READING

READING

Judges 7:15 - 25: Judges 8:1 - 3.

JT One great feature with God is that of leadership. This chapter furnishes us with an example of a leader, and one who was not only in the position of a leader, but who was that, and for that reason is a model. He says, “Look on me, and do likewise” (verse 17).

WAS Deborah had said in her song that “leaders led in Israel”. Judges 5:2. Is it a principle that leadership is necessary?

JT It is a principle with God. The Lord is the great leader. He sets out in Himself the divine thought of leadership. A leader is one who, in a crisis or an occasion of difficulty will lead in a general way amongst the saints. The Lord, in becoming Man, necessarily takes up this position as leader; so we have in Luke that He is baptised and praying, that the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove — in a holy form, and a voice from heaven said, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22. Then He is led by the Spirit into the wilderness forty days, tempted of the devil. It is the Spirit’s action; He was led by the Spirit, indicating that this Man entirely recognised the Spirit. In regard of His baptism, He says, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”, not some, but all. Then we see, too, His dependence on God — being baptised He was praying.

Rem The Spirit takes the initiative.

JT Yes, He carried Him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and having vanquished him on the ground of obedience, then it says “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee”. Luke 4:14. He ^[p. 140] ministered, too in their synagogues, for we read that “He came to Nazareth where he was brought up; and he entered, according to his custom, into the synagogue”. Luke 4:16. He had established a custom, a way, and He takes the Scriptures as they are handed to Him and reads to those in the synagogue the divine passage that governed the then position. He found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor, he has sent me to preach to captives deliverance, and to the blind sight”, Luke 4:18 and so forth; and then He sits down and is an object of interest to all. “The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And he began to say to them, To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears”, Luke 4:20,21 and they wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. So that you have a divine leader given in that Man. In Luke, the Spirit dwells upon that because He intended it to be a model for us.

WAS Are you suggesting that these features should be found in every true believer?

JT Well, that is what I was thinking. The Lord sets Himself before us as a leader. He is an example for us, and I think Gideon is a type of this in a striking way, because the Old Testament corresponds with what we get in the New. He says here, “Look on me, and do likewise; ... it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do”. Gideon had been wonderfully furnished and educated by God in order that he should come to this. He was to be a model for those who were with him. An angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak at Ophrah; that is, he came to a certain locality and sat down under the oak tree, and took account of what was there; and what was needed was in it, for there was a man there whom God could take up and use as a leader of His people.

AP Would that be leaders set locally?

JT Well, that is the divine way. The leader ^[p. 141] is one who exemplifies the thing that is to be set out, it is not merely that he is appointed to lead. Leading, in God’s account, is that you are the thing that is being set out, and in a world of evil and satanic influence that means that one has to suffer. A leader has to suffer. It is a position of suffering if he is to go before.

AP You would be more open to the attack of the enemy.

JT The Lord Jesus is the Leader, and following Him you are sure to suffer. So that in that passage in Luke, when He began to unfold the truth to them they were filled with rage and Cast Him forth out of the city that they might throw Him down the precipice. If you speak gracious words, even unconverted people will listen to you and speak well of you perhaps, but when you speak the truth, the whole truth, to them, then they change their attitude; you must suffer. Unless God is working in them you will get opposition from them.

FJF “Remember them ... . who have spoken unto you the word of God”. Hebrews 13:7. That would include leadership?

JT Yes, indeed; “whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation”. Hebrews 13:7. I was thinking of Philip, how it is put in the same way as with the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip.

RS Paul would be an example of that — “Be ye followers of me”. 1 Corinthians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 11:1.

Rem Would a secret training be necessary for that?

JT That would come in. The angel of the Lord came to Ophrah and sat under the oak, which meant that he would take account of all that was there. Whatever locality may be in question, when the Angel of the Lord comes He takes account of what is there. So in Revelation 2 the Lord moves in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The angel ^[p. 142] sat down under the oak, and then it says, “Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress to secure it from the Midianites”. Judges 6:11. There was a man, working all by himself to defeat the enemy. He was trying to defeat what the enemy was doing. The enemy was destroying the food, eating up everything, leaving no sustenance whatever; everything was taken away by them, and Gideon was operating to defeat that. The angel noted that. Whatever you see the enemy doing you should aim at defeating it — whatever he is doing. It is a great thing to see what he is doing; as Paul says, “We are not ignorant of his thoughts”. 2 Corinthians 2:11. When you know what he is about, then your exercise is to know what to do to check it. So Gideon knew what the Midianites were after. He knew that they would take away the food, and he was threshing wheat to hide it from the Midianites. They would not get that any way. They would be defeated in their purpose, and the angel of the Lord took account of that. Here was one man operating against the enemy and with God. So if the Lord comes to a locality now in that way, He takes account of what is going on — what every brother and sister is doing, whether one’s prayers, one’s general walk and ways are defeating the enemy, or whether one is affording him material. It is either one thing or the other.

FJF The Lord knew what the enemy’s aim was with regard to Peter, and what he desired to do.

JT Yes; he desired to sift him as wheat, but the Lord says, “I have prayed for thee”. Luke 22:32. He was defeating the enemy. He was defeating the enemy in what he was aiming at. “The prince of this world cometh”, John 14:30 it says. The Lord knew the movements of Satan.

FJF The Midianites were closely related to the Israelites, were they not?

JT Yes, there was a relation between them; Midian, it appears, sprang from Abraham.

^[p. 143] Ques Is this chapter (Judges 6), Gideon’s private history with the Lord?

JT I think it is. The main idea is his service. The angel is most interested in him. It says, “The Angel of Jehovah appeared to him”. Judges 6:12. When you get an appearing there is something shown that impresses you; something of the Lord that impresses you. An appearing is something that you have which others have not. You have the advantage. That is what marks every man whom God uses specially. He has something from God that is for himself.

AP Would that be the Spirit taking the initiative?

JT Well, it is the Lord Jesus whom the Angel represents. I think if one gets an appearing it is the Lord. A leader has received something for himself. In speaking of an appearing, I believe that if the Lord appears to you, you get something distinctive, you get something that belongs to yourself, and which distinguishes you. It is pointed out in 1 Corinthians 15 that the Lord appeared to Cephas; that would mean something distinctive for Peter. It would be for himself. Then He appeared to the twelve, that is in relation to administration, then He appeared to about five hundred brethren at once; that appearance would be for all-something that would impress the brethren. If you had been present there you would have been impressed, you would have had the sense that you would never lose the brethren. Five hundred of them! Many, but they would all be affected. You would have been impressed with what the Lord thought of them — how valuable they were to Him. Then He appeared to James; that again would be an individual matter, something distinctive for James; then to all the apostles; that would be in relation to authority — to impress them in relation to His authority Last of all He appeared to Paul. We all know. Paul had something very ^[p. 144] distinctive, but we may be sure that each of the others had something also. Here he appeared to Gideon; there would be some distinct impression given to him that would be his own entirely and which would distinguish him afterwards. But then in the appearing, the Angel says to him “Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”. Judges 6:12. All the way down this chapter you have this private education of Gideon, so that he may be fit to lead. Then Gideon said, “Depart not hence ... until I come unto thee and bring forth my present” Judges 6:18; that is another thing. It is a very beautiful touch, for Jehovah awaits for him to bring it out: “I will tarry until thou come again”. Judges 6:18. It was something he had himself. He took some unleavened cakes and prepared a kid and brought them out. He had prepared these cakes. A leader, as we have said, is one who is aiming at defeating the enemy, but Gideon has something that he has himself, something of his own that he can present to God; so he brings it out and presents it, the Angel of God telling him what to do. He does not tell him what to bring, he left that to himself, but he tells him how to present it. Man is accepted according to what he has, not according to what he has not. Then the angel leaves him, and he thinks he is going to die because he has seen an angel. But it is not so, indeed it is the very opposite; he is going to live, and so he builds an altar to Jehovah and called it Jehovah-shalom, that is Jehovah of peace; and he is going to be a man of peace. He knows God in that character. One great principle of the assembly is peace: the Lord speaks of a son of peace. David said: “I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war”, Psalm 120:7 but he keeps to his own line. He is for peace. Well, Gideon sets up his own altar; one’s own personal altar is what marks one off as having relations with God publicly. “Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory”. 1 Timothy 3:16.

That is God’s idea of one’s altar; “the mystery of piety is great”. 1 Timothy 3:16. It is God revealed. You are in public relation with God. God is not ashamed of you. How could one speak about God save as one knows Him? Gideon knew Him! Paul knew Him! “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”. Philippians 4:19. He knew God, and that is his altar. Now the next thing is that Gideon is told to go and take his father’s bullock, the second one of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal. Now he is going to be tested as to how much moral influence he has, and so he is to take his father’s bullock, but the result showed that he had weight with his father, for his father Joash made no complaint. He had moral weight with him. What he does commends itself to others; he carries others with him. It was a serious thing he had done — to throw down his father’s altar, because he was really interfering with his father’s rights. But that has to be done. You have to do violence to natural things — to natural rights; so that now the question is whether you have got moral power to carry others with you in what you are doing. The secret of power was that God was with Gideon. “Take the young bullock, which thy father hath, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the 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, and take the second bullock and offer up a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that thou shalt cut down”. Judges 6:25,26. The bullock belonged to his father Joash, but even though it did he had to leave that. It says, “Cut down the Asherah that is by it and build an altar to Jehovah thy God and offer up the second bullock”. Judges 6:25. It was a ^[p. 146] serious undertaking to interfere with his father’s rights, but it was essential if he was going to be a leader.

AP You suggest that there would be no moral power apart from this line of action.

JT Well, one has to get right in one’s own family first. It was a matter of locality, and of relationships in which Gideon stood; and it is them where one has to bear testimony; the testimony has to go out from there. If God is with you there will be moral power. Gideon was acting under divine direction and God was with him, so the altar was thrown down. Then it says the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out thy son that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it”. And Joash said unto them, “Will ye plead for Baal? Will ye save him? He that will plead for him let him be put to death while it is yet morning; if he be a god let him plead for himself”, Judges 6:30,31. So that you see Gideon had his father with him now. One wants to be sure of God being with one, for, if so, you are sure to carry with you all those with whom God has worked; you will carry them all with you. The bullock belonged to Joash, the altar belonged to Joash, the whole place belonged to Joash, but God was with his son. Gideon was interfering with the natural rights of his father, but instead of his father’s resentment he has his father’s support. You may say, ‘What am I to do, they are all against me?’ Well, this is what to do, see to it that God is with you. If God is working with them they will not be against you, if God is with you opposition must give way.

FJF What you do will commend itself. You will lead others.

JT We would say this is hardly the line Gideon would have followed naturally. He would have felt it unrighteous to take his father’s bullock, but if it is ^[p. 147] a question of God we must lay aside all natural feelings. What you find is that the father is carried with him.

WAS Would you say he had power not only with God, but with man?

JT Well, that it what comes out.

FJF He had to use the light first of all in his own household.

JT Yes, he did, and it brings out the moral power that is developed in Gideon; he could carry his father with him, in spite of his father’s rights being interfered with. We must not be afraid to trample on natural things, if they stand in the way of the will of God, because if they do they are being used by the devil against God. Natural relationships and all these things must be trampled upon, if they stand in the way of the will of God. If we are for God we shall carry others.

WA Would you say the situation has a moral bearing? The power of Gideon really relieved the situation.

JT Such a man was needed. I think that Gideon may be taken to represent the full idea of judgeship. He is the only one who has such power, so in this way he is a leader. “Look on me and do likewise”, he says, “it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do”. And then his brethren were like him; even the king of Midian said, “As thou art so were they” Judges 8:18; so that he stands out as a type of Christ in a striking manner. The brethren were all like him, “each one resembled the sons of a king”. Judges 8:18. The truth of the matter is that he had a good mother. Although she is not mentioned in this chapter at all she is mentioned in chapter 8. Gideon speaks of his brethren as “the sons of my mother”. Judges 8:19. The secret lay in that he had a good mother.

JFJ Divine rights must be upheld at all costs.

JT That was the first line of attack; idolatry was in the father’s house, and that stood in the way of the Will of God. Satan had a footing there.

AP You said he must have had a good mother. Would you give that a moral application?

JT Yes. I think it would refer to a brother — to any one brought up in the true light of the assembly.

AP He apparently did not get any moral help from his father, he being an idolater.

JT The help evidently came from the mother. The angel represents God, but the history of Gideon must have lain in the training of his mother, because the others were like him, and were as the sons of a king. He identified himself with them, because he says, “Sons of my mother”. Judges 8:19. They had the same training. Hence the importance of young believers coming under the influence of the assembly in their young days; they get formed by it. They learn how to be subject. They thus become like Christ.

RS The wheat being threshed in the winepress would involve suffering in securing food for the people of God, would it not?

JT Yes, quite — the winepress suggests that.

WAS Would you say something about the second bullock?

JT That would remind Gideon that the Lord had passed by somebody else in order to take him up. It is not on the line of nature; it is on the line of sovereignty. And the fact that it was a bullock of seven years showed that Gideon was not a novice, he was to be a mature man. A bullock seven years old is not a calf. So that we need to be mature in the service of God for leadership.

JF He would be on the priestly line then in offering the bullock.

JT Well, I think he would be developed. He would be matured in the service of God; the thought would be the apprehension of Christ the full idea, the divine idea of manhood. The bullock would be a ^[p. 149] large offering, and one seven years old is not only large but a developed one; it is mature.

WAS Gideon had a history with God before this.

JT I am sure that is so. God took account of what was there. “Thou mighty man of valour”. Judges 6:12. In the seventh chapter you see Gideon is in accord with his offering. He made sure of victory first, and then he says, “Look on me”.

Rem He was not distressed because he had to be reduced in numbers.

JT He was equal to it. What comes out is that he has faith in God. He took God at His word. God may see fit to reduce us outwardly, but we must have confidence in Him. The point was victory. Gideon becomes a remarkable type of Christ as leader. So the earthen pitcher is broken; the pitcher broken signifies the acceptance of the death of Christ, and that is what we all have to come to. If we are leaders according to God, the pitcher has to be broken. We give up all thought of holding ourselves together as after the flesh. The pitcher must be broken. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us”. 2 Corinthians 4:7. The pitcher must be broken at the fountain; we must accept death.

Ques Would Philippians 2 come in here?

JT I think 2 Corinthians 4 has direct reference to this. The sounding of the trumpets preceded the breaking of the pitchers, but the latter is when one comes to accept death. Paul says, “We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead”. 2 Corinthians 1:9. If one is to be prepared for the breaking of the vessel, which is the last thing one will do on the line of nature, you have to be on the line of faith; it is only thus that you are prepared for it, for Jesus has led that way. “Ye have not yet”, the apostle says to the Hebrews, “resisted unto blood, striving against sin” Hebrews 12:4;

^[p. 150] others had done it, the Lord had done it. He was the author and finisher of faith, and endured the cross, despising the shame; He did not despise the cross as the judgment of God. He despised the shame attached to it; the cross had to be endured. That is the idea, I think, in the breaking of the pitcher. You come to the last extremity before we have the sentence of death in ourselves, to trust in God who raiseth the dead.

FJF Men have laid down their necks for the name of the Lord Jesus.

JT Yes, and the primary thought here is that Israel has to be delivered from the scourge, and thus Gideon is undertaking all this for the brethren — for Israel.

AP Whenever Gideon saw the least movement of the enemy he prepared. He did not wait until they actually burst upon him.

JT Gideon asks for signs and God gives them to him. He directs him to go down into the camp of the Midianites and he hears a dream being told. A cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, smites it and lays it all on the ground. It was Christ; barley bread is Christ apprehended in the exercise of the soul. It was a cake of barley bread, not a sheaf. It is Christ apprehended as going through the fire. That is the cake.

AP It is not corn either, it is barley.

JT Yes, it is barley, it is Christ as the first-fruits. It says much for Gideon; he had an apprehension of Christ.

FJF Would it be the early apprehension of Christ? Barley harvest came before the wheat harvest.

JT I think it is the apprehension of Him as the first-fruits. He is first. The first-born from among the dead; the first-born of all creation too; Colossians 1:15,18.

^[p. 151] Rem I was thinking of Naomi and Ruth; they came back at the beginning of the barley harvest and attended right through the wheat harvest.

JT The barley sheaf is Christ as the first-fruits. The harvest had to be cut down and then they had to bring a wave-offering and present it before Jehovah. Barley is the first-fruits. It is Christ the first-fruits. It is a question of my apprehension of Him, but then what follows, and what is set forth in the barley cake, is that you have to pass through the fire. In Paul’s epistles Christ is presented in this way.

Rem Would the effect of that be the broken pitchers?

JT Well, I think the effect of that is that you break the pitcher, which would refer to yourself. The apostle Paul says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us”. 2 Corinthians 4:7. Then he speaks about “Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body”. 2 Corinthians 4:10. There would be a correspondence, I apprehend, in Paul’s body. If you had seen Paul’s body you would have seen a correspondence in it with the death of Christ, so that the life of Jesus would be seen there. So the thing is, “As I do, so shall ye do”. “Look on me, and do likewise”. Now what have we seen the Lord do? If I read the gospels aright, I see what He has done. It is a question of what I have seen Him do. You have to take the whole history to see what He has done. If He has laid down His life for us, we should lay down our lives for the brethren. That is what He has done. Have you seen what He has done? “Look on me, and do likewise”. “Looking stedfastly on Jesus” Hebrews 12:2 (that is the way it should read) not ‘unto Jesus’, but “on” Jesus. He is the model for us. He is the author and finisher of faith, that is “the leader and completer”. Hebrews 12:2. The word ‘on’ signifies the truth of ^[p. 152] the thing. You do not lift your eyes from Him, you look stedfastly. “What you see me do”, you are to “do likewise”. He has laid down His life for the brethren, so we should all lay down our lives for the brethren; we have to go that length for them, if we are to be leaders. Gideon had his brethren before him. The point is the value of the brethren.

FJF But have we any status, anything to give up?

JT Well, your life is something, your body is something. You can lay down your life for them.

Ques What do you think it means by the cake tumbling into the host of Midian?

JT Well, I think it means that God does not go according to human methods. It was according to the will of God that the Lord should gain such a victory by dying. One is very impressed with the place that the brethren had with Gideon. So when the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, Why did you do this? Why did you not call us? we are sons of Joseph, we should be leaders. They spoke sharply to him, they spoke irritatingly to him, but he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison of you?” He yielded to them. He was right to come down. It was a question of the brethren. “What have I done in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abi-ezer?” He could Say that. Allow all the claims you can, if they are right and true. Then he said, “God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb, and Zeeb, and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that”. Now he has got the Ephraimites on his side.

Ques Is that a part of laying down the life?

JT Well, it is in keeping with it. He is ready to give up his reputation — whatever he had. He was a man of peace.

^[p. 153] Rem He had the spirit of Jesus Christ. He was not one of those who wanted the chief place in the meeting.

JT There are apostles, prophets, and teachers. It is God who “hath set certain in the assembly” 1 Corinthians 12:28. You can be restful, if God has set you in the assembly; you are set there, and if you have a gift, God has given it to you. You can afford to be little, therefore you can admit the claims of others, refusing to assert your own.

FJF It will not take anything away from what we ourselves have.

JT The second bullock really means that; God is sovereign; He has set certain in the assembly. He does it according to His own will, according to His own wisdom, and it cannot be set aside; what is there, is there.

Rem Why is Gideon’s name changed?

JT I think it would remind us of the notable event of his casting down the altar of Baal; it is mentioned again in the seventh chapter: “Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon”. Judges 7:1.

FM Is that why you called attention to the victory in his own house, in his father’s house?

JT I think that name would always be a reminder of that great victory in his father’s house.

Rem Jacob got a new name. So did Paul.

JT They did. Gideon is an excellent example for us in what follows. The men of Israel, his brethren, desired to make him king, but he refused to be an official leader. He refused that. He did not want to be anything except what God had made him. The men of Israel said, “Rule over us”, Judges 8:22 and his dynasty is guaranteed for three generations — a very tempting offer, but he says, “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you; Jehovah shall rule over you”. Judges 8:23. He is in keeping with the position, for Jehovah governed the position. “He shall rule over you”.

^[p. 154] He says it is not a time to reign. “Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ”, Matthew 23:10 and “all ye are brethren”. Matthew 23:8. Nobody should seek to be king.

FM In the next chapter we have a man wanting to be king. The bramble is the only offer, but a bramble is useless.

RS What God gives one He will be sure to support.

JT It is a question of the will of God. “That by me the preaching might be fully known”. 2 Timothy 4:17. God took up Paul, and he must preach; others sought to displace him. The Lord will not pass by a brother if he is true.

Rem What would the capture of Zebah and Zalmunna — the two kings of Midian — mean?

JT I suppose it would indicate the complete overthrow of the enemy. Satan is destroyed. Christ has annulled him that had the power of death, that is the devil, not only the power of demons. The Lord says, “I beheld Satan, as lightning fall from heaven”. Luke 10:18. Thus the head of the whole system goes down. It is well to see the completeness of the overthrow of Satan, for in the light of that we are really fighting a defeated foe. I think it is helpful, too, to see that as Gideon had gained the victory, he maintains peace. The order he set up was according to the light governing the period: “Jehovah shall rule over you”. Judges 8:23. A true leader will always maintain the divine principles intended to govern any given time.