23. The Failure of Gideon

The Failure of Gideon

"Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you. And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels’ necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house." (Judges 8:22-27)

It is a very sad thing when a man of God goes astray. It is a terrible thing. This man of God who broke down the altar of Baal in his own home and who was used of God in such a marvellous way, was then led by the people to make an ephod "and all Israel went a whoring after it", it was a snare unto the children of Israel. This is very, very sad. It reminds us, dear brethren, that we need to be kept every inch of the way, right to the very end. There is not a moment when we can afford to lapse in vigilance. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). George Muller of Bistol, a wonderful man of faith, prayed right to the day he died, ’Lord, preserve me from being a wicked old man’. He knew the wickedness of the flesh, he knew what it was in his unconverted days to be led by Satan, and he did not want to return to that, so his continual prayer was that he might be kept. So the fact that we might have been successful at some moment in our lives for the Lord does not mean that we will be immune from temptation or failure, we need to be kept right to the end. I believe that sweet word of Peter is something we can lay hold of if we are humble and leave ourselves in the Lord’s hands "kept by the power of God" (1 Peter 1:5). How wonderful it is to look back over our lives and trace all the way the Lord has kept us, we certainly could not have kept ourselves. May these few remarks on the life of this man of God be an encouragement for us in our day, that we might go on, provide food for the saints, make sure we provide plenty for ourselves first and build up our own souls and so be a help to others, for His name’s sake.