JU8-11: You Can’t Choose To Be Both For And Against God’s Chosen People

“When Gid‘on the son of Yo’ash returned from the battle by way of the Heres Pass, he captured a young man from Sukkot and asked him about the chiefs and leaders of Sukkot; he wrote down for him the names of seventy-seven of them.  Then he came to the people of Sukkot and said: ‘You insulted me when you said, ‘You haven’t captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’ Well, here are Zevach and Tzalmuna!‘”-Judges 8:13-15

From verse 13 we discover why Gideon didn’t execute the 2 Midianite leaders Zevach and Tzalmuna.

He was going to use them to teach the people of Succoth and Penuel a lesson that they never ever should have doubted him.

Fast forward to the next verse, we’re told Gideon confronted the leaders of Sukkot and said to them…

‘You insulted me when you said, ‘You haven’t captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’ Well, here are Zevach and Tzalmuna!'”

Gideon then proceeded to carry out the revenge he promised when they declined to offer the expected hospitality, food and rest for his 300 men.

And keep in mind, what made the situation worse is that these were fellow Hebrews!

So as Gideon said he would, he took thorns and thistles and literally tore off the flesh from the bodies of the leaders of Succoth.

And that was just the beginning.

Gideon then moved on to Penuel.

When he arrived there he tore down their watchtower and put several of their leaders to death.

You may be wondering was this too extreme of a reaction on Gideon’s part?

The answer is a firm NO.

Gideon was an anointed servant of God, a man who was called by the Almighty to carry out a Holy War.

And not only that, these members of the 2 1/2 tribes of the Trans-Jordan had promised Moses 200 years earlier they would always stand with their brothers who led by Joshua entered the Promised Land.

So make no bones about it, their refusal to offer hospitality was a great sin against the Lord.

Heck, they should have been aware of the benefits to be had by eliminating a common enemy.

Instead they let fear get the better of them.

‘What if Gideon loses the battle?”

“What will the enemy do to us then?”

These were the dominating thoughts stirring around in their minds.

They just couldn’t comprehend how the Lord could give 300 men victory over the remaining 15,000 enemy soldiers.

And they were thinking this way EVEN AFTER Gideon had already defeated 135,000 enemy soldiers.

The people of Succoth and Penuel remained unfaithful from beginning to end.

Well, they would pay dearly for their unbelief.

The leaders of Succoth had to go through the agonizing pain of having their very flesh ripped off of their bodies.

And the leaders of Penuel lost not only their valuable watchtower but many of them lost their very lives.

So there’s a major takeaway here.

Gideon had given the people of Succoth and Penuel a choice.

They could either stand with Israel and the Lord.

Or stand with the enemy.

There was no other neutral option…especially when it came to spiritual matters the Torah is very clear on.

And here’s what else is the thing.

You and I have been presented with the very same choice Gideon presented to the people of Succoth and Penuel.

We can choose to either stand with God’s people and His anointed one…

…OR…

…choose to stand with the enemy.

We can’t choose to be both for and against God’s people and Israel…like all these ridiculous politicians try to do with their proposed peace treaties.

Gideon was the Lord’s earthly hand of wrath against those who chose to rebel against Him.

Just as Moses was to Pharaoh in his day.

And just as Yeshua is to us today.

When you choose to rebel against the Lord’s anointed one (which is literally the meaning of “Messiah” by the way), there are consequences to pay.

One other point before I close.

I remind you that it is the Torah that gives us the established divine principles by which we are to live out our lives by.

So understand that throughout the remainder of the Bible we’re going to see these Torah principles fleshed out and applied in a variety of situations.

And they’ll either play out in a negative fashion or a positive fashion.

What we’ve just seen happen to the leaders of Succoth and Penuel is what occurs when men violate the Torah.

God’s Word was sharp, active and alive back then and it’s just as sharp, active and alive today.

Alrighty, so the next time we meet, we’re going to see Gideon carry out some more vengeance.

But this time, not against his fellow Hebrew brothers (which was a sad situation indeed) but against the 2 Midianite leaders Zevach and Tzalmuna who he had captured.

Stay tuned.