Gideon - The Mighty Man Of Valor - Part 7 Of A Series Series

Gideon - The Mighty Man of Valor

“The Enemy is Destroyed”

Part 7 of a Series

Over the past six weeks we have been looking at the life and times of Gideon who the Angel of the Lord called a “Mighty Man of Valor;” a name that didn’t seem to fit with the description of a guy that didn’t look anything like a brave and courageous man.

We have seen the downfall of Israel’s spiritual and economic condition and the mayhem that followed as they turned away from God and began serving Baal.

Gideon had become God’s man who was not very confident or faith-filled at all; but when God finds his man, he does not give up on him.

We saw how Gideon needed tons of confirming signs and assurances before he could cross the chicken line. However, he eventually did so, tore down the Altar of Baal and sent out the call for the most unlikely army ever.

32 thousand men answered the call and gathered at the Well of Harod which means Fountain of Affliction and Trembling while the enemy was gathered at the Hill of Moreh or Hill of the Early Spring Rain.

And then we focused on how the Reduction of Arms took the Army of 32,000 soldiers down to a total of 300 men. And after one final confirming sign, the enemy soldier’s dream and its interpretation, Gideon comes back and tells his 300 that it’s time to arise and do what they came to do.

And last week we looked at the three weapons of the Ram’s Horn, the Clay Pitcher and the lamp or torch inside of the pitcher.

And now, we pick up the story in Judges 7:19….

19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers — they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing — and they cried, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" 21 And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. 22 When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

23 And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites. 24 Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan." Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. 25 And they captured two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.

He divided his three hundred men into three groups: that would be a hundred in each group. And he gave each man a horn and a clay jar with a torch in it.

Just after midnight they surrounded the Midianite camp and on the given signal they blew their horns, broke the clay jars revealing the torches.

The Midianites panicked, the Israelites blew their horns again and the Bible tells us that the Lord caused the enemy warriors in the camp to start fighting each other, and those who weren’t killed fled in confusion.

As a friend of mind said “I love it when a plan comes together.”

So that’s the story of Gideon, what are the lessons of Gideon?

First lesson: You Don’t Have To Be Somebody Special To Do Something Special

One of the biggest lies of the devil is that God only uses special people. And like all lies of the devil this one is based on a half-truth.

God does use only special people, God doesn’t use them because they are special, they are special because God uses them.

Listen to the word of God in 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

Look at Judges 7: 21 “And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. 22 When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp;