“But as soon as Gid‘on was dead, the people of Isra’el again went astray after the ba‘alim and made Ba‘al-B’rit their god. They forgot Adonai their God, who had saved them from the power of all their enemies on every side; and they showed no kindness toward the family of Yeruba‘al, that is, Gid‘on, to repay them for all the good he had done for Isra’el.”-Judges 8:33-35
So Gideon ruled as a God-appointed and God-anointed Judge over Israel for a full 40 years.
His pattern of life was the usual way of a Judge.
He first delivered a portion of Israel and then ruled over them for the rest of his life until he died of old age.
What was also typical about Gideon’s rulership as a judge is that as soon as it ended, Israel quickly fell right back into idolatry.
The usual explanation of the cycle of a judge is that the people abandoned the Lord their God in spite of the many blessings they had received.
But with Gideon, the following explanation is also added:
“and they showed no kindness toward the family of Yeruba‘al”.
Yeruba’al means the “Ba’al Fighter”.
And the word “kindness” here is a translation of the word CHESED.
So it says “the people showed no CHESED toward the family of the Ba’al fighter”.
In this context, the idea being expressed here is that the people showed no covenant loyalty towards Gideon and his family.
CHESED is an important Hebrew word often used in the Scriptures, so let’s talk about it for a sec.
Similar to the word SHALOM, it encompasses many different meanings.
It refers to acts of kindness, mercy and charity all being performed out of faithfulness to both the Lord and allegiance to a person who deserves such allegiance.
We know that Gideon officially rejected the offer to become a king over the people.
Yet he still lived like a king and behaved like typical royalty in many ways.
Which means there must have been some kind of formal arrangement in place between him and the northern tribes of Israel he ruled over that when he passed away, an appointed member of his family would succeed him.
So at this point right here, Gideon’s rulership as a judge differs from all the judges who came before him.
Before Gideon, all of the judges were more like powerful civil officers as opposed to being absolute rulers.
So again, right here, we see the faint echoes of Israel warming to the idea of having a king rule over them emerging.
And actually, there were some folks in the northern territories who wanted to establish a king over Israel IMMEDIATELY.
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