When Victory Leads to Failure

Always remember, people are watching and assessing your life. It is relatively easy to be Christian-like and do Christian-like things when you're gathered in a church on Sunday. You might even stand and raise your hands during the songs. However, there are people in your neighborhood, in your home, or in your workplace who are observing how you respond and react to the things that go on around you in your life, especially those of your own family, particularly your own children.

Look at Verse 18. He said to Zeba and Zuna, "What kind of men were they whom you killed in the town of Tabor?" which was a Jewish town. They answered and said, "As you are, so they were; each of them resembled the son of a king." They were trying to flatter him by saying they were just like him, like the son of a king. They knew that their lives were short at this point. Then Gideon said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you."

He then said to note this in Verse 20: "To Jeth, his firstborn son, rise and kill these two men, Zeba and Zuna." But the youth, the young boy, would not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still just a kid. Zeba and Zuna then said, "Rise yourself and kill us, for as a man is, so is his strength." So Gideon arose and killed Zeba and Zuna and took the crescent ornaments that were around their camels' necks.

Be careful when you're pushing in a direction that God is not leading. Be cautious when vengeance and retribution fill your heart, and be wary when you're tempted to ask other people to engage in wickedness on your behalf. This is exactly what Gideon does. He turns to his firstborn son, who the Scripture says is just a youth—he's a kid, maybe a teenager—and he says, "Kill these guys." He wants his son to engage in the wickedness of retribution on his behalf.

In Verse 22, the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your son and your grandson also." After the victory against the Midianites, after he had killed Zeba and Zuna, the people of Israel, the men of Israel, came to Gideon and basically asked him to be their king. They wanted him to be their king and for his sons and grandsons to rule over them, asking for the first monarchy and the first dynasty of Israel.

This won't be the last time this happens. They come to Gideon and say, "Oh man, you are the one! Look at what you did. We want you to be our king." Gideon, at least with his words, answers in the right way. However, as we will see, his actions do not follow his words. They came to him and said, "Rule over us, both you and your son and your grandson, also, for you have delivered us from the hand of the Midianites."

But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The Lord shall rule over you." At that point, you might think, "Oh yeah, all right, good! Gideon's doing the right thing." But, as I said, he was doing the right thing in word only and not indeed. As we follow the story, we discover that he didn't really want the responsibility of being king, but he definitely wanted the reward of being king.

Then Gideon said to them, "I would make a request of you." They came to him and said, "Gideon, we want you and your son and your grandsons to rule over us as king." He replied, "Listen, I'm not your king; God is your king." However, his approval rating was high; he was polling really well in Israel. He continued, "I don't want to be your king because God is your king, but maybe just one small request of you."

"Oh, anything you want! Tell us exactly what you want," they responded. He said, "That each of you would give me the earrings from his plunder." The earrings from the plunder? Yes, the people of the Midianites, from the region that was given to Ishmael, wore gold jewelry, including earrings. In the plunder from the battle, they had taken a whole bunch of gold from the 150,000 people they had defeated.

So Gideon requested, "Please give me the earrings from your plunder," for they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites. They answered, "We will gladly give them to you." They spread out a garment on the ground, and each one threw into it the earrings from his plunder.

Now, the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold. You might wonder how much that is. The answer is about 42 pounds of gold. How much is that? It's over $1.6 million in today's gold prices—42 pounds of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were around the camels' necks.

Gideon made it into an ephod. What's an ephod? It's an outer garment that the priest would wear. He took the gold and turned it into a golden garment, setting it up in his own city, Ofra. All of Israel played the harlot with it; it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.

At the beginning of his story in Judges chapter 6, when he first began to follow God and do what God called him to do, God said, "Hey, listen, my first task for you is to do a little bit of cleanup in your own father's house." His father had set up an altar to the false god Baal in the main part of his town, Ofra, and he had also set up an altar to the false god Asherah. God instructed Gideon to go and tear those things down.

Now, here, when he was victorious, he set up a place of worship not to Baal or to Asherah, but really to himself. When he was victorious and had great strength, he failed to remember that all of his strength came from his weakness and his trust in Almighty God. Even though he said with his words, "I don't want to be your king," he certainly was acting like royalty. He took all the glory, took all the credit, and set himself up as an idol to be worshiped. The people came and played the harlot with it; they bowed down and basically worshiped him as Israel's idol.

Point number four: God's true victors know that the glory belongs entirely to God. Then Gideon, the son of Joash, went and dwelt in his house. Gideon had seventy sons who were his own offspring, for he had many wives. His concubine, who was in Shechem, also bore him a son whose name is called Abimelech. Keep that name in your mind for next week.

When the children of Israel were getting ready to come into the Promised Land under Moses, Moses spoke to them in Deuteronomy.

Moses cautioned the people not to take to themselves a king like the other nations around about them. He warned them that God is to be their king. However, he advised them to be careful when they do take a king, as he will multiply to himself wives. Gideon, on the other hand, said, "I don't want to be your king," but what did he do? He took gold from them and set himself up to be glorified and honored. He also took wives like a king. He wanted all the rewards of being a king but did not want the responsibility of leading the people as unto the Lord, as a king ought to do.

If there was going to be a king, his life is an interesting story. I guess I missed point number three, just by the way: true victory never follows unrighteous actions. That is a good point to throw in there. Gideon was certainly walking in unrighteousness when he did these things. He used his victory as an opportunity for immorality, and ultimately, as we will see when we get into chapter 9 next week, he left things for his wicked and bond-hunted son to take over after he had been an abysmal example to him.

In the end, it's all about how you finish and not how you begin. The story of Gideon is really a sad story about someone who started well but didn't end well. This begs the question: how is it that his name appears in the Hall of Faith? That is actually a really good question. I want to let you know that there are a number of people in the Hall of Faith that make you scratch your head and wonder how it is that Abraham is in the Hall of Faith, and David is in the Hall of Faith. How is it that these people, who had such great failures in life, are in the Hall of Faith?

They are in the Hall of Faith because God is gracious, and they were noteworthy for the times when they trusted in God and relied on Him. Gideon certainly trusted in God and relied on Him, but there were certain times when he let that slide. His story is a reminder to us that it's not really about how you begin; it's how you end. That's why, immediately following Hebrews chapter 11 and the Hall of Faith, we read in Hebrews chapter 12 these words: "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, those who followed God by faith..."

Followed by God by faith, they were exemplary and noteworthy. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We must lay aside every weight and sin that so easily ensnares us.

When you read a story like Gideon's, or when we get to David years from now, we are reminded of the words of a Bible teacher I have listened to for years, which are so strong and good: the best of men are men at best. We will always be here in this life still as sinners and can always still be tempted and ensnared by sins that easily trip us up. Therefore, we need to circumspectly lay aside every weight and sin that ensnares us and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Christ.

At some point in the life of Gideon, he stopped looking to God and started trusting in himself. Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall.