Judges 8:1-17. \u00a0Most of Israel is on the west of the Jordan River. \u00a0But part of the tribes had settled on the east side of the river when they came to the land; specifically Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh. \u00a0Gideon was from tribe of Manasseh that lived on the west side of the Jordan. \u00a0The tribe of Ephraim also lived on the west side of the Jordan River just south of Manasseh’s territory. \u00a0The Midianites and their allies were from the desert region on the east side of the Jordan and south of Israel’s territory. \u00a0They had been camped in valley that runs east and west just north of Manasseh’s territory on the west side of the Jordan river. \u00a0When they retreated they would have gone east toward the Jordan and then south down the Jordan River valley toward the territory of Ephraim. \u00a0Eventually they would have to cross the Jordan and flee through the territory of either Gad or Reuben.<\/p>\n
In yesterday’s reading Gideon sent messages to the Ephraimites to come block the invaders retreat. \u00a0In mean time Gideon pursued some of the invaders down the Jordan River Valley. \u00a0The Ephraimites caught two of the kings of Midian whom they killed. \u00a0They then continued on to catch up with Gideon and his troops. \u00a0The Ephraimites were pretty mad that they had not been called to the battle sooner and Gideon ‘kisses up” to them by pointing out that they were the ones that had caught the two Midianite kings. \u00a0He uses a metaphor saying that the grapes left over in \u00a0Ephraim’s field after picking are better than the best wine in Manasseh. \u00a0At this point Gideon and his 300 men are on the west side of the Jordan. \u00a0They cross over near a river that feeds into the Jordan from the east, the Jabbok River. \u00a0The valley that the Jabbok follows leads out of Israel’s territory and was the route the remaining Midianites were taking to escape. \u00a0Evidently there were two more enemy kings to capture.<\/p>\n
Near where the two rivers meet was a town named Succoth. \u00a0It was an Israelite town. \u00a0By this time Gideon’s men are very tired and hungry. \u00a0Gideon asks the people of the town for food and is basically told, “We are not taking sides until the battle’s over.” \u00a0Interesting, the Ephraimites were mad for not being included and now these Israelites are wanting nothing to do with the fight. \u00a0Gideon continues the chase and comes to another town, Penuel. \u00a0Same request and same response. \u00a0Eventually Gideon catches up with the two kings and their troops. \u00a0At this point we are told that there are 15,000 left and that 120,000 enemy troops had already died. \u00a0The enemy troops run away afraid and Gideon captures their two kings. \u00a0He then returns to the two cities he had asked for help showing them the two captured kings. \u00a0At Penuel he destroys a tower and kills the men of the city. \u00a0At Succoth he brings out the city leaders and beats them. \u00a0Remember that these were all Israelites.<\/p>\n
Gideon is a long way away from the “loaf of bread” God used to cause the Midianites to fight among themselves and run. \u00a0He is also a long way away from the scared farmer beating out his grain in a wine press. \u00a0No more signs from God just fits of rage. \u00a0He has openly beaten his fellow Israelites and even killed some of them. \u00a0It is clear from this part of the story that the Israelites were not a unified people. \u00a0There were tribal jealousies and disrespect all around. \u00a0They were supposed to be one family, one people for God. \u00a0An example to the world. \u00a0Now in history there is a new family for God, the church. \u00a0We are supposed to be God’s light to the world (Matthew 5:13-16). \u00a0Are we happy to do our part or are we jealous of others? \u00a0Are we becoming political like Gideon seemed to be, \u00a0“kissing up” to some and pushing our<\/span> power on others? \u00a0Are we forgetting to stay in touch with our real leader? \u00a0Are we looking out for our own personal interests and not serving each other? \u00a0I hope not.<\/p>\n Lord help me be a good member of your family. \u00a0Help me stay in touch woth you. \u00a0Let me be happy to do the part you have for me. \u00a0Help me be spiritually productive rather than politically correct. \u00a0Thank you for making me a part of your kingdom and your family. \u00a0Let me live like it today and every day until you return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Judges 8:1-17. \u00a0Most of Israel is on the west of the Jordan River. \u00a0But part of the tribes had settled on the east side of the river when they came to the land; specifically Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh. \u00a0Gideon was from tribe of Manasseh that lived on the west side […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}