Making the difficult choice for God (Judg 6:25-27)

The most challenging aspect of following God is not so much choosing Him – although it is a big step – but of serving Him only. Many people had a brush with Christianity at some point: they may have ‘gone forward’ at an evangelistic rally, while others go to church from time-to-time and ‘try to follow the Ten Commandments’ (normally they mean the moral aspects such as no murder, adultery, stealing, etc.). Often, however, these expressions of Christian commitment are alongside commitments to a way of living that are, on closer inspection, in conflict with faithfulness to God. There are two areas in our context where this is most obvious. First, biblical teaching on sexual intimacy as limited to one man with one woman in marriage (Gen 2:24) is overruled in favour of practices common in the rest of society because it is seen as essentially harmless and a matter of choice. Secondly, Christian belief is combined with practices from other religions or the occult, or with the secular ‘religion’ of self-fulfilment that is prevalent in Western society.

The Judges period reflects a similar kind of mixing and Gideon himself demonstrates this. As we have seen, he is aware of Israel’s history with God (the exodus – Judg 6:13), but not enough to understand that the people’s suffering is the result of their sin (Judg 6:1). At the end of his encounter with the angel, he comes to worship the Lord, yet we discover that his father has an altar to Baal and Asherah (the god of storm and rain and the goddess of fertility respectively; Judg 6:24-25). As Jesus makes it clear later, it is not possible to serve two masters (Matt 6:24) and Israel’s future deliverer will have to make a choice. It is not enough to worship the Lord privately; Gideon will have to nail his colours publicly to the mast.

This, in fact, is a momentous decision and one with a potentially high cost. In ancient societies, it was unthinkable for a son to overrule his father. Moreover, sacrificing the family’s prize bull as it were while destroying the altar for worship (Judg 6:25-26) could only lead to an irreconcilable quarrel and to becoming disinherited and banished from home. Worse still, the leading men of the city are likely to be furious because the destruction of a worship site would, it was believed, turn the gods against Israel so that the people would experience retribution (e.g. famine, infertility) as a result. Gideon was at the very least putting his identity and sense of belonging, as well as his inheritance on the line and he could very well lose his life. No wonder he was afraid (Judg 6:27). Nevertheless, the key is that despite his feelings, he obeys God. Moreover, he finds others to help him. Although the passage does not focus on them and we can only speculate, I wonder how these enlisted servants felt. After all, Gideon’s fate would impact theirs. Were they anxious, revolted at having to destroy a worship site, or in agreement? Could they have refused him? In fact, we do read of examples where servants occasionally oppose a master if the command is too offensive or outrageous (e.g. 1 Sam 22:17), so the ten working with Gideon could have been genuinely supportive.

While persecuted Christians may know at a much deeper level how costly commitment to God can be, we in the West face this in a somewhat different way. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we may look at the prohibited fruit that seems so pleasing and wonder if having it could really be as bad as God says (Gen 2:16-17; 3:1-6). Would living like the world really lead to death? Such living can at times feel fulfilling and harmless. In any case, did God really say that these things are destructive? Is it not a matter of interpretation? When we struggle with the overwhelming influence of culture around us, it is important that we return to Scripture and what God teaches through it, even if some of our experience and the majority of voices around us tell a different story. Moreover, like Gideon, we need the support of others, fellow Christians and the church as a whole, to help strengthen our faith and conviction in God’s truth.

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