Juízes 6

Juízes 6

MacArthur - Gideon’s language here indicates a weak theology. The very chastisements of God were proof of His care for and presence with Israel." Indeed how often in the midst of the Refiner's fire do we feel like the Almighty has deserted us, having abandoned us to the fiery furnace of affliction and suffering!!! (cp Heb 12:5, 6+, He 12:10+, He 12:11+). (Borrow The MacArthur Study Bible) Gary Inrig - The Problem of Discouragement - The first problem is uncovered in verse 13. Notice again the words Gideon used: “If . . . why . . . where . . . but now the Lord has abandoned us.” What we saw pictured in action in verse 11 we now hear spoken in words. Gideon was a discouraged, defeated man. A little girl was listening to her mother as she told her some Bible stories about great biblical champions such as Moses, David, Elijah, and Daniel. As her mother finished and prepared her for sleep, the little girl spoke with the kind of innocent honesty that only a child can muster: “Mommy, you know, God was much more exciting back then.” I think that Gideon felt like that. I know I sometimes do. It is wonderful to hear what God has done for His people in the past. Gideon believed thoroughly in God’s power back then. But where were those miracles now? Where was God today? How could they possibly deal with the Midianites? God had abandoned them. That’s why things were the way they were. Of all of the forms of discouragement, this is the worst. For a believer to feel that God is not interested or to think that God has turned His back is to be reduced to a debilitating despair that crushes all hope from our lives. That is where Gideon was as God began to deal with him. Obviously Gideon had not really come to grips with the situation. It was true that God had abandoned His people and sold them into the hands of the Midianites. But Gideon drew exactly the wrong conclusions from those facts. The problem did not lie with God but with Israel. It was not God who had first abandoned His people but God who had justly responded to His people’s prior abandonment of Him. Gideon is suggesting that God is wrong, because his assumption is that Israel is innocent. It is far easier to blame God for our problems than to face and deal with our sins and responsibilities. At the same time, we need to recognize that Gideon was not suffering from a “defeatist” complex. He and his people really were defeated, but as long as they responded to their defeat with doubt and denial, they would remain enslaved. (Borrow Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay) Lord (0113)('adon) is a masculine noun meaning lord or master. The most frequent usage is of a human lord, but it is also used of divinity. Generally, it carries the nuances of authority rather than ownership. When used of humans, it refers to authority over slaves (Ge 24:9; Jdg 19:11); people (1Ki. 22:17); a wife (Ge 18:12; Amos 4:1); or a household (Ge 45:8; Ps 105:21). When used of divinity, it frequently occurs with yehōwāh, signifying His sovereignty (Ex 34:23; Josh 3:13; Isa 1:24). (Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament) Abandon (forsaken, left)(05203) natash/natas means to forsake or leave alone and carries the basic sense of leave, reject or abandon. Natash is used of the Lord rejecting his people because of their rebellion. When God does so, He withdraws His protective presence and hands them over to their enemies, subjecting them to defeat and humiliation. Natash means to abandon, to forsake, to leave alone. About 50% of the 40 uses convey the idea to forsake, reject leave alone. The idea is to cause a relationship or association to cease until there is the possibility of renewal. Things abandoned or forsaken - Of land that should be "forsaken" in the seventh year (Ex. 23:11), of Israel who abandoned God (Dt. 32:15), of Saul's father who forgot about the donkeys (1 Sa 10:2), of David who left his flock (1 Sa 17:20), of the psalmist who pleaded with God not abandon him (Ps. 27:9), of God abandoning His dwelling place at Shiloh (Ps 78:60), of abandoning a quarrel (Pr 17:14), of a mother's teaching which should not be forsaken (Pr 6:20). Natash means to not permit when Laban was not allowed to kiss his grandchildren good-bye (Ge 31:28). Ps 94:14 is good news for us who are prone to wander "For the LORD will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance." Natash rendered abandon(7), abandoned(5), allow(1), cast away(1), ceased(1), drawn(1), fall(1), forego(1), forsake(3), forsaken(2), forsook(1), hangs slack(1), leave(2), left(5), lie fallow(1), neglected(1), spread(6). Judges 6:14 And the LORD looked at him and said, "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" LXE And the angel of the Lord turned to him, and said, Go in this thy strength, and thou shalt save Israel out of the hand of Madiam: behold, I have sent thee. Go in this your strength and deliver Israel Jdg 4:6; Joshua 1:5-9; 1Sa 12:11; 1 Chr 14:9,10; Heb 11:32,34) And the LORD looked at him [turned towards and] Notice that Angel of the LORD is now identified as one in the same as the LORD. And note that that the Messiah turned and fixed Gideon in His gaze. Although did not fully recognize Who it was that looked at him, he must have seen something different as he later seeks to bring an offering. What we most need is not self-confidence but God-confidence. Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you? - He is not saying "Gideon, gird yourself up like a man...you can do it." Relying on his own strength made Gideon hide in a winepress. "This is your strength" is the strength that God has given by His promise of His presence (Jdg 6:12, 16, cp Php 4:13+). God's answer to discouragement is NOT positive thinking but rather the promise of His presence. (cp Mt 28:18-20). Gary Inrig - The Angel is discarding His anonymity and revealing His true identity. As we have already said, this is one of many places in the Old Testament where the Angel of the Lord is revealed to be God Himself appearing in human form. We can go one step further. Since John 1:18 tells us that “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him,” we can reasonably conclude that this is Jesus Christ, taking human form for a brief time. The LORD turned and fixed Gideon in His gaze, then spoke some remarkable words: “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you” (Jdg 6:14)? Gideon’s commission comes directly from the Lord. He is left with no doubt about either his duty or his success. But we need to recognize that when the Lord said, “Go in the strength you have,” He was not saying, “Gideon, you can do it.” Relying on his own strength had reduced Gideon to a clandestine beater of wheat. “The strength you have” is the God-given strength that accompanies both God’s command and His promise (Ed: By analogy we in the NT can only "go" when enabled by the Holy Spirit. Have you come to that place in your Christian life where you realize that apart from abiding in the Vine you can do absolutely nothing of spiritual value! Jesus sent His Spirit that we might abide in Him by being filled with His Spirit. Are you filled today? See Eph 5:18+, see chart comparing Filled with His Spirit/Richly Indwelt with His Word): “The Lord is with you . . . Am I not sending you? . . . I will be with you” (Jdg 6:12, 14, 16). God is calling Gideon to go forward on the basis of the supplied strength that always accompanies His commission (cp 2 Cor 3:5-6+). Gideon could only admit that dependence upon his own strength had brought defeat and discouragement. If we look at our strength, we will always end up in defeat, or perhaps worse, in self-deceiving arrogance. But God’s answer to discouragement is never positive thinking but rather the promise of His presence, His provision, and His power. Quite frankly, when I look at the secular world in which we are living and realize the powerful attacks of anti-Christian forces on biblical truths and values, I feel very much as Gideon did before the Midianites—puny, helpless, and insignificant. Paul was right. Christians do not contend with flesh and blood but against powerful satanic forces (Ephesians 6:12). The only answer I know to that kind of satanic discouragement is to claim the promise of the presence of God and order my life around the truth that God’s Holy Spirit indwells me. I do not, cannot, and need not serve Him in my own strength. (Ed: See the Paradoxical Principle of 100% Dependent and 100% Responsible" 100/100) There is a clear parallel between Judges 6:14 and Matthew 28:18–20+. When the Lord commissioned Gideon, it was with the promise of His strength. When He commissions us, His infinitely greater promise is, “Lo, I am with you always (Ed: How is He with us always? By His Spirit called the Spirit of Christ -Ro 8:9+- or the Spirit of Jesus - Acts 16:7+, Php 1:19+), even to the end of the age.” Hudson Taylor, the great missionary pioneer, once said, “All of God’s great men have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on his being with them; they counted on his faithfulness.” That is the divine solution to discouragement—the truth of the omnipresence and adequacy of God. (Borrow Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay)