedience the highest value and lived as he said. He refused Satan’s power to rule the world. He was not served as the king, but rather served. He saved us by giving us his life. The lord who saved us saves us from our greed for success and the danger that it poses. I pray that we will be the one who looks at Him and relies on Him humbly.