Judges 7-8: On the Complicated Story of Israel’s Knock-Off Priest-King Getting Toppled by a Sneeze (Bible Talk, Ep. 75)

The lesson of Judges 7 is not that Gideon is an amazing general, but that the Lord is their warrior. The lesson of Judges 8 is that the Lord topples proud men with a sneeze. Alex chats with Jim and Sam about these surprising chapters.

SHOW NOTES

1:34 / What’s Judges’ repetitive cycle?

3:31 / Gideon’s army of 300 corresponds to other stories in Scripture.

5:15 / How did Gideon rise to power?

6:22 / Why and how is Gideon’s army of 32,000 winnowed down to 300?

8:50 / What happens after Gideon’s army shrinks?

12:38 / What’s Gideon’s military strategy?

13:42 / How does Judges 7 end?

17:26 / What do we learn from Judges 8? What should we think of Gideon’s ongoing violence?

24:31 / How is Gideon like Yertle the Turtle?

30:45 / How does Gideon return to idolatry?

37:16 / Given the end of Gideon’s story, what should we think about him?

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