THE SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT (4)
[p. 151] THE SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT (4)
Judges 6:11 - 24; Judges 7:19 - 22; Judges 8:18 - 19
JT The last two verses read serve as a clue to what is in mind in this section in connection with the brethren in their relation to Christ — not to one another, but as in resemblance to Christ.
GWH “The sons of a king”?
JT Yes. So that we are reaching elevation in Gideon. He has to be taken as a counterpart of what we had this morning, the counterpart of Deborah’s ministry. Deborah’s ministry, with Barak, is Jehovah’s commandment which is kept by those who love God. Gideon’s ministry is on a higher level, so to speak, in that we have a divine appearing. And consequent upon that we have a spiritual transaction between God and Gideon.
GWH This would be in contrast to communications that might come through another.
JT Yes. The relations with God are more immediate and intimate. I think that the narrative is to bring out Gideon personally. The prophetic ministry in this section is through another, a nameless person (chapter 6:8), but a prophet; it is not as with Deborah. Gideon brings out rather Christ personally, in type.
Rem The climax is in the last verses read.
JT And so I thought they should be specially before us.
Ques Have you any thought as to why it is “my mother” and not my father?
JT It carries on the maternal side, as Deborah was a mother in Israel. The idea of the mother is there in Deborah, without any product being mentioned. It is simply the maternal idea; whereas here you have a product, “the sons of my mother”. They were like Gideon, “the sons of a king”. She had a high ideal:
“[p. 152] Each one resembled the sons of a king”. Probably this was beyond anything Israel had seen, they having no king, but she anticipated royalty in her children.
Rem “Jerusalem above ... which is our mother”, (Galatians 4:26).
JT Just so. “Jerusalem ... is the city of the great King”, (Matthew 5:35). The idea of the king goes with the city.
WM Do you not think there might be included in it the fact that nothing but a subjective state will meet public failure? Objective truth is not so much needed as subjective conditions.
JT That is the point in these two sections. Then, after Gideon you have antichrist in Abimelech, which is another course leading up to Samson. In connection with Samson we get a divine appearing similar to what we have here. These divine appearings are special, because through each you get a distinctly new feature. With Deborah it is a question of what was there — the commandment; if people hear not Moses and the prophets, one rising from the dead cannot persuade them (see Luke 16:31). But a divine appearing contemplates impressionableness in the person or persons appeared to, and brings in something distinctive. It is God’s way. He has a hand in things here, and comes in so as to impress and give character to those in whom He is working.
Rem The mother line runs through Samson and Samuel.
JT That idea is continued through the period of the judges.
Ques Where the appearings are lacking, is it because of the condition of the people?
JT I think so. In Gideon himself you have a condition that God could recognise, hence the appearing. There is no doubt that an appearing is intended to convey something that had never been here before.
[p. 153] ARS That is what I thought. Saul got the heavenly side, the revelation of God’s Son, (Acts 9).
JT The idea of an appearing is seen in the first one, that to Abraham: “The God of glory appeared”, (Acts 7:2). It suggests variety of glory. You cannot limit that; it is a question of God. How very distinctive that was!
AFM The appearing to Gideon would be in relation to the condition of the people. This character of oppression had not been before.
JT It was an oppression in connection with food. It had in view to rob the people of food. And so the appearing is to one who is taking care of the food, threshing wheat to hide it from the Midianites. And when God appears Gideon has something to offer to Him. That is a great point; whether there is food for God, for in the food God must have His part, see Numbers 28.
A.N.W. Why is it angelic?
JT It was the time of the ministry of angels, but it is a divine appearing. It is the mode of God’s intervention. It says, “And Jehovah looked upon him”. Jehovah Himself is there.
ANW Is it an advance on the Spirit of Jehovah coming on Othniel?
JT It is. The Spirit of Jehovah had already come on persons, but a divine appearing goes further, and is always distinct and new.
Rem The form of the pressure has something to do with the form of the appearing, whether in Mesopotamia or in Canaan; this time it is the Midianites, descendants of Abraham through Keturah. There would be a corresponding character about it.
JT There is a certain natural link with the people of God in Midian. I think that the social side is in view in Midian; it is that side which seduces the people of God. Here they are associated with “Amalek, and the children of the east”, and they “destroyed the produce of the [p. 154] land ... and they left no sustenance in Israel” (chapter 6:3,4).
AFM How would you apply this lack of food today?
JT The enemy is always seeking to destroy the food supply. There is here an immense number of Midianites allied with the Amalekites. It is the form in which the flesh appears as claiming equal status with the people of God, which, if admitted, involves corruption and the taking away of the heavenly food. Gideon is able to present food to God. He presented it in courses: the flesh was in a basket and the broth in a pot. All is served according to God and accepted by Him.
JS It is like setting forth things in order.
JT Well, it is the order of God. I have no doubt that the Lord’s supper presents the great idea of food, and divine order is connected with it.
Rem At the appearing to Abraham at Mamre (Genesis 18), Abraham knew what was suitable; possibly Gideon benefited by that.
JT As a spiritual man he would, no doubt, know about that, and so acquire ability to present food to God.
GWH He was in touch with what had passed; he speaks of the “miracles that our fathers told us of”.
JT And now he has food in the wine-press; this may suggest that he had been through the pressure occasioned by the Midianites. The Angel sits under the terebinth, having peculiar interest in Gideon. Sitting would indicate that the matter on hand required definite time and deliberation; it was all of great importance to heaven.
JS His exercises were pleasurable to heaven.
AFM As having food for God, he evidently had a sufficiency, although the people generally lacked food. You can only offer of what you possess.
JT A man is accepted according to what he has.
[p. 155] Gideon threshed wheat in the wine-press. A wine-press would be a place of small proportions for such an operation. It was not like the threshing-floor of Ornan, which was a large place, for David bought it with the idea of having plenty of scope for the house. A wine-press is contracted, and suggests pressure; we need contraction in view of enlargement. But although he was threshing the wheat under such limitations, he was obtaining the food. In threshing the wheat, he was acting against the enemy. This is important to note.
Rem Would this be suggestive of what the blessed Lord went through at Gethsemane? He was there under deep pressure and at great cost to open the whole scope of God’s riches.
JT Gethsemane is pressure; the word conveys the thought of wine-press.
WB-w Does Gideon’s exercise involve the lifting of things from the Midianites’ level to a higher level?
JT Yes, from the level of the social order which would claim distinction in the flesh. Midian and Amalek are the flesh. Midian claims distinction in the flesh. God is raising things to another level and Gideon is up to it.
JS Would the word, “mighty man of valour” imply secret history?
JT I think it would. Of course, it would be potential here.
AJD The Angel says, “Jehovah is with thee”.
WM It was very pleasurable to God that Gideon was considering while he was threshing wheat. As Paul said to Timothy, “Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things”,(2 Timothy 2:7).
JT His mind was filled with the terrible oppression of the enemy; he was impressed with it. God knew all that exercise, for He knows the thoughts of our hearts.
Rem Possibly we do not think much in this [p. 156] way.
JT Well, I believe that is the suggestion here: whether in one’s ordinary employment one thinks of the needs of the saints.
AFM There is something important in this movement of Gideon’s. He considers first for God. The widow of Zarephath first brings to the prophet a little cake, and thus secures provision for all the famine time. So that if God is first, the people are sure to be considered.
JT That is important. Where God is working you will find His claims recognised. “And Jehovah looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have not I sent thee?” And then Gideon says, “If now I have found favour in thine eyes, shew me a sign that it is thou who talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee”. There you have some insight into the character of the man. He has confidence enough to ask God to wait, which is very remarkable here. He waited for Abraham under similar circumstances. God waits for Gideon to prepare the food, and it involves considerable time. But he would know that Abraham had done the same thing, only on that occasion the three men were standing; here Jehovah is sitting, and offers to wait. It is a very beautiful touch.
Rem Morally it is as great as when “Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man” and the sun stood still, (Joshua 10:14).
JT What follows is what Gideon can provide and do. So that now it is a question of what one can present to God; Gideon says, “My present”; it tests me as to what I can present to God.
GWH It is what he has.
JT “A man is accepted according to what he may have” (2 Corinthians. 8:12); it is what I can present. So he says, “My present”; it would be the very best he could give. Jehovah said, “I will tarry until thou come again”.
[p. 157] God is committing Himself to him now. “And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid of the goats, and an ephah of flour in unleavened cakes; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the terebinth, and presented it”. Now we have to follow all this, because he is a type of Christ giving a lead spiritually. In Deborah you have the prophetess and the military movement at the command of the Lord: that was on a lower level. Here it is approach to God — knowing how to present to Him. What can I do in this way? I may copy others, but when I come to a manifestation of God, what can I do then? One is entirely dependent on what he is according to God. It is a question of entering the spiritual realm.
Rem Here the Lord waits until Gideon comes; often we wait until the Lord comes.
JT I think the Lord is giving occasion to show what was in him. He well knew what was there, but would let Gideon show what was in him; because in entering the spiritual realm it is what one is spiritually that counts.
WB-w In Acts 1 the Lord presented Himself living, and Peter in chapter 9 presented Dorcas living.
JT Acts 1 brings in the spiritual idea. The Lord was seen during forty days after He arose, in a spiritual body.
AJD What would the Angel’s appearance suggest?
JT An impression of Christ under these peculiar circumstances. It is an appearing.
GWH And it would leave a lasting impression too.
JT Quite. Gideon would never lose it.
WB-w We are already lifted above the Midianitish element.
JT What we see is a man taken out of the wine-press to minister to God! God is pleased with what Gideon is doing. He is delighted with our movements at the time of a conference, for example; and also in our prayers which have gone up for months back, in view of this occasion; and now there is opportunity to minister to Him formally.
[p. 158] AL-k The Angel of the Lord did not partake of the food.
JT Why should you say that? It says, “And the Angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. And the Angel of Jehovah put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And the Angel of Jehovah departed out of his sight”.
Do you think there was odour there? We must not liken God to a man; here Gideon’s “present” is accepted.
Rem It was really a savour ascending to heaven where the Angel belonged.
JT Heaven was refreshed. “Jehovah smelled the sweet odour”, (Genesis 8:21).
JS It is like the result in John 12 after all the pressure there.
Rem The odour of the ointment filled the house.
ANW Why was Gideon left free up to a point, and then he receives directions?
JT It was to bring out what was in him.
JTJr He is really a son led by the Spirit of God.
JT Yes. Only he receives directions from the Angel: “Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock”. This was all delightful to heaven.
AFM What are the rock and the fire? Have they any allusion to Christ and to His sufferings?
JT I think so. The rock alludes to Christ, it always brings Him in; He is the foundation on which everything rests.
GMcP The burnt-offering would be wholly consumed, and we see this here.
WM Elijah said, “The god that answers by fire, let him be God”, (1 Kings 18:24). It was God’s way of recognising the offering.
JT Then “the staff” in the Angel’s hand would indicate that there was a journey, and that God had entered into all this. The Lord says, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”, (John 5:17). God’s work was going on hitherto; so that this was not new to God. The staff would indicate what had gone before.
JS And God still is journeying with His people.
JT He says to David, “Since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, ... I went about in a tent and in a tabernacle”, (2 Samuel 7:6). There is no cessation of the activity of divine love.
WB-w Is the fire the answer on God’s part?
JT God answers by fire.
RDG In the case of Elijah it came down; here it rises up.
JT The fire as applied to the offering, brings out its perfection. The staff which the Angel had in his hand would point to the authority of God. He touched the offering with it, and fire rose up out of the rock and consumed it.
JS It is different from what had gone before; previously water had come from the rock; here it is fire for the sacrifice.
Rem The reference to the staff is very interesting, because the word of the prophet is: “Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land”. God would continue in relation with what has been before.
JT The staff is very much like the synoptic gospels as compared with John. I think the account of things in chapter 13, where the Angel ascends is more John’s line. The synoptic gospels connect the Lord’s ministry with what preceded. But in John it is “the beginning”. I think [p. 160] the staff and the rock here suggest what had taken place in relation to previous operations of God.
BTF The wine-press would speak of the death of Christ, and then the offering would come from one who had entered into that.
JT So that you have a burnt-offering here.
WB-w Matthew and Mark refer to food in the institution of the Supper.
JT Yes. Neither of them says anything about the Supper as a memorial.
GWH That is Luke.
JT Yes, Luke alone. But the three writers link on the truth with God’s previous operations, whereas John introduces christianity as new and apart from what had been before. He brings in Christ as the beginning of everything.
AFM You get the idea of God’s previous operations from the resurrection being “on the morrow of the Sabbath”, (Luke 24:1).
JT Yes. Whereas in John it is the first day of the week. The New Translation emphasises the distinction in this respect between the synoptic gospels and John.
AAT Up to this point Gideon had not known the person he was talking to. He perceived he was an Angel; but before that he addressed him as Lord.
JT He saw clearly that he was a divine representative; but feared the after consequences of having seen an Angel of the Lord. He had more confidence in his actual presence, than after he departed. When the divine presence is withdrawn we too are apt to falter. Gideon faltered after the Angel’s departure, as it says, “The Angel of Jehovah departed out of his sight”. It is very much like the position of the disciples in Acts 1:9, “A cloud received him out of their sight”. The faith period then began; and it was a question of whether they could hold on after the Lord had left. “Ye believe on God, believe also on me” (John 14:1), the Lord had said. Gideon’s faith was tested at this point.
GWH And we know something of that too!
JT Yes. It is easier to believe when you are surrounded by the saints, and the presence of God is enjoyed in the meeting; but when alone your faith is liable to waver. So it says, “And Gideon perceived that he was an angel of Jehovah; and Gideon said, Alas, Lord Jehovah! for because I have seen an angel of Jehovah face to face ...”. There is a hiatus there, as though God would not allow him to go the full way. He anticipates Gideon by saying, “Peace be unto thee: fear not; thou shalt not die”.
Rem Jacob could say, “I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved”, (Genesis 32:30).
HSD How about the altar?
JT It is called, “Jehovah of Peace”. A man’s altar indicates the point he has reached in his soul.
HSD He built it and named it.
JT It was his altar. Your altar indicates your spiritual stature.
HSD Was he established now in the fact that he was accepted?
JT He is answering to the light vouchsafed to him.
BTF You were saying that when the Angel departed Gideon began to doubt. But the point is, that while one’s faith may waver, true affection for Christ will not.
JT Quite. Then God comes in here. Gideon speaks to God; and Jehovah said to him, “Peace be unto thee: fear not; thou shalt not die”. And then Gideon builds his altar; and it is said: “To this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites”. It is a permanent thing.
Then you have “the second bullock”; “And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said to him, Take the young bullock, which thy father hath, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the [p. 162] altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is by it; and build an altar to Jehovah thy God upon the top of this strong place in the ordered manner [note the question of order], and take the second bullock, and offer up a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah that thou shalt cut down. And Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Jehovah had said to him. And it came to pass, because he feared his father’s house, and the men of the city, if he did it by day, that he did it by night” (verses 25 - 27). This second bullock is the next point in the instruction; it means that in this revival God had passed by somebody. It is a very searching thing. Am I going to be passed by, or chosen? If God is doing something, we do not want to be passed by.
GMcP It was a young bullock.
JT Yes, but it was seven years old — suggesting matured experience.
AFM The Lord would have passed the disciples by because of their unbelief, when He walked on the water.
JT If God is moving on, I do not want to be passed by. It is a word for older brethren.
Rem They saw Him, which is the secret of His not passing them by.
JT The Lord “would have” done it (Mark 6:48); it was intentional on His part. Why did God pass the first bullock by? That is the point.
Ques Why did God pass by the seven sons of Jesse, and take David?
Rem The bullock was seven years old, as was remarked.
JT But he is called a young one. It is a question of the new man as in Colossians. How ever long one may have been in the truth, how ever many years one may have been in fellowship he is to retain his freshness.
Rem Moses was, so to speak, as a young bullock at the end of his days.
WM Barnabas and Saul were young men when they commenced work.
JT [p. 163] A bullock of seven years would be relatively as old as a man of fifty or sixty. It is a question of retaining youthfulness in advanced years.
WM The other bullock was too old!
JT There may be any number of years you like to speak of, passed as a believer, but be sure you can be called young; it is a question of freshness.
AFM It is like the new man of Colossians, as you said.
JT “New” there refers to youth; it is the new man which we are said to have put on. It is “renewed into full knowledge”; “renewed” there, is that there is no knowledge like it. There are two words referring to newness used in the passage (Colossians 3:10): one refers to youthfulness, the other is used in the sense of not having existed before.
NMcC You said the passing by of the first bullock was a word to older brethren. Will you finish that?
JT I think it is that God will never pass any one by unless He is obliged to do so.
GMcP The bullock is the greatest of the offerings.
JT Here the offering would point to the spiritual wealth that entered into the ministry of Gideon. He worked under disadvantages, for the material required belonged to Gideon’s father, and his father’s house might be against him. Thus he threw down the altar of Baal and built the altar to Jehovah by night, because he was afraid to do it by day; but he did the work.
Rem He took ten men of his servants to help him.
JT The question is, has this man power in his father’s house? He was a member of a family; what influence had he there?
Rem Full responsibility would be in the ten men. The operation here, involving Gideon’s father’s property, suggests that God’s rights are to rise above the natural.
JT And the father came to it. Gideon would convey in what he had done, that he had acted for God who must have precedence in everything.
WB-[p. 164] w In result he would bring the whole family out of the system of idolatry, and on to the level of the true worship of God.
JT Joash’s house would be exposed to Midianitish influence, for he was an idolater. But idolatry is overthrown; Gideon’s action brought out the great moral power he had in the household.
JS The house became a stronghold for the truth.
JT Which corresponds to the rock on which the offering was made; there was nothing uncertain about the position so far reached.
Ques What about the “ordered manner”, (chapter 6:26)?
JT It refers back to Horeb in connection with the priestly order. Gideon had shown himself to be a priest, and he must always act in a priestly way.
Rem All must be done in faith if it is to stand.
WM The Lord took twelve men to do God’s work; it was perfect administration.
JT Twelve is administration, not responsibility. It is a question of whether we can act together in love. Twelve is very divisible; we may be divided up in service, but love is never weakened by it.
AFN This new altar built would give Gideon ability to deal with the enemy.
JT The altar of Baal would suggest; “other lords than thee have had dominion over us”, (Isaiah 26:13). So its overthrow is a question of the family being delivered from the authority of darkness in view of the approaching conflict.
RWS Gideon’s brethren do not appear here, and were later slain.
JT They are brought in (chapter 8:18 - 21) to complete the subject. They were slain at Tabor. The link there, no doubt, is with what we had this morning. The great conflict was at Tabor.
Rem They had been morally formed by Gideon, for they were like him.
[p. 165] WB-w What is the difference between the two altars?
JT The first was a personal matter: Jehovah-shalom is what he had acquired in his relations with God. But the second altar is in relation to his father’s house, and the overthrow of idolatry in the whole family realm.
GWH The second altar is reared by divine command; the other, of his own volition.
JT Quite. The second was in the “ordered manner”; it has a public bearing in testimony to God’s rights.
Rem And after this the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, (chapter 6:34).
JT He is qualified for the service and God commits Himself to him for it.
The great reducing principle in the next chapter (7) is to be noted; we should pay especial attention to this principle of reduction. I believe the economy of the assembly, among other things, is intended to keep us small; such as, small local companies who merge, when necessary, as we saw in Deborah, from the local idea into the universal idea. I can only take in the universal as I am formed in love. It tends to love in the local company, and merge from that into the universal.
WB-w The commandment connects with Corinthians, whereas the universal is Ephesians.
JT Colossians and Ephesians — Jael is the gentiles brought in. Deborah merged from the local setting into the general setting in the conflict. But in Gideon you have reduction greatly emphasised, an army of thirty-two thousand men brought down to ten thousand; then to three hundred; then they are separated into three companies of one hundred each. All that means spiritual refinement in public reduction, which God is aiming at now. Contentment in small companies is the negation of the flesh in us and fits us for general conflict.
GWH And there is a great increase of [p. 166] love.
WB-w Would you ever give up in your mind the thirty-two thousand?
JT The thirty-two thousand would lead to reliance on human strength. Twenty-two thousand of them went back; they did not want to go to the battle. There was a further testing at the water, which reduced their fighting numbers to three hundred. It was a poor thing for warriors not to be able to partake of water without lying down to drink it.
Rem Gideon’s men were as poured from vessel to vessel.
Rem So you would look for smaller meetings, but also for quality.
JT Quality and unity is the idea. We further see how God helped Gideon at every point: He goes down with Phurah to the outside of the camp, and hears one telling a dream about a cake of barley bread tumbling into the camp! It is here a question of food, and how acquired. It is Christ, but in the form of food. Not grain cut down and presented in a sheaf as in Leviticus 23; it is a cake that had been baked. It is Christ formed in the affections of the saints through exercise.
Rem The barley cake was greater than the three hundred or the thirty-two thousand, because it was Christ.
WM It came in in an irregular way.
JT It “tumbled” in, it is informal, but involved the complete overthrow of the Midianites. The tent was smitten, it overturned and lay along.
GWH It is what is in the saints, spiritual maturity as pre-figured in the cake.
JT I think so. Maturity runs through this section; judgeship in Gideon. And then the brethren of Gideon; they are a fine subject; Zebah and Zalmunna say of them, “As thou art, so were they”. The enemies of Gideon were themselves the judges as to the excellent quality of his brethren. These men typically are like [p. 167] Christ. The enemy may traduce us and even slay us, but they are compelled to admit a likeness to Christ.
JS These numbers reduced to three hundred would involve intensified exercise.
JT You come down to the cake, the product, as it were, of Gideon and his three hundred.
GWH These kings say, “Each one resembled the sons of a king”. Gideon says, “They were ... the sons of my mother”. You get the outside impression as well as what Gideon says.
ANW They were like royalty.
JT God has His own idea of royalty. Gabriel says of Christ, “He shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for the ages, and of his kingdom there shall not be an end”, (Luke 1:32,33).
Rem Referring again to meetings: you would not be discouraged with small meetings.
JT If they are not growing or are dying out, you would be discouraged. The idea is increase spiritually and in the number of meetings.
GWH A meeting should divide if it gets too large.
WN We have only one meeting in R — .
JT We all know that. We have been thinking about that for years, and wondering why there are not two or three meetings here!