Rivalry, Ridicule, and Revenge.
Judges 8.1-21
Rivalry…
John Wimber was a professional musician; he played keyboard for the Righteous Brothers, and when he first visited the Friends Church in Yorba Linda, California, he was so raw that he was looking for an ashtray to put out his cigarette. He was converted through a home Bible Study group and as a very young Christian became leader of the group and brought people to faith and into the Church. He quickly became a leader in his church which was experiencing rapid growth with lots of new, rough-round-the edges Christians. And one day, a woman came up to him after a service. Her lips were white with rage, as she said to him “You have ruined my Church.” Rivalry crops up in all sorts of places.
Remember the people of Israel were still trying to get properly settled in their “promised land” in the book of Judges. They were threatened by nomadic people like the Midianites from outside their own area, as well as the Philistines and others who were already in the land. And Ephraim was one of the strongest tribes: they had already become well established in their allocated territory. Ephraim was big and powerful.
So when Gideon did what he did with 300 men – chosen from the tribes of Manasseh, Zebulun and Naphtali (chapter 6 v 35) – Ephraim felt put out. They were further south and the threat was coming from the North. Gideon may have originally felt it wasn’t Ephraim’s battle or that an army that included men from Ephraim would be too big for him to command. In any case, he was led by the Spirit, and who the 300 were chosen from was kind of academic: God only wanted to use the 300. But you can see the scenario:
“You upstarts from Manasseh think you’re better than us in Ephraim who have been settled in our territory for years.”
“First you ignore us, then you come calling for help when it suits you.”
Don’t we sometimes hear echoes of that in our own lives, and even in the body of Christ:
“We’ve been running this Church for years and you come along telling us we’ve been doing it all wrong!”
Or “you walk straight in and take over” a particular job.
Or “you don’t consult us but you expect us to roll our sleeves up and help.”
It’s interesting that, whatever the rights and wrongs of what Gideon did earlier, and whatever the rights and wrongs of the Ephraimites’ complaint, Gideon went out of his way to heal the rivalry. Indeed rivalry wasn't in his heart at this point. He says , “Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim’s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer? God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?” He makes a great deal of what Ephraim has achieved and makes light of his own achievements and calms the situation down.
We can ill-afford to have rivalry and infighting in the body of Christ today. There is a spiritual battle, and a world God so loved, to be brought to faith. So, rivalry between Christians or between Churches, comparing baptisms or kids work or Alpha numbers or worship style is self-wounding.The whole idea of sheep-stealing carries an echo of a spirit of rivalry.
Mike Pilavachi, who leads the Soul Survivor youth movement, was on occasions criticised by other church leaders. He would sometimes jokingly say, “Bless ’em Lord… but not too much!” Rivalry makes us want God to be stingy with his blessings.
“For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh” (1 Cor 3:3) -- NOT "the world” (NIV). That is important. To deal with rivalry we need to get to the root of the problem which is inside us in our fallen human nature. It is our inner desire to be part of a group thatis better, stronger or smarter than others, that drives rivalry.
Ridicule or Mockery
So then Gideon goes off with his 300 men to chase the two Midianite leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna, and what is left of their army. As he does, he comes to two towns Succoth and Peniel. In both of them he asks for supplies and refreshment. In both he is turned away, and laughed at. “Farmer’s boy, you come here with your pathetic little army of 300. You still haven’t caught Zebah and Zalmunna have you? Get out of here and come back when you have actually achieved something.” The Message captures their sentiments: “You’re on a wild good chase!” “ A familiar ring? it’s so easy to turn to ridicule, to ignore what God is doing; to get all high and mighty about a work in progress. “Fools and bairns shouldnae see a job half done” as the proverb says. The Bible asks us "who will despise the day of small things.” (Zech 3.10) When Nehemiah was leading the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the enemies round about taunted them about the wall they had built: “if a fox climbed on it it would collapse” (Nehemiah 4. 3)
And sometimes the enemy – Satan – comes and says “look at the mess your life is in. You call yourself a Christian but you don’t know anything about the Bible, you don’t pray very much”. Or he says “Look at your church: it’s all old ladies; where are all the converts from your Alpha course?” I visited a little Church that meets in a hotel while I as on Sabbatical. Now I like the idea of a Church that meets in a hotel. It’s a public space; there’s a carpet on the floor, it’s warm, the tea and coffee is laid on, there are people around, so arguably they the Church are not hiding themselves away. But I felt that they were pretty much as out of touch as any other church. They had one kid there with his gran. I’s so easy to criticise..
Revenge
The story of Gideon starts to go downhill from here. But we can understand him. He has been through a tremendously stretching, challenging experience. He has actually grown tremendously from the timid farmer’s boy sifting wheat in a winepress instead of a threshing floor. He has been living on his adrenalin and he has bene listening to and following the Lord’s leading. He knows the job isn’t finished. He has to round up these two kings Zebah and Zalmunna… And they had killed some of his brothers. We all have our weak spots. We need to be kind to ourselves while allowing the Holy Spirit to refine us.
However, what we can understand, we don’t need to excuse. When we studied Judges 7. 15-25 a couple of weeks ago someone said the end of the chapter sounded like ISIS at work. There is a sense of vengefulness and harshness in the way Gideon does what he promised to Succoth and to Peniel. At least he didn’t make empty threats! But there was a sense of acting in a cold and somewhat callous way. And there is the same vengefulness in the way he finally dealt with Zebah and Zalmunna.
The violence that we find in the Old Testament is – or should be – something we struggle with. Despite the fact that on occasions God sanctioned it, violence is not a pattern for how we should live our lives or for how we should defend our Christian liberties. We are followers of Jesus, who told us to turn the other cheek. To give and not expect anything in return. To forgive those who sin against us. So if we are going to be followers of Jesus., and engaging in his mission, our passions need to be harnessed by the ways of the Kingdom.
So, yes, it’s right to be angry at injustice. It’s right to be angry when people throw their weight around, use their financial or political muscle. It’s right to be angry that Foodbanks are a necessity in this country. It’s right to be angry at sexual abuse such as was recently exposed in Telford; it’s right to be angry at robbery and rape, at terrorist bombings and apparent state-sponsored murders. But in the end, “vengeance is mine says the Lord” (Romans 12. 19)
Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until the present, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing"... "and eager men are forcing their way into it (JB Phillips).” (Mt 11. 12) A difficult verse – but one which I beleive, rightly translated is about the strength of the Kingdom and the strength and forcefulness of kingdom people. Compare Luke 16. 16: “the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it violently.” The kingdom has power that will change the world. And the kingdom belongs to there who are desperate to receive it. Who would go to any lengths. Who are prepared to give their all. What do we really, really want? Because the Kingdom, the present action of the Spirit, the gifts to reach the lost, are things we need to seek with all our hearts.
© Gilmour Lilly March 2018
