Gideon and 300 guys that drink water like dogs

In the period of the judges, we often see God being very deliberate in proving Himself faithful and powerful to the Hebrews.  The pattern in the period of the Judges tended to be as follows: the Israelites sin and turn to gods other that Yahweh, God allows the Israelites to be besieged and oppressed by their neighbors, the Israelites would cry out to God and He would send a judge to deliver them, then they would sin again.  Because of this, God often finds ways to intentionally show His power and sufficiency to the Israelites.

One such example comes in Judges 7.  Jerubbaal (Gideon) and his troops were preparing to fight against the Midianites, but the Lord had other plans for the group.  In verse 2 he says this to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give the MIdianites into their hand.  Israel would only take credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’”  So the Lord has Gideon dwindle down the troops and allow those who were fearful to return home.  After this, 22,000 of the troops returned home, leaving 10,000 remaining with Gideon.  But God said that this was still too many troops for the task, and he told Gideon to lead the troops to the water, and all those who cupped water in their hands to drink could go home, but those who lapped up the water like a dog should stay.  This left Gideon with 300 troops remaining; this is what God desired for battling the Midianites. 

In the end, the Lord gave these 300 men the strength to defeat the entire company of the Midianites.  The Lord’s interest in this whole situation was to show Himself strong to the Israelites, to make them understand that is only through His hand that they might be delivered.  It seems ridiculous that God would need to do such a thing for the Israelites to put their trust in God, yet over and over again in the period of the judges they would sin and turn away from the rule of Yahweh.  Ultimately they would completely reject God when they ask to have a king like all of their neighbors in 1 Samuel.  This lack of understanding on the part of the Israelites extends all the way back to the wanderings in the desert in which they continually forgot about God’s faithfulness in delivering them from Egypt.  The same concept applies here, although God continually delivers the Israelites from trouble through the judges, the Israelites continue to sin and forget God.

As I have found myself asking often this semester when reading the opening books Scripture, how often do I, like the Israelites, forget God’s power and faithfulness and wander away from Him?  And what can we do as individuals and as the church to avoid these same mistakes that are repeated over and over by the Israelites?  I suppose these are questions that the church must tackle and resolve as a community with a prayerful and humble spirit.