May 5, 2023
“Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.’ His mother’s relatives spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the lords of Shechem, and they were favorable...”
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“Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.’ His mother’s relatives spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the lords of Shechem, and they were favorable to Abimelech, for they said, ‘He is our brother.’ So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith. Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men with his money, and they followed him. He went to his father’s [Gideon’s] house in Ophrah and killed his 70 brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal [Gideon], on top of a large stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived because he hid himself.” Judges 9:2b-5 (HCSB)
Abimelech was the son Gideon fathered with his Shechemite concubine.
“Gideon had 70 sons, his own offspring, since he had many wives. His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.” Judges 8:30-31 (HCSB)
In a story that could have been torn straight from Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes, Gideon seemed to have gone a tad overboard with his fame and fortune. Upon reading Judges 7-9, it is clear that Gideon wanted to do the right thing, but at times he fell into the areas of sin, which are common to all men.
We’ll never know if it was Gideon’s humility or his fear that kept him from accepting the requests of Israel for him to be King. But in the end, Gideon’s compromise was that he chose to sire a child with a foreign woman. It’s not how you run the race. It’s whether you finish well.
Perhaps, the story of Gideon’s compromise is a strong reminder for us to be content with what the Lord has given us. We don’t need to court the World’s affections. As the hymnist once wrote, “All I have needed, Your hand hath provided. Great is THY faithfulness!”
Let’s not rest in past spiritual victories. Instead, ask the Lord to reveal those areas where we have compromised and supplemented the Lord’s provision with the World’s perversion.
The one area where Gideon compromised ended up destroying almost everything else that was legitimate.
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©Steve Wiggins 2021