READING 1
READING 1
WJH I suggested this scripture as calculated to stimulate what must be in some hearts in this city at the present time — the necessity of being available to the Lord, so that God’s people do not suffer from oppression, but that the work of God may go on. Gideon’s experience shows what the Lord can do with one man, and a young man, if He finds conditions with him that He can recognise. The sense of weakness and timidity, and the necessity of being sure of one’s ground, do not prevent the Lord using one. Evidently Gideon was timid like Timothy in the New Testament, but the Lord would bear with much to help forward one on whom He has His eye. I feel there would be one or more going through certain exercises in view of supplying what is needed here, through the loss of those whom the Lord has seen fit to take. Gideon’s early history shows conditions serviceable to the Lord.
FC God’s valuation of Gideon and of what he was doing, and Gideon’s own estimate of what he was doing, are two different things.
WJH They stand in striking contrast.
WK To what are you referring particularly as to Gideon himself?
WJH The angel speaks to him as to a mighty man of valour, but Gideon has no such conception of himself; he has a very deep sense of his own littleness, and of the feebleness of the day he is in, and of his household, and of his part in matters,
but he was doing something greatly valued by heaven.
Rem He was threshing wheat by the wine-press.
WJH Yes, he felt urgently the necessity for providing food, and however small in himself, he would give himself to the great service of securing and protecting food for God’s people.
FC It was very important at that particular moment, on account of what the Midianites and the Amalekites were doing — destroying food. Gideon, in doing this, was agreeable to heaven.
AH The people of Israel were greatly impoverished.
WJH Quite so, through the Midianites. There are other enemies in other parts of this book. God uses various servants — in some places a woman is used. Here it is the Midianites and their activities to impoverish God’s people. They represent the line of “trading” in divine things; “trading” in what is of God. That seems to be the particular feature of the Midianite from the outset — they buy Joseph, and they sell Joseph. Gideon stands in contrast to them; typically he feels the great loss sustained through that kind of thing, and he will do what he can to provide food and secure it as available to Israel.
AH Would you give a practical illustration of what it means today to sell the truth?
WJH The apostle Paul said, even in his day, that he was not as the many who made a trade of the word of God. I do not know anything more humbling than to think that this came in so early. Midianitish trading in the word of God, is using it for selfish aggrandisement. It is this element we have to meet. If we are before the Lord, the Lord will help us, and use us individually to serve His people, provided that what is done is not done for ourselves or for our aggrandisement.
WK The word applies there, “Buy the truth and sell it not.”
WJH Quite so. That is a matter the young especially need to look in the face.
JTh It came in very early in the book of Acts; Ananias and Sapphira were on that line, and the apostle speaks of those who think that gain is godliness, 1 Timothy 6: 5.
WJH There were so many, like locusts for multitude. The apostle speaks of the many who were on Midianitish lines. Gideon learned to judge and hate that kind of thing.
JKJ He says later to the men of Succoth, “Give... loaves... to the people,” and when they would not give he said, I will thresh you. Is that the thought, to give loaves?
WJH Quite; he was not a Midianite. Ananias and Sapphira were Midianites in principle. Barnabas was not, he was a “giver.”
JKJ Paul also; he said, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.” He felt the necessity was laid on him, and he would provide for God’s people.
WJH One believes the Lord is undoubtedly beckoning to many young men in this city to move on such lines that will lead to their being available to feed and help His people. The first thing we need to face is not giving place to the Midianite — serving for our own glory, to secure some place for ourselves.
EJ Much service takes place in the wine-press.
WJH I am sure that pressure is needed to eliminate this element from our hearts.
WK If we judge the Midianitish principle in our own hearts we would be available for this service.
WJH Quite so.
FC What is the force of the children of Israel making for themselves dens in the mountains, and caves and strongholds? Does that answer in any way to the present position?
WJH It suggests that they could not go into the open. They had to be hidden, instead of being publicly in divine territory.
FC It would answer to the present moment. It would be futile to attempt to correct the Midianites in the open; the only thing that could be done was to retire into what is obscure. It is a day when much is being done in obscurity.
WJH Gideon learned the value of being hidden. What he gets he hides. He is not on the line of publicity. It is a very great matter — to begin any service for the Lord by judging the element of publicity.
JTh It is most interesting to note, in that connection, that our Lord Himself was for three years in public service and thirty years in obscurity.
WJH Some of us have been noticing recently how the feature of being hidden runs through Moses’ life, the great man of God. His parents hid him when he was born, and this feature goes through his life, until at the end God even hides his burying-place. If we are to be serviceable to God we must judge seeking publicity. Gideon was in keeping with that.
He was threshing wheat in the wine-press, and hiding the food.
GH We need to remember our reward is yet to come. I was thinking of Balaam with the Midianites. He loved the wages of unrighteousness.
WJH He wanted the reward now; present reward from Balak.
Ques Does not the Lord set that out in regard to the treasure hidden in the field? He bought the field, and having found the treasure, He hid it.
WJH Quite so. He went away and hid Himself, we read in one scripture. Though He could not be hidden, the line the Lord was on was not publicity. His brethren said to Him, “Show thyself,” but He hid Himself. The Lord would help us while young to accept this feature, for it is not a matter of showing ourselves if we are to be serviceable, but rather, out of love, providing something for God’s people.
GH Does not the principle of being hidden come out later in the chapter, when the children of the East come up against Israel in the valley of Jezreel (meaning “God sows”)? God sowing is the secret of what God is doing — what is hidden. The conflict stands related to that in our day.
WJH I am sure that is so.
AH The thought of the Corinthians reigning as kings was out of place.
WJH We find, in this chapter, the Amalekite and the Midianite are working together. Giving place to the element of trading will also bring in the activities of the flesh, and Satan using them; but, on the other hand, there is the providing of food for God’s people and hiding it.
Ques Are you suggesting that in the Midianite we get the thought of trading, and in the Amalekite what is destructive?
WJH Quite so. Amalek puts his hand on the throne of God.
Ques Do we not get the principle through Scripture that one has to be hidden, in secret with God? Gideon here was in secret with God, and later David. The people did not know he was there, but God knew. He addresses Gideon as a mighty man of valour.
WJH Quite. So the angel comes and sits under the oak, and he is watching. He is a heavenly messenger answering to the Lord, for sometimes you cannot be sure whether it is an angel or the Lord speaking. He sits watching this man. The Lord is watching for any who will be serviceable to Him.
Ques Does it not stand related to the hidden wisdom “predetermined before the ages for our glory?”
WJH Quite so. It is a great thing to get into our souls that we are in the day of what is being hidden according to God. The day of display is coming, it is near, but this is the day when God is hiding what he is doing. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.”
Rem The truth set out in Colossians, “your life is hid with Christ in God,” is in keeping with what we have in Gideon.
WJH So that a young man starts with the acceptance of being hidden.
JTh David had a secret history with God before he met with Goliath.
WJH That history was his strength. It enabled him to come out in public.
Rem His own brother did not know his secret history.
WJH So with the Lord — even John the baptist said, “I knew him not.” He comes out at the beginning of his ministry and says, “I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending... is he which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost.” Think how completely the Lord was hidden for those thirty years, that John the baptist says, “I knew him not.”
GH It is very striking that this food is not to be known publicly. Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine-press. It is made evident that food of this kind is not known in the public position of christendom.
WJH He hid it to secure it. They would seize anything that could be found, but Gideon hid it there so that it could not be found.
WK What is the thought as to wheat?
WJH It is food that brings in another character of man. The wheat refers to what Christ is according to God’s purpose, another character of manhood, that would be content to be hidden. Ever since the lust of the eye operated in the garden of Eden, when Eve saw and took, there is something in every human heart that seeks publicity; but Gideon suggests a character of man that does not seek publicity.
Rem So it corresponds with the present moment. Everything subsists in Christ Jesus, another kind of Man. In a day of weakness and brokenness this Man comes to light.
WJH So that we have this permanent position,
the angel of the Lord sitting under the oak. The oak and sitting suggest permanency. He is sitting there watching the life of this young man before He selects him. One thinks of the young men here whom the Lord would bring forward to stand in the ranks. The Lord is sitting watching their secret history.
Ques Is that calculated to impart stability, to see that the Lord is taking account of any who wish to take up the service?
WJH Quite, and the desire to be acceptable to Him. We labour, “whether present or absent to be acceptable to him.”
JKJ That is the great thought, to be pleasing to God: However little Gideon is doing he is pleasing God: he could not do much in a wine-press.
FC The state of things was not only that the crops that were seen were destroyed, but that there was neither sheep nor ox nor ass left, so that the position was a most abject one indeed.
WJH No food, no sacrifice, no service — that is what the Midianite brings about.
JTh It is very encouraging that, whatever the condition of things around us may be, the firm foundation of God stands, and God is faithful.
AH The Lord sat over against the treasury on one occasion to see what was going on, and He took account of it.
WJH Wherever you see the Lord sitting, it indicates a permanent position. Standing is not permanent. In each city where the saints are, the Lord is watching to select those who are serviceable to Him.
Rem Gideon did not appear at that time to be a mighty man of valour, but the angel of the Lord recognises it in him because of the position he had taken.
WJH Quite so; because of the love that actuated his movements, he would secure food for the people of God.
AH Terrible conditions existed in contrast to what was of God, and that such a person should appear in these conditions, in the presence of such evil, was valuable to heaven.
WJH So the angel of the Lord said, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.”
Ques Does that suggest the hidden motive of his heart?
WJH The Lord is looking for pure motives, for hearts who will judge the Midianite. He found it in Gideon, for Gideon could never fight the Midianite if he had not dealt with that principle in his own soul.
WK The Lord said to Gideon, “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel. ...” Do we see the spirit of service set out here? He accepted the low place in view of being taken up by the Lord for this great service.
WJH So that when the angel says, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour,” Gideon says, “if the Lord be with us.” That is a remarkable evidence of a man who has judged the Midianite. He is not going to make himself the centre of his service. He says, “if the Lord be with us.” If we are going to serve the Lord we want the “us” in our hearts, not “me.” That is, he makes the people of God the centre of the matter. When Gideon said that, the angel of the Lord looked on him (a most remarkable expression), as much as to indicate, Here is a man the Lord recognises.
Rem He was one the Lord could put His hand upon.
WJH The secret of any service is that we are conscious of being recognised by the Lord. The Lord looked on him. That is not a general matter as expressed in the word “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” This is the Lord recognising the man in a personal way.
Rem There were features on which God’s eye could rest with approval.
WJH Quite so. “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit.”
JC He took in all the people of God; his heart went out to them all.
WJH He did not have himself as the centre. The bane of Midianitish service is that self is enthroned. But Gideon says, “If the Lord be with US”
FC What follows is important. The Lord said He would save Israel — not a few. He had nothing less than Israel in His mind.
JM Gideon said, “wherewith shall I save Israel... I am the least in my father’s house.”
WJH I believe the Lord would help us to make room for this personal recognition as consciously known. It is the life-spring of true service.
Rem I was thinking of the “us” — that would show what was on the mind and heart of Gideon. He had the people of God before him.
WJH That, I believe, is what drew out that look. The Lord looked on a man who was delivered from himself as a centre. We do not know how much self becomes the centre of our activities unless we keep in touch with the Lord.
Rem Think of the holy and true devotedness to God in the One who came not to do His own will, but for God’s glory.
WJH It is the secret of continuity. What has marked true leaders who have spoken to us the word of God was that they had not themselves as the centre. Those dear brethren who have served faithfully to the end have had the Lord and His people as the centre, not themselves; and the Lord looked on them, and He is sitting under the oak looking for more.
GH Was not Gideon deeply concerned as to what had overtaken Israel, not only from the Midianite, but from God’s hand? The Lord had delivered them into the hand of the Midianite, and Gideon recognised that; and following that, the angel says, “Go in this thy might.”
WJH God brings us governmentally under certain influences that we have not judged. When we do not judge evil principles, God allows us to feel their power.
FC What follows is that He begins to rehearse what God had done.
WJH It is a great matter that we never forget what God has done. That keeps us humble, and stabilises faith. His mind goes right back to what God did in Egypt. He says, I want to see the same kind of thing now.
WK Does the value of the prophetic word come in here? It brings all that out, and would tend to humble us.
WJH It would bring out what God has done in the past, as well as what He will do in the future.
JTh In connection with those who have spoken to us the word of God, it says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” It is not only what He was in the past, and what He is in the future, but what He is now.
WJH Yes. Leaders have gone, but Jesus Christ has not gone. It says, “Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God... Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.”
JTh I was thinking of what the king said to Gehazi, Elisha’s servant. “Tell me... all the great things that Elisha hath done.” That was not going to help them. We want to know what the Lord is doing today.
WJH Yes, and this is one thing that the Lord is doing today; He is bringing forward those who are serviceable to Him.
FC It is encouraging to think that Gideon is of the tribe of Manasseh, and the least in his father’s house.
WJH A very valuable element; we need to be maintained constantly in a sense of our own littleness. You will find that those the Lord helps are preserved in a sense of their own littleness. It was when Saul got away from that that he was dismissed. So the Midianitish element that wants to be great was judged in Gideon.
WK Does it come out in the change of Saul’s name to Paul? We need to have our names changed. Paul said, “when I am weak, then am I strong.”
WJH Paul told the truth when he said that he was less than the least of saints. What he said was true; while we cannot understand it, yet he told the truth.
Rem It was no sentimental expression. It was what he really felt.
WJH It was what he felt, and this is what Gideon felt. The angel said he was a mighty man of valour, but Gideon did not say that.
JTh While, of course, when the truth was at stake, Paul was not a whit behind the greatest of the apostles.
WJH Though I be nothing, he said. And so Gideon, as delivered further from the Midianitish principle, proposes to bring an offering, and what he brings discloses what he had. What he had was acceptable — a kid of the goats, and fine flour, unleavened; and he put what he brought in a basket and in a pot.
JKJ Are you suggesting that if a young man has experience with God, he will have something to yield to God?
WJH Quite so. Any brother who has a little of what this means will be serviceable. It is so acceptable to God, that He tarries for it. Jehovah waited for it to be brought forward.
JTh Paul says, “every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue...” It was quite right that they brought these things, was it not?
WJH The Lord knows that if He is going to use anyone, that person must have something, he must not appear empty before Him. This is what Gideon had, and his instincts told him what would be suitable.
JC What would a kid of the goats represent today?
WJH That he had the early features of a separate walk. It is seen perfectly in Christ, of course. Let no one undertake to serve if he has not a kid of the goats.
Ques Is it an apprehension of Christ as applied to His walk — comely in His going?
WJH Yes, as separate from everything here that is dishonouring to God. A separate walk is needful if we are to be available for this service.
Rem The separate walk would secure the support of God.
WJH Yes, and we would be acceptable. What Gideon brought was acceptable, and he brought it in a vessel. No doubt the teaching of the New Testament would show that it was in himself. Paul makes much of the persons being vessels. It is not simply a theory or a doctrine, but something that is in the vessel.
Ques Is the idea of a vessel that you are formed by the truth?
WJH How much there is with us that is only in word instead of being in the vessel, in the person himself.
FC Would you enlarge on that a little?
WJH We all hold the truth of separation from what is unholy. It is a doctrine, a truth that is held tenaciously, but we want that separate position in persons livingly, not abstractly as doctrine, but in persons. And so as we behold the even purity in the life of Jesus, the Lord wants the same features in us as vessels. Gideon had these two great thoughts in vessels, and heaven accepts that.
JTh Is that what came out in Paul when he says, “thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life...”?
WJH The manner of life was the expression of the doctrine in the vessel. A serviceable person is one who has things in life in himself as a vessel.
The angel’s presence here is an appearing. It is not a matter of public worship; it is not what belongs to the tabernacle, but is a secret appearing of the Lord to Gideon; and the Lord is prepared to disclose Himself to each one of us, and that disclosure is the spring of our service; but He discloses Himself where conditions are according to Himself. Hence the angel was sitting under the oak watching.
Ques Does the disclosure give a name — Jehovah-shalom — would that set forth the impression he received?
WJH Many of us think that an appearing is confined to the death-bed, just as we are crossing the border. No doubt the Lord does disclose Himself to many of His saints when they are passing away, in a way we little understand; but He is prepared to manifest Himself to our hearts in a living way during our lives, and thus fit us to take our part in the service of God. One would urge that the young men do not dismiss this as a sentiment or theory, for where there are living conditions suitable to the eye that is watching, there will follow an appearing.
GH Do you not think that Israel’s condition in that day indicates that this service is relative to a corresponding state of things in our own day?
WJH No doubt the whole book is in accord with where we are, and it is encouraging to see what the Lord will do to help His people through one brother or sister — in the previous chapter it is Deborah; she said, “The villages ceased, ...until that I Deborah arose, a mother in Israel.” A sister who is overcoming can be a great help and a great blessing in this city to the people of God.
Ques Generally speaking, the saints were in a low spiritual state: should that not exercise us?
WJH Indeed the Midianites are everywhere. Publicly the whole profession of Christianity is in the power of the Midianite.
Rem Israel, feeling their impoverishment, cry to the Lord.
WJH And the Lord raised up judges for their deliverance. The Lord loves to do this mediately. He could do it Himself, but His way is to use others; and He is looking in every place for those He can use to help His people.
Ques Would you say that when Gideon builds the altar, he makes permanent the impression he received from God?
WJH That is so. And the next thing is that God instructs him to destroy idolatry in his father’s house: for, once there has been an appearing, the Lord will not allow idolatry in the heart. We do not realise how much there is of it. Every appearing will call for a fresh dealing with idols.
AH Will you make a practical application of that? We have the word, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
WJH Supposing some young man becomes conscious that the Lord has looked on him and spoken to him, that young man’s idea of business, of money, of pleasure, of many another thing, will be reviewed.
Many a thing he may have done until then with a good conscience; but when the Lord has disclosed Himself to his heart, then his Saturday afternoons become a different matter, money becomes a different matter. What follows the appearing is that Gideon is instructed to overthrow this altar to Baal; there are many Baals: there are various forms of idolatry in human hearts, but the divine intent is that we should recognise, in a worshipful spirit, that “to us there is but one God.”
FC What a triumph to see that the bullocks are taken. Evidently Gideon’s father was a worshipper of Baal. The second bullock was to be taken and burnt with the wood.
WJH The thing is judged completely, and yet the end shows that there is great timidity in Gideon. He did it at night, but the Lord does not reject him for it. Some of us feel so feeble and timid; but the Lord does not despise our timidity, as long as He sees truth in the inward parts.
FC He threw down the altar. It is very striking how he develops in power, fitting him for the final overthrow of the enemy.
WJH His anxiety that the Lord should be with him helped him at every point. He is very anxious to be sure that the Lord is with him; and the Lord is very gracious to assure him of it.
Ques Why is it the second bullock of the age of seven years? That is the time they were under the domination of Midian.
WJH I do not know; but the thought of the seven would perhaps have reference to the apprehension of Christ in that way, in His perfect devotedness to God. The seven years would suggest that.
JKJ It has been suggested that the sovereignty of God came in in the second. God will take up what is available.
WK We took up the subject of crossing of the hands last Lord’s Day — does that principle enter into the choice of the second?
WJH Yes, everything for God is connected with the second.
FC And it is a burnt offering.