They didn’t ask the people of Succoth and Penuel to fight on the front lines, only to support those who did. We can suppose that this was discouraging for Gideon and those fighting the battle. They didn’t want to support Israel in the fight against Midian until the battle was already won. Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army: Instead of help, the people of Succoth and Penuel had an excuse.
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They were not asked to engage in the actual battle, but simply to support those on the front lines.Ĭ. Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me: Through Gideon, the call came to the people of the city of Succoth to support those who fought the battle. If we were only to preach, – some of us, – when we felt like preaching, we should not often preach.” (Spurgeon)ī. Some people only pray when they feel like praying but we need most to pray when we feel that we cannot pray. Yet to go running on when you are ready to faint, to keep right on when you are ready to drop, this is very trying work yet let us do it, brethren, by God’s grace. You know what it is for a soldier to be faint it is no nonsense, no pretense, it is real fainting. “Let us also serve the Lord when every movement is painful, when even to think is wearisome. If a man has never tired himself with working for God, I should think he never has done any work that was worth doing.” (Spurgeon) “If you, dear brethren and sisters, will give yourselves wholly to God’s work, although you will never get tired of it, you will often get tired in it. They fought hard and pursued the enemy over a long distance. He and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit: We can imagine how tired they were. So he also spoke to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I come back in peace, I will tear down this tower!”Ī. And the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. Then he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.” And the leaders of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” So Gideon said, “For this cause, when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers!” Then he went up from there to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit. His later making of an ephod (Judges 8:27) was a disservice to Israel and may have been prompted by a competitive attitude towards Ephraim. Yet, Gideon seems to have had a continuing controversy with the men of Ephraim. His reply was a wise way to deal with contention when there is work for the LORD to be done. Most importantly, he challenged them to get involved in the work of God that was at hand. What have I done now in comparison with you: Gideon did not challenge their pride instead he soothed their pride by complimenting them and giving them the recognition they seemed to crave. Jealousy often hinders the work of God.ī. Instead of being jealous about the recognition that others received, they should have been happy that God’s people were rescued and that had some part in the victory. The men of Ephraim seem to have cared more about recognition than the overall good of Israel. Gideon’s initial call for help went out to the tribes of Manasseh (his own tribe), Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali (Judges 6:35).
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Yet they were upset that Gideon did not call them before the battle started. And they reprimanded him sharply: The men of Ephraim joined in the fight against Midian when Gideon called out to them (Judges 7:24-25). And what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger toward him subsided when he said that.Ī. So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. Now the men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you done this to us by not calling us when you went to fight with the Midianites?” And they reprimanded him sharply. (1-3) Ephraim’s complaint and Gideon’s answer. Gideon battles Midianite kings and contentious Israelites.