Joel M Bradshaw

 56Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. 57And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.–Judges 9

First, what was the curse of Jotham? Go back to the Parable of the Trees.

 But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” (Judges 9:20)

The rest of chapter 9 unfolds all that drama. Even though the text didn’t tell us that God raised up Abimelech like he did Gideon and other judges, we are left to ponder what God had been doing. We are thus grateful for today’s highlighted verse above for it reveals that God was behind the scenes all along.

In the grand narrative in the book of Esther, we ponder the same question. Where is God? He’s not even mentioned, considered, prayed to, or sought after once. And we learn the basic principle of divine providence: God uses the ordinary events of human life and history to accomplish his purposes. Just because he is behind the scenes and not directly on stage it doesn’t mean he is absent or not at work.

God was unwinding two horrible legacies of Gideon. The first was apostasy.

 And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family… As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side. (Judges 8:27, 33-34)

The second was Gideon’s choice to sleep with a Canaanite woman which ultimately led to her giving birth to a man who would become a vengeful dictator, Abimelech.

Gideon’s story ultimately gives us two lessons. The first is theological.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith…(Hebrews 11:32-33a)

Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah showed not much faith at all. And yet, they get listed in the same sentence as Samuel and David. God uses whatever faith is there, no matter how small, to accomplish his purposes for his glory. Just like Jesus once fed thousands of people with a boy’s lunch that they found.

The second lesson is practical and personal. Gideon’s legacy reminds us of living to please God in the present for we never know how those choices will unfold in the future. God is the sovereign one and so we should live to give him glory right now. Gideon lived for himself and a season of disaster followed. All under the sovereign hand of the God behind the scenes. Strive to be faithful. Trust and obey. Trust God with your legacy.–JMB