In the passage today, we learn that not everyone will collaborate with
us in our conflict to advance the kingdom. There will be those that are fearful
of repercussion from the battle. They don’t want even to be seen to be
assisting us for fear of being implicated. They would rather stay neutral and
be uninvolved. That was exactly what happened to Gideon. Two times he was
denied assistance. Once at Succoth and the other at Penuel. Gideon and his 300
men were largely successful although they had come against a large allied force
of the Midianites. Verse 10 revealed that only 15,000 men of the enemy force
remained. Gideon and the Israelites had already killed 120,000 of them. Yet
they were in hot pursuit of two of the Midianite kings, namely Zebah and
Zalmunna. Somehow, they were able to elude Gideon and his 300 men who were hot
on the heels of these two fugitives.
Needless to say, Gideon and his men needed food to sustain them. As they
tracked down the Midianites, they came to the city of Succoth. Here Gideon
requested for provisions for his troops but the leaders of that city denied
their request. They were probably afraid of repercussion from the Midianites.
It would be palatable if they did not taunt Gideon. But what they did to Gideon
was sheer defiance and disgraceful. They taunted Gideon by a rhetorical
question - “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we
should give bread to your army?” The implication is this: if they had not
captured the two kings of the Midianites, what made them think that they
deserve any food? What downright display of arrogance! Since they had not, then
they did not deserve any provision. Though angered, Gideon did not deal with
the men of Succoth immediately. However, he warned them that he would deal with
them when they returned victoriously.
Gideon showed the characteristic of a good leader here. He was not
sidetracked from his primary objective, annihilating the Midianites. If he had
reacted and taken the time to deal with the men of Succoth, he would have
afforded the fleeing Midianites the opportunity to recuperate, recharge and be
more ready for the battle. To fight 15,000 men is still a lot to deal with. He
refused to be derailed in his main objective of getting rid of the Midianites
totally. This same thing happened to him again a second time in Penuel. And
Gideon’s response was similar. He refused to be affected by their refusal to
provide provisions. These two incidences teach us to take care of the big issue
before we get back to deal with the smaller one. We should not be distracted
from our pursuit of a major goal and waste time dealing with a less important
one. We can always get back to deal with it when the major job is done. Was
Gideon disappointed? Sure, he was. But he did not allow his disappointment to
take his eye off his main task. Instead, he took their refusal as a challenge
to forge ahead with his quest. What good would it be to make the people of
Succoth and Penuel pay for their refusal to help if, in the process of doing
it, he allowed the Midianites to escape? A great strategist will never go for a
petty disappointment at the expense of capturing the prize.
What a lesson to learn for our
spiritual advancement! Don’t allow the nitty-gritty, artificial-superficial
mundane needs of life distract us. Don't allow them to take our focus away from
the main objective of our spiritual journey. We must not rest on our laurels,
neither should we be involved in the petty. We keep our eyes riveted on Jesus,
and on the objective of attaining the goal that He had paid a great price to
secure for us. Let us press on to experience Him and the power of His
resurrection, and to become more like Christ! All other things are secondary.
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