With the overt connection that we see between Gideon and Moses, especially in the area of their calling, and in conjunction with the situation of their people in exile and under the oppression of foreign subjugators, there is little reason to belabor the point. Gideon is a deliverer in the mold of Moses, God’s people are groaning and crying out to the Lord because they are in exile, and an exodus is very much needed. Through Gideon, God will bring about deliverance, and in the process He will move forward His schematic of cosmic salvation, which He is effecting through His chosen people, always doing so through a specific deliverer.
Before leaving Gideon however, there is one portion of his story that, without making a connection between he and Moses in the larger framework of exile and exodus, is easily overlooked. That portion is Gideon’s tearing down of the Baal and the Asherah. This too is very much in the mold of Moses, as when Moses went to Egypt, the miracles and the plagues that were brought about at his request were very much a challenge to Egypt’s gods. Two prominent gods were the sun and the Nile. Turning the water of the Nile into blood, together with the plague of darkness throughout Egypt, was at least partially designed to show forth the powerlessness of Egypt’s gods in the face of the God of Israel. We see this reflected in the story of Gideon, as after Gideon pulls down the altar of Baal and the Asherah pole, the men of the city desired to execute Gideon. Gideon’s father interceded on behalf of his son and said to those men, “Must you fight Baal’s battles? Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning. If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! After all, it was his altar that was pulled down” (Judges 6:31). Just as the sun and the Nile were powerless to change what was happening to them because of the might of Israel’s God, so too was Baal. In fact, Baal was brought down by a man, so the clear connotation is that he could not possibly be a god.
We will not traverse the well-known and popular story of Gideon’s victory, as it will suffice to say that Midian was defeated, and therefore exile was ended. God’s people were once again exodus-ed into His purposes for them. However, it is clear from the Biblical presentation that Baal worship continued in Israel up to and after the time of Gideon’s death, and that it was probably owing to this fact that confusion and chaos reigned for a time following Gideon’s departure from the scene. In spite of this, however, we do not see Israel re-subjugated into a state of exile. After a period of time, order and stability is restored to Israel, and we are quickly introduced to judges by the names of Tola and Jair, with the indication being that they have served God and His people well.
Following the death of Jair however, “The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship Him” (10:6). For this reason, “The Lord was furious with Israel and turned them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites” (10:7). God’s message is “You want to serve their gods, then you will serve the people of those gods as well. Exile is once again upon the Lord’s people and the Philistines and Ammonites “ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites…Israel suffered greatly” (10:8a,9b). With the mention of great suffering, we are again reminded of the whole of the story of the Egyptian exodus. As we would expect, “The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord” (10:10a). They said, “We have sinned against You” (10:10b). In response, the Lord reminds Israel of all of His deliverances, beginning with Egypt. This time, something different is added, in that the Lord says, “I will not deliver you again. Go and cry for help to the gods you have chosen! Let them deliver you from trouble!” (10:13b-14) God is done with this people. Eventually though, after actively throwing away the foreign gods that they owned (10:16), Israel enters into right worship, acknowledging the power and primacy of their God, and we read that “Finally the Lord grew tired of seeing Israel suffer so much” (10:16b).
With this, we revert back to the standard cycle of exile and exodus that is the prism through which we can view the people of God from the time of Abraham, at the time of the judges, through the time of Christ, and right through until this day. Remember, we are attempting to answer the question as to whether or not God is truly faithful, doing so in relation to the words of the prophet Jeremiah. In the thirtieth chapter of Jeremiah, the prophet is making bold proclamations in regards to God’s people and their return from exile into their land of ancestral promise. Or is he? Through Jeremiah, God speaks about His people and says, “I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. I will deliver you from captivity. Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them. But they will be subject to the Lord their God and to the Davidic ruler whom I will raise up as king over them… For I will rescue you and your descendants from a faraway land where you are captives. The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace. They will be secure and no one will terrify them. For I, the Lord, affirm that I will be with you and will rescue you. I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you” (30:8-9,10b-11a). When it comes to national Israel, this promise has never been completely fulfilled, so these promises must be offered in the context of a completely different exile and a completely different exodus than that which was experienced by Judah through Babylon. Though it appears to be so, we know that God simply cannot be unfaithful to His promises, so this appearance of unfaithfulness is a mystery that demands to be solved. Our next step in understanding this mystery takes us into the curiously mysterious story of a man Jephthah.
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