Judges 8:13-23 – Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by
the ascent of Heres. And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned
him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth,
seventy-seven men. And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold
Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of
Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men
who are exhausted?’” And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of
the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. And
he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. Then he said
to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?” They
answered, “As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a
king.” And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As
the Lord lives, if you
had saved them alive, I would not kill you.” So he said to Jether his
firstborn, “Rise and kill them!” But the young man did not draw his sword, for
he was afraid, because he was still a young man. Then Zebah and Zalmunna
said, “Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.”
And Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent
ornaments that were on the necks of their camels. Then the men of Israel said
to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have
saved us from the hand of Midian.” Gideon said to them, “I will not rule
over you, and my son will not rule over you; theLord will rule over you.”
Numbers
11:19-20 – You
shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty
days, but a whole month, until it comes out at
your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him,
saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
1 Samuel 12:12 – And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your
God was your king.
1 Samuel 8:7 – And the Lord said
to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
Application:
- · Gideon, like Samuel, rejected the establishment of a monarchy because he regarded it as a replacement of the Lord’s rule.
- · The principal issue for the Israelites in the wilderness was a failure to demonstrate proper gratitude to the Lord, who was in their midst and who was their constant source of good.
- · The Israelite desire for and trust in a human leader constituted a rejection of the kingship of the Lord and betrayed a loss of confidence in his care, in spite of His faithfulness during the time of the exodus, conquest and judges.
- · In requesting a king like all the other nations Israel broke the covenant, rejected the Lord who was their King and forgot His constant provision for their protection in the past.
All Scripture verses taken from ESV
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