Judges Chapter 8 Verse 1

• So the men of Ephraim had captured and killed two of the princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb, as Gideon had called upon them to do in the end of Chapter 7 but they noticed something…over one hundred thousand Midianites were missing from their army ranks! A major victory had transpired and in hot pursuit of the retreating Midianite army was the men of Israel of the tribes of Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh and they got a bit peeved.

• Manasseh was Gideon’s tribe and if you recall and Manasseh and Ephraim were brothers and although Manasseh was the eldest, Jacob their father had given the blessing to the younger, to Ephraim and so there was already some jealousy, some contention there…And they see this remarkable victory and sharply chide Gideon, “Why did you not call upon us?!”

• Watch how Gideon handles this…because look, it was no secret that Gideon had amassed a force of 32,000 men. All but 300 eventually went home, and we saw that last week, but a justified response to Ephraim would have been, “Why didn’t I call you? Where were you?! What if we hadn’t of been victorious? Would you still be so sharp about this? You knew, you did nothing.” A totally justified response but Gideon chooses to honor the Lord.

Judges Chapter 8 Verses 2 – 3

• I’m not sure if you picked up on that but Gideon just praised them. He complimented them. He basically says to them, “Yea we routed the army, but you captured their princes. What you have done is more remarkable.” Did he have to do that? Absolutely not…but he was never in this for himself. He was always in this because God called him and so Gideon honors God with a humble, righteous, selfless response.
• Proverbs 18:19 says, “A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle.” And yet Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turns away wrath.” (OH SO HARD! - IF we forget the first verse!) This quarrel, this jealousy, this contention, this ridiculous play by Ephraim could have caused bloodshed and loss and waste and regret but it is squashed in 3 verses because Gideon chose to honor God with his manner of response.

• Do you think he wasn’t angry? Do you think he wasn’t frustrated to no end with them? The danger was averted and now they come? The storm must have raged in Gideon’s heart but Proverbs 29:11 says this, “A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back.” Remember this when one stirs you up a bit; Proverbs 16:32, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty!”

Judges Chapter 8 Verses 4 – 5

• The word here for “exhausted” is quite literally that they were barely holding on to consciousness…and yet the scripture says that they were still in pursuit. They would not turn back. They would not stop. These are the 300. These are the ones with an intense internal unstoppable sense of responsibility, honor and loyalty. Their character would carry them until lights out…man I am inspired!!
• I have preached with no energy. I have taught the Bible sick and pale and gone straight home and passed out in my front yard. I have ministered when my head is splitting and when my dogs are barking. And I will gladly stand alongside anyone who will do so as well. None of the 300 have left! None of the 300 have fallen!

Judges Chapter 8 Verses 6 – 9

• A couple of things here. First, listen to this mighty Gideon! No more testing God, right? He is straight up bold. “When I come back victorious, I’m going to take more than your bread since you won’t help my men now!” I love this! As God shows Himself faithful to Gideon, as Gideon trusts him, boldness of faith has set in. The same will happen with you.

• Second, they don’t get any help. That’s often the case. Does that mean it is not God’s will for them to continue? No it doesn’t. God has delivered the Midianites into their hands. That promise was given back in verse 9 and verse 14 in the previous chapter. The job was not yet done…God’s Word is worth eternally more than the circumstantial provision of the day, man…and many times, folks won’t help you…and you’ll want to kill them…HA JUST KIDDING! But it will hurt! It will be discouraging! What are you going to do? Deny His Word?! No way!

Judges Chapter 8 Verses 10 – 18

• That’s a move there, “They look like you, like the son of a king,” that’s them trying to suck up to Gideon…it won’t work. In fact it backfires…

Judges Chapter 8 Verses 19 – 21

• Now this is interesting to me. The Holy Spirit says here that their ornaments are crescent in shape. Like a crescent moon. The Medes were from where…? Iran! Remember Daniel, the Medes and the Persians? Well Media, where the Medes were from is modern day north-west Iran. Am I saying that they are Muslim? No way! That’s preposterous as Muhammad wasn’t around until 600ish AD. And Islam didn’t really emerge until about 1,000 AD!

• What I’m saying is that there is nothing new! And the moon, the crescent, which is the anti-light if you will was first a symbol, even thought to be, Ashtoreth by the ancients. And Ashteroth is the same goddess as Isis in Egypt, Astarte or Ishtar in Greece, Diana in Rome, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna…Semiramus in ancient Mesopotamia…the mystery queen of heaven Babylonian goddess…

• The spirit of the harlot…we now see the crescent moon as the symbol of Islam, the symbol of the Hindu god Shiva, it was the symbol of the Byzantine Empire in Greece, it sits upon the Taj Mahal, flies on the flags of Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Kurdistan, and Iran…even Mary is depicted by the Roman Catholic church as standing upon the crescent moon…
• Today, it’s everywhere…it’s the do not disturb symbol on your iphone…its hidden in logos like Starbucks, the Missle Defense Agency, Dreamworks Studios, Google, Quiznos, Burger King, McDonalds, and even our own President’s logo…what am I saying? That idolatry and the great harlot has been with us far longer than we know man and what we are seeing now…the terrorism and all is nothing new! It’s the same enemy that Gideon fought, the same enemy that Samson fought, the same enemy that David fought, the same enemy that Moses fought, the same enemy that Abraham fought, the same enemy that Adam lost to…idolatry!!! False, fake, lesser, liar god!!! And ultimately she will be judged! That great harlot! That blows my mind!!