We Can’t Control The Future

By faith, Gideon had delivered Israel from the Midianite forces, and led Israel for forty years.  When he died, they immediately turned away from God, according to Judges 8:33-35.  “And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.  And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side: Neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had showed unto Israel.”

 

One thing we have to remember is that God allows each person to make up their own mind what they want to do.  While our example and teachings may contribute to their choice, we cannot take responsibility for the choices they make.  It was not Gideon’s fault the people turned away from God, even though his making the ephod may have played a small part. 

 

Gideon had refused to become king because God was supposed to be their king, and the people were responsible for their own actions, as described in Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25.  “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”  One of Gideon’s sons decided he wanted to be king, and assumed his half-brothers felt the same way.  He conspired with his uncles and cousins from his mother’s side to kill his half-brothers and seize the throne according to Judges 9:1-6.  “And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother's brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.

 

And his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother.  And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him.  And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.  And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.”

 

Gideon had served God, but Absalom rejected the things his father stood for, selfishly murdering his own brothers to obtain power.  Three years later, God began to judge the people who had supported Abimelech, in Judges 9:22-25.  “When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech: That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren.  And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech.”

Shechem rebelled against Abimelech, and he attacked them, killing the very people who had made him king.  The survivors fled into the fort in Shechem, believing they could defend it.  Abimelech piled wood around the fort and set it on fire, killing about a thousand of the inhabitants, according to Judges 9:45-49.  “And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.  And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith.

 

And it was told Abimelech, that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.  And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said unto the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.  And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.”

 

Having successfully quashed the rebellion among his relatives in Shechem, Abimelech attempted the same thing against the village of Thebez, in Judges 9:50-53.  “Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.  But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut it to them, and gat them up to the top of the tower.  And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.   And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull.”

 

Suffering from a severe concussion, and fearing he would die, Abimelech was afraid people would think he was weak because a woman killed him, and had one of his soldiers kill him to preserve his pride, in Judges 9:54-55.  “Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.  And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place.”

 

Gideon had trusted God to protect Israel, and even though he died and his children were killed, God was still working as we see in Judges 9:56-57.  “Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren: And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.”  We can trust God to do what is right, even after our death.  We don’t have to worry about the future or about what others will do.