Psalm 34 – I will teach you the fear of the LORD

Preamble: Firstly, this psalm is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Secondly, in the KJV translation, the preamble, “Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.” was not present. This preamble was inserted into the NKJV and also in this NIV translation. Such an insertion for a psalm was meant to provide the context or “type” of context for the psalm. However, the issue here was that it had introduced ambiguity due to the word, “Abimelech”.

Of David, there was a specific name, “Ahimelech” but not “Abimelech”. Ahimelech was the priest at Nob, the priest that David had approached when the latter was on the run from King Saul, after the 2nd time Jonathon had told on his father’s ill-intention, to David. This was recorded for us in 1 Sam 21:1-9. But in that passage there was no pretence of being insane. It is possibly not an inadvertent mistake made in the spelling of the word, where “b” should have been “h”, as thought by some.

Who then is Abimelech in David’s time? In that same chapter of 1 Sam 21, in verses 10-14, we read that, from on that day, the day David left the temple at Nob, he went to Gath, in the territory of the Philistines. In 1 Sam 21:13, we read that David pretended to be insane, and in verse 14, he managed to get away from the Philistine king at Gath, on the account of that faked insanity. But the Philistine king name was not Abimelech but Achish. Because there were 2 other Philistine kings being referred to as “Abimelech”, it is believed that perhaps, “Abimelech” was also used the same way as “Pharaoh” was used to refer to Egyptian kings, and so, it is possible that “Abimelech” was referring to Achish, and not Ahimelech, the priest at Nob.

In any case, it was all pointed to that season of David’s life, and that is the purpose of this insertion.]

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I may have inserted a section on "Points to take note/What we have learnt/can learn".



Psalm 34

Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left. [Please see comments in the preamble.]

1 I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together. [Regardless, whether it was before Ahimelech, the priest at Nob or before Achish, king of Gath, the situation for David at this season of his life was that he was on the run from King Saul who had wanted to kill him, despite his great service as the chief commander of the king, and that he was steadfastly loyal to the king. This was after the 2nd time king Saul’s son, Jonathan, had helped David to find out the evil intention of Saul, and David had to flee, and with this flight, he would be a fugitive of the King.

Yet, here, we read that David declared that he would extol the LORD at all times; he would praise the LORD always. His soul would (still) boast in the LORD. Let all the afflicted hear and rejoice, said David. David called for his hearers to join him to glorify the LORD, to exalt His name together.]
4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame. [Recounting the past faithfulness of the LORD towards him, he said he sought the LORD, and He answered him; God delivered him from all his (past) fears.

Then he declared that those who look to God are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. David had experienced such, and continued to believe such, and he declared such.]
6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. [I believe verse 6 was referring to David himself. He called himself as “this poor man”. This is not an inferiority complex manifesting itself; rather it was an honest understanding of one’s state before the omnipotent God. In men’s terms, David was hardly a poor man; he was a mighty warrior, “Saul (also a warrior with great physique) slain his thousands, but David, his tens of thousands”; and David was highly respected by many (many great men followed him, despite him having lost his rank in the army of the king, and was on the run {a fugitive of the King}); and he was loved by many; and the house of his father, Jesse, was of some means. David said he called, and the LORD heard him; and He saved him out of all his (past) troubles.

David declared that the angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them. David called for hearers to come to experience the Omnipotent God – come, and taste, and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. David always sought refuge in the LORD, and in no others, or in no other thing. This had always been David’s attitude, and we can read of such in other psalms of his. For example, in Ps 62:1-2, we read of the same:

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

David then summed up the state of one who lives in the fear of the LORD – those who fear the LORD lack nothing (v9). Verse 10 must be read together with v9, and it is not quite appropriate for people to quote v10, to imply those who seek the LORD, per se, will lack nothing. It is those who seek the LORD in the fear of Him that will lack nothing.

Lions were used here with connotation to mean that no matter how majestic and powerful men might be (even to the extent that they might be like the lions), they still could grow weak and hungry, in other words, have times of needs; but for those who fear the LORD, not that they will not have such needs, but when they seek the LORD, their lack will disappear; but not necessarily so, for those whose dependence is not on the LORD.]
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems his servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him. [Having elaborated on what was so good about being fearing the LORD, in the next part of this psalm, David said (v11), “I will teach you the fear of the LORD”.


Let’s recap what is so good about living in the fear of the LORD:

1. When you call to the LORD, He answers you (v6).

2. The angel of the LORD encamps around you, and delivers you (v7).

3. You will be able to taste and see the goodness of the LORD (i.e. be blessed of the LORD) as you refuge in the LORD (v8). You will see many good days (v12).

4. Resting on the above, that is how the LORD delivers you from your (own) fear (v4).

5. And when your fear is no more {delivered by the LORD as you have sought Him in the fear of Him}, your face will be radiant, and not covered with shame (v5) {when you are fearful, your face is not radiant; it is only when you are confident, and that confidence is in the LORD, that your face will be radiant}.

6. Your confidence in the LORD is not misplaced, and over time, you will be like David, able to glorify the LORD, and exalt his name (v3), able to boast in the LORD (v2), and extol Him at all times, and have the praises of Him always on your lips.

7. To sum it all, you will lack no good thing when you seek Him in the fear of Him (vv 9 & 10).


This is David’s teaching on the fear of the LORD:

1. Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies (v13). You will see many good days {don’t you love that kind of life?}(v12).

2. Turn from evil and do good (v14a).

3. Seek peace, and pursue it (v14b). The peace here should be interpreted in the context of the verse of turning from evil and doing good. So, here is an example of “peace” as not being an “airy, fairy” thing which one cannot grasp or do not know how to obtain it. When one does a bad thing or an evil thing, there is always the uneasiness, a “disturbness” in him. Over time, the accumulation of such, will cause one to lose peace, and so, an easy way to look at peace is to look at the opposites - uneasiness, “disturbness”, fear, guilt, shame, etc. The opposite of righteousness is unrighteousness or evil or wickedness. And so, one has to stay on the righteous side, pursue righteousness, and that means that one has to turn from evil, avoid evil, and avoid doing bad; do good, instead.

4. God is holy and righteous. The foundation of his throne comprised righteousness and justice (Ps 89:14a). This means that God, by His very nature is opposed to non-holiness, unrighteousness, evil, wickedness, and injustice. Holiness, righteousness, and justice have affinity with God, and such will draw out God’s love and faithfulness. Holiness, righteous, and justice is first, and come next, is the love and faithfulness of God. Love and faithfulness go before Him (Ps 89:14b).

5. It is no wonder David declared that the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cry (v15); the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, and even to cut them off {if one remains stubbornly wicked, I believe he faces the risk of being counted or reckoned with Satan, and may suffer the same destiny as Satan} (v16).

6. When the righteous cry out, the LORD not only hears; He delivers them from all their troubles (v17).

7. It is entirely possible that righteous ones can have their hearts broken, and their spirit crushed. Verse 18 should be read together with the verse preceding it and that after it. In fact, what v17 was also saying was that righteous people do have troubles! If they were without troubles just because they were righteous, then there was no need of God’s hearing and delivering of them from their troubles. By the same reasoning, righteous people do get hurt (be brokenhearted), and their spirits do get crushed by insensitive and cruel people. But David declared that the LORD is close to the righteous who are brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit {and Holy Spirit can quicken (and re-quicken) the spirit of men}.

8. There we have it – a righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all (v19). God protects him (v20). Here, the choice use of “his bones”, in my interpretation, was meant not only to say that God provides physical protection to the righteous ones, it also meant to say that the LORD enables the righteous to stand, for “his bones” or “his frame” was symbolic of that which holds us up.

9. Ultimately, this will be apparent:

(a) Evil (meaning here, the principalities of darkness) will slay (even if, indirectly) the wicked men {or those who remain stubbornly wicked}; the enemies of the righteous will be condemned (v21). In the end, those judged wicked (opposite of righteous ones), they will be condemned (to Hell). What this meant is that if one does not live in the fear of the LORD, he is prone to be ensnared to wickedness, and if he remains stubbornly so, evil will be the cause of his destruction.

(b) The LORD redeems His servants {His righteous} (v22). Contextually, therefore, what it meant was that only the righteous are the servants of God. In fact, Scripture had it that unless one is righteous, all his works are like filthy rags. It is important to understand that it is not suddenly, David mentioned another group of people; no, David was referring to the righteous as servants of God, and what that also implied was that righteous ones of God do not contribute nothing, do not do nothing, of no fruit acceptable to the LORD – righteous ones bear fruits, and so, are the servants of the LORD. And so, contextually, it is also not anyone who takes refuge in Him, will not be condemned, but it is anyone who is live in fear of LORD who takes refuge in Him, who will not be condemned.

10. To sum it all up, to live in the fear of the LORD, is to embrace 1 Pet 1:16 (or Lev 19:2) – For it is written, “Be holy because I am holy.” Our God is a holy God; that is Him. So, be holy, be righteous, be just.

Lastly, since it is an acrostic poem, I have attempted a re-cast of it; making it acrostic to the English alphabets, all 26 alphabets:


Psalm 34 {recast – acrostic to English alphabets, by Anthony Chia}

(A)t all times, I will extol the LORD.
(B)e on my lips, His praise will always be.
(C)ome whatever may, my soul will boast in the LORD, and so, let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
(D)o as I do, glorify the LORD, and exalt His name with me.
(E)ncumbered by fear, but when I sought the LORD, He answered me and delivered me from it.
(F)aces with radiance, and not shame, will be had, for those who look to Him.
(G)reat company of angels encamp around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.
(H)urry, taste and see that the LORD is good, for blessed, is the man who takes refuge in Him.
(I) declare, “Those who fear Him lack nothing. So, fear the LORD, you saints.”
(J)oyfully I say, “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
(K)ingdom people, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
(L)onging for many good days in your life, then keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies.
(M)ake it a point to turn from evil;
(N)either should you ignore doing good.
(O)mit not the seeking of peace;
(P)ersist in it.
(Q)uick to go for righteousness, for the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.
(R)est assured that the face of the LORD is against those who do evil;
(S)urely, He will cut off the memory of them from the earth.
(T)he righteous ones cry out, and the LORD hears them;
(U)ntil He delivers them from all their troubles will He ceases to act.
(V)erily, the LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
(W)hen a righteous man is troubled, and he may have many troubles, the LORD delivers him from it, each time;
(X)-ray will show none is broken, for He protects all his bones.
(Y)es, evil will slay the wicked, and the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
(Z)ealously, on the other hand, the LORD redeems His servants with none condemned, of those who take refuge in Him.]


Anthony Chia – Do not just say, “Those who seek the LORD will lack no good thing”, but rather say, “Those who seek the LORD in the fear of Him will lack no good thing” or “The righteous will lack no good thing”, for Ps 37:25 says: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”

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Judges series - Judges 8

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I have inserted a section on "Points to take note".
{For full listing of all articles in this series, click here}

Judges 8
[This chapter is the last of the 3 on Gideon. Indeed, Gideon was a major judge; 3 chapters were devoted to him, Judge Deborah had only 2 (only Judge Samson whom we will cover in the future, has more chapters devoted to him). In this chapter, we will read of the capturing of the 2 last kings (“the 2 Zs”, I called them), and the punishments of the 2 cities which refused to aid the Lord, finally a brief about Gideon’s life, including the creation of the Gideon’s Ephod, and his having a son called Abimelech, by a Shechem woman.]

Zebah and Zalmunna {2 remaining Midian Kings}
1 Now the Ephraimites 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. 2 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? 3 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. [There is a little background to the Ephraimites’ remarks. Like I said in the last commentary in Judges 7, a little knowledge of the 12 tribes of Israel helps in understanding of some of the Bible stories. At the start, Manasseh and Ephraim are the 2 sons born to Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Israel (aka Jacob). Customarily, the firstborn will carry the family line down the generations; there are great privileges and rights to the firstborn families. What happened was, when it was time to bless Joseph’s children, Israel (Joseph’s father, and therefore the paternal grandfather of the 2 kids) placed his right hand on the Ephraim, and left on Manasseh (in the words of my daughter, Audrey, the crossing of hands), although Manasseh was the firstborn, and should have had Israel’s right hand on him. What resulted was that Ephraim was put ahead of Manasseh, and to cut the story short, the matter was resolved with 2 tribes being established in the house of Joseph. So, the tribes of Israel often got quoted with Ephraim and Manasseh in them. It is almost like there were 13 tribes because Ephraim and Manasseh were often quoted, and quoted separately.

Because Gideon was from the weakest clan in the Manasseh tribe, and in Judges 6:35, we read that he sent messengers out to some of the tribes of Israel but did not include the Ephraimites, and now there was victory, the Ephraimites were not happy. Gideon had God’s wisdom, and he answered them saying firstly, the Ephraimites had better privileges and rights (though they did not come from the firstborn, descendants of Manasseh were of the firstborn line), the mere gleanings of the Ephraimites were better than the full harvest of the Gideon’s clan, Abiezer; secondly, the Ephraimites got to slay the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. Gideon did subsequently sent messengers to Ephraim to come and kill the Midianites (Judges 7:24). Basically, Gideon was saying to the Ephraimites, “You got the better end of the stick”. He made peace - no wonder God made him the Judge.]
4 Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. 5 He said to the men of Succoth, "Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian." 6 But the officials of Succoth said, "Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?" 7 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." 8 From there he went up to Peniel and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Succoth had. 9 So he said to the men of Peniel, "When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower." [There will always be people who will not aid the cause of God. We read of this also in Judge Deborah’s exploit, where she, together with Barak led the Israelites to fight at the Kishon River, and there was a village called Meroz whose inhabitants refused to help. The Lord cursed the village (Judges 5:23). Here we read of the peoples of two separate cities refusing to provide bread for Gideon’s 300 men troop, when the latter were pursuing the remaining 2 kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna. Earlier on, in Judges 6, I suggested people like Abraham, Moses and Gideon have the favor of God. Indeed if you study a little more of their lives, you will know that they had the favor of God. I really hope I can grow in favor with God. Do you know why? It is because people with God’s favor will be able to do great exploits for God. If you want to read a little more about this favor and doing exploits for God, you can read the 3rd section of my article – Reserve glory and worship for God, practise honor, and grow in favor with God. I believe that the words of people with God’s favor can be powerful; God is likely to bring their words to pass, if they are not inconsistent with His ways. Gideon declared that he would come back to them, men of Succoth and Peniel, and teach them a lesson. That would surely come to pass.] 10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. 11 Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and fell upon the unsuspecting army. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army. [Gideon finally managed to route the entire enemy army; even with reduced numbers, still it was 300 men versed 15,000. The 2 Midian kings were captured.] 13 Gideon son of Joash then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres. 14 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. 15 Then Gideon came and said to the men of Succoth, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, 'Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?' " 16 He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Succoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers. 17 He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town. [This is the record of Gideon’s declarations against Succoth and Peniel coming to pass. Don’t play, play with people with God’s favor, God is on their side. You can read of other examples of this from my separate article – Don’t play, play, the words from the mouths of favored men of God can be powerful]
18 Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?" "Men like you," they answered, "each one with the bearing of a prince." 19 Gideon replied, "Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the LORD lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you." 20 Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, "Kill them!" But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid. 21 Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Come, do it yourself. 'As is the man, so is his strength.' "So Gideon stepped forward and killed them, and took the ornaments off their camels' necks. [I was wondering what these verses about the killings at Mount Tabor were about. Perhaps, Gideon was referring to the atrocities of Midianites against the Israelites in the seven years after Judge Deborah and before God’s appointment of Gideon, recorded for us in Judges 6:1. It was possible. Deborah, together with Barak fought Jabin in the area of Mount Tabor, in the valley below the mount and at the bank of the Kishon River. With victory, it was likely that the Israelites occupied and lived on those lands around Mount Tabor. In fact, in Judges 6:2-6, the Israelites were so oppressed by the Midianites that the Israelites had to run up the mountain and live in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. I believe although many Israelites were killed, many of the Israelites were left alive for oppressions (including perpetually being robbed of the fruits of their labor, crops and livestock – free food for the Midianites); maybe the nobles and the royalties were mostly brought before the kings of the Midianites, to be dealt with. They ended up being killed. To avenge the deaths, Gideon decided that the 2 kings must die. Maybe Gideon thought of giving the honor to his firstborn, but the boy was too young and was afraid to kill; it ended up Gideon himself did the honor.]

Gideon's Ephod
22 The Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian." 23 But Gideon told them, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you." 24 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 Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.) 25 They answered, "We'll be glad to give them." So they spread out a garment, and each man threw a ring from his plunder onto it. 26 The weight of the gold rings he asked for 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' necks. [The Israelites wanted to make Gideon King over the Israelites but Gideon declined. Instead he asked that he be given an earring from each man from the share of the spoil of war. At first I was stumped by the sentence in the bracket in verse 24. On checking I learnt that the Midianites and Ishmaelites are the same (Gen37:25, 28), the descendants of Ishmael, the son Abraham had with Hagar, the Egyptian maidservant. Wearing gold earrings was the custom of Ishmaelites, and so that accounted for the great number of earrings collected as war spoils.] 27 Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. [What a pity! What a pity! To me it was a pity, unless some references can be found to support that the worshipping was after Gideon’s time, I really have to take this verse plainly and say that it was a pity, Gideon did not end well. Such worship was and is an abomination to God.]

Gideon's Death
28 Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years. [Israelites enjoyed 40 years of peace while Judge Gideon was alive] 29 Jerub-Baal son of Joash went back home to live. 30 He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. 31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech. 32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. [Gideon lived a long life, had 70 sons and many wives. Specifically recorded here is a concubine in Shechem who bored him a son, called Abimelech. Gideon died and was buried with his father, Joash in their hometown of Ophrah] 33 No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and 34 did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 35 They also failed to show kindness to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for them. [History repeated itself, again after the death of a judge, the Israelites went back to the worship of pagan gods, and forgot about the Lord who rescued them from the hands of all their enemies. They also forgot what Gideon had done for them, and did not show kindness to the family of Gideon. The first bit, I can understand easily. Why the 2nd bit got recorded for us? Maybe the Lord would like us to not forget to be kind to the families of the servants of God after the servants had passed on. Many servants of God gave of themselves, even at the sacrifices of their loved ones, whom they then left behind when they (the servants) passed on. Shouldn’t we be kind to those they left behind?]


Points to take note/learnt:

1. Love peace, and be gracious as the Lord has been to you
Many of us have a mindset of being very hard up for things, wealth, status, and even power and authority. Worse still, some of us are having this mindset despite already having and are being blessed with much by the grace of God. The relentless pursuit of these things, without the blessing of God inadvertently leads to strive, and peace taking a back seat, and enmity will arise, or made worse. We saw that Gideon was not like that, but we will read later in Chapter 12 (you do not need to turn it now, as I will cover it in due course) that another judge raised by God, called Jephthah, although also from the Manasseh tribe, just like Gideon, was not like Gideon in this respect.

Very clearly God had raised Gideon, from the weakest clan in the Manasseh tribe, and the least in his family, above all; yet we saw how he dealt with the sensitive issue between the sub-tribes of the house of Joseph. Gideon was a man of war (we are all men of war; the Apostle Paul said we are all soldiers of Christ) and at the same time he was a peace-maker, and loved peace (blessed is the one who is a peace-maker). God is love yet God has to discipline and punish. God is peace yet God has to war. God is a giver yet God has to take away, too, at times. God knows when to do what, because God is Wisdom. For us, to juggle such ironies in life (sorry, we cannot avoid them all), we need the wisdom of God. We are being told, in life, to get into the company of the “wise”, learn from them, tap on their “brains”, etc, yet that is not good enough, and it can never be enough (the wisdom of men are just plain foolishness in the eyes of God), we need to get into the company of God, learn of His ways, and tap on the wisdom of God to correctly juggle such ironies.

Gideon was not hard up at all; he just concentrated on doing the things that God wanted him to do. I believe he knew what mattered was how God looked at him. In the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul talked about serving, and he put it in this way: Serve righteously, and serve in the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit, in that way, our service will be pleasing to God, and our service will also gain the approval of men. Such had been the attitude of Gideon, and we read that at the end of the war when finally the entire Midan enemy had been subdued, the people still wanted Gideon, and his descendants, to be their king, despite the fact that the war was over, and his letting the Ephraimites taking some of the choicest credits. Jephthah, whom we will read about in chapter 12, was different; he demanded that the people promised him leadership even before going to battle for the people -such a contrast.

You do not need to shine all the time before men, let others shine too, and you will shine even brighter before the Lord.

2. Can one sit on the fence? Apparently not
We read here that apparently one cannot sit on the fence, and not choose side. Indeed the line dividing the kingdom of God and the domain of darkness can be a thin one. God is spirit, and Satan is spirit. God has powers and Satan has too (but much lesser, in reality, but is still a force to content with for the mortal men). There are “realities” on both sides of the fence, yet many of them, on Satan’s side are fakes. For example, there is real authority on one side but no real authority on the other, Satan’s side, over the children of God. Satan has no authority over us (Christians), the children of God, unless we choose to submit to his make-believe authority. I believe the real authority of Satan over the lives of the children of God had been effectively cancelled by Jesus’ victory on the cross.

Men need to choose side; he cannot sit on the fence. In fact, more correctly, in this matter, a man is never sitting on the fence. By The Fall of Man, unregenerate man is on Satan’s side. The only choice for man is either he remains on the side of Satan or he crosses over the line or the fence into God’s side. Jesus Himself said that those not with Him is against Him (Matt 12:30a, Luke 11:23a). What is even more startling to know is what He said, for the second part, that those who do not gather with Him, scatter. The KJV version used the phrase, “scattereth abroad”. Scattering has the meaning of “to separate and disperse. The KJV gives the connotation of being far away, from God.

If you are not on God’s side you are on Satan’s side; Harsh, it might seem, but that is the reality, although I believe in most cases, if not all, God does provide a chance for one to choose. When it is the time to choose, when one does not choose, one is actually not sitting on the fence; he has made a decision, and that decision is that he has opted to ratify his existing position of being on Satan’s side (As a side issue, those on God’s side, if you turn your back on God, you are a mutiny, you can be given over, and the enemy knows it, and you can be devoured, left, right, and centre, so to speak. Stay steadfast, please.).

In this Book of Judges, there are 3 examples of men or cities not taking side with God. In Judges 5:23, we saw how the place, Meroz, was cursed for her refusal to help the Lord who was fighting the enemy.

Here, we have the elders of Succoth not willing to feed the fighting men of God; also, the case of the men at Peniel. Gideon prophesied or declared judgments over these 2 cities, and God honored the declarations, and the punishments went ahead. These examples did not show that the parties went against God, but only that they were not with the Lord (just like Jesus said it in the New Testament), and they would not gather with the Lord.

Was the Lord being cruel? No, you must understand that in those days, for all the 3 cities or peoples involved in them, the God of the Israelites was clearly “known” to them; they heard of the mighty exploits and the works of the Lord all around them, yet they chose to reject the Lord. You can see for yourselves what Gideon and his 300 men were asking for, only bread, not anything that the people were not able to provide for them, yet they chose not to do so. I believe, although some of us, because of the remoteness of the events from us (and lack of detailed facts), cannot fully comprehend, but it must have been very clear in the hearts and minds of the peoples in those two towns that they were deciding not to be siding with God, the God of Israel.

Accept it, we all have to make choices; do not blame Adam and Eve for they had to make a choice when confronted by the Serpent (remember, not making a decision is still a choice made), they made their choice which affected you and I, but we have to make a choice of either staying in the condemned state or be set free from the curse of death, and cross over the fence to God’s side.

3. Don’t play, play, the words from the mouths of favored men of God can be powerful
For the exposition of this, please read my separate article – Don’t play, play, words from the mouths of favored men of God can be powerful. For those not reading the separate article, it suffices for me to say here that the declarations or prophetic words of favored men of God can very well be honored by God, and be made to come to pass, just like what had happened to Succoth and Peniel, here.

4. Any form of idol worship is abominable to God
Gideon made a golden ephod with the gold melted down from the gold earrings from the spoil of war. This ephod was placed in his hometown and was being worshipped by the Israelites; and this was recorded for us as a snare to Gideon and his family.

This is not an isolated case, and I believe if we are not careful, we, men, tend to do these things – instead of worshipping God, we end up worshipping or giving the due reverence to a thing (making it an idol) rather than the Giver, who is God Himself. Another example of this is the bronze snake or serpent Moses erected for the Israelites, under the instruction of God, but later became an idol, the worship of which (and it was worshipped, the Israelites burned incense to it) became an abomination to God (Numbers 21:9 & 2 Kings 18:4).

5. Always be on your guard (be watchful) so that you may finish well
Few men of God, recorded for us in the Bible, finished well. Moses finished with one thing against him (you can read of this in Why Moses did not enter the Promised Land), King Solomon strayed away from God with grave consequence to the kingdom of Israel (In 1 Kings 11:4-6 & 11-14, we read that as Solomon grew old, he was turned by his many wives to other gods, incurring the wraths of God, so much so, that God decided to tear away the kingdom from him, but for the sake of King David, Solomon’s father, who did finish well (you can tell, even from the reading of these verses concerning Solomon), deferred the tearing away until the reign of Solomon’s son; leaving only one tribe intact, again, for the sake of David, the man after God’s heart), John the Baptist, which in recent days, was being preached about as being doubtful of Jesus’ identity (sending messengers to question Jesus) when at the beginning of his ministry he was so emphatic that Jesus was the true Messiah, the shoe laces of whom he was not worthy even to tie, or that it was not in proper order that he should baptize Jesus; or even Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 Disciples of Jesus who ended up betraying Jesus, and hanging himself from a tree. Although how and when Paul, the God appointed Apostle of Jesus Christ, died, are not fully verified, it is generally accepted that Paul (and the Apostle Peter) died in persecution, or at least in general persecution, during the reign of Roman emperor Nero. I believe although Paul did not start well (he was an ardent persecutor of the Christians and the Christian faith until he was supernaturally blinded by the Lord on the road to Damascus), he finished well. He had repeatedly called believers to be watchful, to keep our eyes focused on the finishing line, and to press on, and to run the race in such a way as to finish the race, wining the prizes. His motto for us is to run to win the prize God has in mind for each one of us, in Heaven.

Moses obviously cannot be blamed for the bronze snake or serpent being worshipped by the Israelites, but Gideon, it looked to me, could not absolved from blame unless it can be proved that such worship was started only after his passing on.

6. Again, without a judge, after the death of Gideon, the Israelites went back to pagan worship
History repeated itself for the Israelites in this area - a consistent failure on the part of the Israelites over the judges period. Look at ourselves honestly, is there an area in our lives, we consistently fail the Lord?

7. Be kind to the family of the servants of God
Despite Gideon’s failing, of installing the golden ephod in his hometown leading to people worshipping the ephod, God still have it recorded here that the Israelites ought to have been kind to the family of Gideon after he passed on. To me, there is a point that the Lord wants to put through, that we should be kind to the family of the late servants of God. This, I am encouraged that in my church I saw at least 2 examples of kindness being extended by the church to the spouses and children of a pastor and a missionary who died.



Anthony Chia – This concludes my exposition of the 3 chapters in the Bible on the major Judge, Gideon. Lord, there is much to learn from Gideon’s life; help me to learn them well so that I may please you, always.

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