What seeds do we sow? (Judg 8:28-35)

The house we are currently living in used to have a cactus at the end of a row of spider plants along the garage wall. When we moved in, that cactus was small, easy to care for and decorative. However, in time it grew too big, and it became increasingly difficult to weed under it without being pricked. We began having to circle around it whenever we left the house to avoid being skewered and when my husband walked past and scraped his calf badly, it was the last straw. Our landlord removed the offending plant at our request but within a few weeks I spotted little cacti rearing their head again. It took several attempts before we stopped seeing further growth. Bad habits, like plants, are difficult to eradicate. They may seem to fulfil a function initially but as they grow and become more dominant, what seemed harmless may turn into a headache with lasting implications.

Throughout chapter eight we have seen Gideon’s shift towards a leadership that did not seek God but started taking on characteristics of royal rule as it was practised among the pagan nations. Although he stopped short of agreeing to institutionalise such rule, he did not ween himself off the trappings of kingship and his actions bore rotten fruit in his son (Judg 9:1-2). The summary of his time continues the ambiguity we have seen in his life. On the one hand, God graciously saved Israel through him and the peace held long-term (forty years can be a symbolic number indicating an indefinite long period), so that Gideon could settle down in his house and not campaign against the enemy (Judg 8:28-29; compare David in 2 Sam 7:1). On the other hand, Gideon once again emulated kings, who tended to have many wives. He even acquired a concubine (a second-class wife) and named his son by her Abimelech (‘my father is king’; Judg 8:31). Despite his protestations, Gideon’s aspirations for kingship reared their head like plants that refuse to be eradicated. The man who was once unsure of himself now basked in the prestige he had accumulated.

Despite these negative traits in Gideon, the narrator still considers his achievement as ‘good’ (Judg 8:35). Christian readers are often tempted to make outright heroes or villains of biblical characters, but Scripture is much more nuanced in its portrayal. Like the rest of us, Gideon is a mixture of good and bad, admirable qualities and ones to be shunned. Although Israel has fallen into idolatry with the ephod (Judg 8:27), this was likely a worship of the true God, Yahweh, through a tangible object (see an explanation of the ephod in this post), rather than allegiance to other gods. However, such a syncretistic practice that brought in pagan approaches to worship opened the door towards the more full-on version of serving other gods once Gideon died (Judg 8:33).

Gideon’s life demonstrates how toying with sinful practices can lead to a proliferation of their effects, both in one’s own life and in the generation that follows. While Gideon’s fundamental commitment to the Lord only allowed him to flirt with forbidden roles and activitites (kingship and idol-worship), his son, Abimelech will know no restraint regarding the former and Israel concerning the latter. Gideon’s story is a warning to us about the legacy we leave behind, whether it is setting an example for our children or for those who know us in a Christian context and may emulate our practices. Even in our lives, we can become like Gideon, so used to bending the rules a little that after a while we do not even notice anything wrong with it. How can we be renewed if we sense our faithfulness to God waning? As the old maxim goes, what you water will grow. When we draw near to God, pray, read His Word and engage with Him more closely, He is able both to correct and enable us to realign our lives with Him.

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