Contemplative Bible Reading

Judges 8:22-23 (New Living Translation)

²² Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Be our ruler! You and your son and your grandson will be our rulers, for you have rescued us from Midian.”

²³ But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you!

Gideon had just won a miraculous victory – the one where three hundred men with trumpets and torches and clay pots, you know, the Sunday School (hi)story. Anyways, with victory comes the cry, “You be our leader!”

Gideon tries to remind the people of the “miracle” in the phrase “miraculous victory.” The miracle was supernatural or, as many today like to say, spiritual. The LORD Jehovah (YHWH) made the miracle, made the victory. The LORD would rule the people, not Gideon and his descendants.

The people, always confused by these spiritual things, would cry again and again for a person to rule them. The LORD eventually granted them their request with predictable and predicted results.

Oh well, at least Gideon was able to postpone the inevitable.