Date: Wednesday 4th July, 2018.

Topic: A Vessel of Righteousness

Bible Reading: Judges 6: 24–40 (The Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.)

1. So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

2. That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

3. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”

4. So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

5. In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

6. They asked each other, “Who did this?” When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”

7. The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

8. But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.”

9. So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”

10. Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

11. Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.

12. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.

13. Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—

14. look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.”

15. And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

16. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.”

17. That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Word for Today: So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. – v. 24.

Inspiring Commentary:

God indeed can and does use anybody He chooses. God does not seek out those qualified according to human standards but He seeks to qualify those He has chosen. This is what God demonstrated and signaled in turning Gideon into a vessel of a courageous warrior and cleanser, to declare His holiness by first destroying the altar of idolatry in his own household. Building a new altar, which he named Yahweh–Shalom, demonstrated in v. 24, that a puzzled and unsettled Gideon has now not only finally found peace with God, but also in the nature of his assignment.

The Lord is Peace! The word “Shalom” in modern Israel is ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’. However, in the Bible, ‘peace’ or ‘shalom’ includes more than the absence of conflict or strife but well-being, blessing and harmony with God. Jesus as the Prince of peace in Isaiah 9:6, brings us into Peace with God and offers us the Shalom of God which is characterised by wholeness and total wellbeing. Thus, we see the Lord using Gideon as an agent of cleansing. Before long, Gideon tore down strongholds of the devilish altars within before being qualified to pull down the same altars without.

Prayer: Lord, make me an instrument of your righteousness whenever I confront the forces of evil.