What Happens After “Happily Ever After?”

What Happens After “Happily Ever After?”

Once upon a time there was a youth group in a small beach town in the O.C.  They were your typical youth group, came to church at least once a week, if not twice, were ready to lend a hand where necessary, and loved to worship and learn about God.  Like most youth groups, they left every week refueled and ready to live the life God planned for them.  And most would say they lived happily ever after…unless you met them on a Monday or a Thursday morning.  When they were no longer with the group, decisions got hard, sometimes they made mistakes.  Much like Gideon.

I have a friend who serves in the Navy.  He has traveled the world, seen man at his best and his worst, and has learned about different cultures in a way most people only dream about.  The last time I talked with him he commented on American girls’ Disney Princess Complex.  American girls grow up focusing on the knight in shinning armor and getting married.  Having attended and planned over 100 weddings, I can tell you first hand most girls care about the wedding more than the marriage. 

We grow up on fairy tales of true love, the battle to find it and keep it.  But the stories always end at the wedding.  No one talks about what happens to Snow White and Prince Charming after the apple?  Or what about Sleeping Beauty and Prince Philip?  The blending of two kingdoms is seldom an easy matter, much less knowing that the girl you picked spent most of her life in a forest talking to animals.  But that is our culture.  We like the happy endings; we like knowing our heroes are heroes.  We glorify them and place then on pedestals, people from Obama to Tee Bo, we don’t care what happens after the wedding or big game.  Much like what we learn in Sunday School about Gideon. 

Where we left off, Gideon was on a high having just defeated the Midianites with only 300 men.  Great Sunday School lesson – Gideon’s not the hero, the hero is God.  But the story doesn’t end…Gideon has more to teach us.  We forget that because of the next 35 verses, we call Gideon the Flawed Judge. 

So what happens?  Turn with me to Judges 8:1.

“Now the Ephramites asked Gideon, “Why have you treated us like this?  Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?”  And they criticized him sharply.”

(The Ephramites wanted in on the pillaged goods from the battle, according to most commentaries). 

But he answered them, “What have I accomplished compared to you?  Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim’s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer?  God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands.  What was I able to do compared to you?  At this, their resentment against him subsided.”

(So bullet dodged.  He was able to appease the Ephramites and give the glory to God…sound like a Flawed Judge to you?  Nope.  Let’s continue.)

“Gideon and his 300 men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to Jordan and crossed it.  He said to the men of Succoth, “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pusuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

(Notice the change from God is pursuing to I am pursuing.)

“But the officials of Succoth said, “Do you already have the hands of Zebahg and Zalmunna in your possession?  Why should we give bread to your troops?”

(Pretty much, you guys are not as powerful as you think you are, and we are not going to help because you don’t threaten us.)

“Then Gideon replied, “Just for that, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”

“From there he went to Peniel and made the same request of then, but they answered as the men of Succoth had.  So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”

(He then goes and captures the two kings.)

13 “Gideon son of Joash then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres.  He caught a young man of Succoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy seven officials of Succoth, the elders of the town.  Then Gideon came and said to the men of Succoth, “Here are Zebah and Zulmanna, about whom you taunted me by saying, ‘Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zulmanna in your possession?  Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’”  He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Succoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers.  He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.” 

Here we see Gideon relying on himself to capture the men, but more importantly, we see him angry and vengeful toward the peoples of Succoth and Peniel.  He tortures the people of Succoth with desert thorns and briers…ouch. Ever see a tumble weed?  You know they collect small animals?  Ever touch one?  I don’t know how you could torture with them, but I am not one who wants to find out, either. 

He tore down the tower of Peniel.  That doesn’t sound too bad.  But when you think about it, the tower probably held a symbolic meaning to the people, much like the Statue of Liberty, the Eifel Tower, the Pyramids, or the Great Wall of China all hold special places in the hearts of the their respective people.  Could you imagine if someone pulled down the Statue of Liberty because we were not gracious hosts to their ambassadors?  Or maybe Buckingham Palace is torn down because the King of Denmark was not invited to the Kate and William’s wedding. 

So, we can begin to see that there is a change in Gideon.  He is become more self reliant and less God reliant.  He is working through his own power more and less letting God work through his own power.  Let’s continue in verse 22:

“The ISrealites said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us – you, your son and your grandson – because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.”

“But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you.  The Lord will rule over you.” 

(So Gideon shows he has good theology, that he believes God to be the ultimate authority…does this sound like a flawed judge?)

Continuing, “And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder” (It was the custom of the Ishmailites to wear gold earrings.)

“They answered, ‘We’ll be glad to give them.” So they spread out a garment, and each man threw a weight of the gold rings onto it.  The weight of the gold came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ neck. 

“Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Orphah, his town.  All Isreal prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.” 

The people prostituted themselves in worship.  Wow!  Harsh words.  What were they worshiping?  What is an ephod?  I had no idea, so I looked it up. Turns out it is an apron used by the priest to reminded them God is always before them.  1700 sheckles weighs about 43 - 50 pounds.  I wear aprons when I cook, and there is no way I am putting one on that weights 50 pounds!  Some commentaries say that due to the weight, Gideon probably created a statue he clothed in an ephod.  Well, I was still a little confused as to what the point of the ephod was, so I called my mom the pastor and found out there really isn’t a modern equivalent to the ephod.  But that it was garment for the priest.  I Peter 2:5 and 9 says,

“You also are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…For you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

For those who believe we are all a kind of priest, the closest thing would be a WWJD bracelet or cross necklace we wear to remind ourselves we are always before God.  Sounds, at first glance, that maybe Gideon was on the right track, right?  That is until, you read that ALL Israel prostituted themselves in worship of this ephod. 

This does not sound like the happily ever after I had anticipated from chapter 7.  Gideon has become arrogant (going after the two kings because he wanted to, not because God told him to, at least according to most commentaries); he has become vengeful ( torturing the peoples of Succoth and Peniel), and worst of all he brought back the very thing he set out not to…idol worship.  Surely, he is a flawed judge. 

But this cautionary tale teaches us to constantly be aware of our weakness in sinful nature: it is when we forget we are flawed beings that we think we have the authority and power to bring judgment on people.  Much like Gideon did when he broght vengeance on Succoth and Peniel.  When we forget that we are sinful, we also open ourselves up to letting sin creep in and take control of our actions.

We learn good theology is not what makes us good Christians.  Gideon had good theology, which we see when he declines kingship, reminding the Isrealites that God will always rule.  But his actions of creating the ephod, and living like a king (he had many wives as a symbol of status, and 77 sons), lead the people back into idol worship.  His actions spoke louder than his words. 

We learn that happily ever after only happens when we return to God…we are not immune to the weakness of man.  And with that, the youth walked out of their Sunday lesson, a little smarter, a little more aware, and ready to live happily ever after…for now.  The end.