The Other Stories

Judges 7-11

Gideon was groomed by God to lead the Israelites in battle against the Midianites, but God wanted to make sure that Gideon and the Israelites knew who the real victor was, so he stacked the deck as against the Israelites while simultaneously building up their confidence. God gave Gideon victory over the Midianites and their allies. It is an awesome story in its full telling in the Book of Judges, but not the main subject of this post. There are several side stories that reveal other aspects of God and his people that are worth exploring.

In yesterday's reading there is an innocuous passage that reads: Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah. She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. I knew that Abraham had a child (Ishmael) by his wife's hand maid, but either didn't know or forgot about these other six children.  And right there in the bottom half of the middle is a child named Midian who did not receive any of Abraham's inheritance. But now, these many years later, his heirs are looking to take some of it back. They were mistaken.

And so all lived happily ever after right? Not quite. After his defeat of the Midianites, the Israelites wanted to  make Gideon and his heirs their rulers. He declined the leadership role, however, he did ask for and accept a token offering from the other warriors... one earing each from their plunder. It added up to 43 pounds of gold which he fashioned into a breastplate... and his heirs worshiped it. How does a family fall so far so fast? The rest of Israel, after Gideon died they forgot the Lord and forgot Gideon... they worshiped Baal and killed 70 of Gideon's children. How fickle they were! Are we?