Everyone considered him the coward of the county
He’d never stood one single time to prove the county wrong
His mama named him Tommy but folks just called him yellow
But something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong
Kenny Roger’s “Coward of the County” is a classic country song. The song tells the story of a young man named Tommy, who was ten years old when his daddy “dies in prison.” Tommy and his uncle (portrayed by Rogers in the role of narrator) come to see him for the last time, and Tommy’s father makes him promise to walk away from trouble and not to fight when provoked. This earns Tommy a reputation as the “Coward of the County” because he never stands up for himself.
Years later, Tommy is in love with a girl named Becky. One day, while he is out working, the three “Gatlin boys” attack Becky. When Tommy returns home and finds Becky hurt, he is forced to choose between upholding his promise to his father and avenging the crime that is committed against the love of his life.
The song ends with Tommy going to the local bar where the Gatlin boys hang out. At first, it appears that he will cower again as he turns toward the door after the Gatlin boys laugh at him. However, as he locks the door, a deathly silence comes across the barroom. “Twenty years of crawlin’ were bottled up inside him” and he let them have it all. When Tommy left the barroom, not a Gatlin boy was standing. Tommy then addresses his dead father, saying that while he did his best to avoid trouble, “Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man.”
Did you know that the Bible has its own version of the “Coward of the County.” His name is Gideon, the son of Joash, from the town of Ophrah, the coward of Manasseh county. He spent most of his early life living in fear, but God transforms him into a mighty warrior and uses him to deliver the Israelites from oppression.
The Cycle of Sin Continues (6:1-6)
Gideon’s story begins like the other judges of Israel, with the nation spinning through another cycle of sin. Deborah led Israel through 40 years of peace, but when she died, the people did evil in the eyes of the Lord again. So, God disciplined them by giving them into the hands of the Midianites for seven brutal years. The malicious Midianites forced the Israelites to abandon their homes and to literally “run for the hills.” The Israelites lived in caves, mountain clefts, and anything they could find to provide shelter. The Midianites were merciless when it came to raiding Israel’s crops. Like a swarm of locusts, they descended upon Israel during harvest season and devoured everything in sight. They stole as much food as they could and destroyed the rest. They slaughtered the livestock and left the land completely desolate. God used these seven years of misery to humble his people.
When I was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania, an old couple named Paul and Mary, lived across the street from me. Paul was a miserable old curmudgeon who didn’t like anyone or anything, except his large vegetable garden and his long blacktopped driveway. Every summer, he spent countless hours manicuring his garden and maintaining his driveway. He had the only blacktopped driveway in our area, but he wouldn’t let me or my friends ride our bicycles on it.
One August night when I was about 13 years old, six or seven of the neighborhood boys decided to camp out in the backyard. That night, we snuck into Paul’s garden, picked every vegetable, and smashed them on his beloved driveway. We whipped tomatoes and beans at each other; we threw the heads cabbage over our heads just to watch them shatter on the freshly sealed blacktop; and we gorged ourselves on his watermelons.
When I went home in the morning, I surveyed the damage from the safety of my front porch. Paul’s driveway looked like a giant tossed salad. I watched Paul dash from his front door to the edge of the driveway, and I saw a look of devastation on his face.
I’m not sure if God was using us as his instrument to humble Paul or not, but when I remember that look of horror in his eyes, I can understand how the Israelites felt about the Midianites! God still uses oppression and misery to humble his people today. Like the Israelites, he wants us to turn away from our sinful idols and return to him today!
An Incorrect Candidate (6:7-24)
After seven years of misery, the Israelites once again cried out to the Lord, and ironically, he raised up Gideon, the coward of the county. What an unlikely candidate! Gideon didn’t have the correct character or credentials to serve as judge of Israel. The text reveals four reasons why Gideon was the wrong choice. First, verses 11-12 reveal that he came from the wrong occupational background. He was a farmer—for he was found threshing wheat in a winepress. Now there is nothing inherently wrong or cowardly about farming, but we would expect someone with a military background to liberate Israel from oppression.
Secondly, Gideon had the wrong attitude. When the angel pronounced God’s calling upon Gideon, he told him that the Lord was with him. In verse 13, Gideon’s questions reveal his bad attitude toward God, “If the Lord is really with us, why has all of this happened? Sure, we have heard about his miracles in the past, but why isn’t he doing anything in the present?”
Many people today have this same attitude toward God! They blame him for the bad things that have happened to them rather than looking for his plan. It becomes all about them in the moment rather what God is doing in the big picture of their lives. Questions like these show a fundamental misunderstanding of God’s character. Like Gideon, questions like this show a fundamental self-centeredness in our own hearts. Do you ever find yourself having the wrong attitude toward God?
Thirdly, Gideon had the wrong family background. As he points out to the angel in verse 15, his family was from the weakest clan in Manasseh and he had the lowest status in his family. His family pedigree made him an unlikely candidate to save Israel.
Fourthly, Gideon had the wrong faith, or at least a lack of faith. As this encounter with the Lord’s angel was coming to an end, in verse 17 he demands a miracle to prove that this angel really was from God. This lack of faith should have disqualified Gideon from serving as Israel’s judge, but the Lord honored his request by consuming the meal of lamb meat and unleavened bread with fire from the rock.
Like Gideon, God chooses unlikely people to serve him today. People with the wrong occupational background! People from the wrong family! Even people with bad attitudes and fickle faith! When God chooses you, it doesn’t matter if it makes logical sense or not! When God calls you to do something, there is never a reason or excuse that is good enough to deny it. Are you one of God’s unlikely choices? If God chose the coward of the county to save his people from oppression, there is no telling what God might choose you for!
The Cost of Obedience (6:25-32)
After Gideon received his call from God, his first mission was to destroy his father’s idols which the people of his hometown worshipped. He was to tear down the altar that had been built for worshipping Baal, the Canaanite God of nature, and to cut down the Asherah poles that were erected to worship the Canaanite fertility goddess. He was also supposed to build a new altar to the Lord and sacrifice a bull with the wood from the Asherah pole.
Although Gideon expressed his cowardice again by doing it at night, he obeyed the Lord and accomplished the tasks that were appointed for him. When the people woke up the next morning, they were outraged when they saw that the idols had been destroyed. They immediately launched an investigation to find out who did this. When they discovered that it was Gideon, they demanded that he be executed. But Gideon’s father Joash interceded for his son by saying that Baal can take care of himself. Nonetheless, Gideon learned the cost of obedience to God!
This scene reminds us that when we obey God today, it comes at a cost. When we act in obedience to God and do what is right, it usually costs us something. When we obey God by giving him 10% of our income, it cost us monetarily. When we make God our top priority in life, it may cost us a relationship with a family member or friend. When our boss pressures us to cut corners or do something unethical at work, it may cost us our jobs.
Like Gideon and many Christians throughout our world today, obedience may even threaten our life? Would you be willing to give up your life to be obedient to God? I’m so glad that our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to obey his father even to the point of death! We must always remember that the blessings of obedience always outweigh the cost!
Fear in the Fleece (6:33-40)
Gideon’s second mission was even more difficult and terrifying that the first. He was to round up the troops from the northern tribes of Israel and battle against the allied forces of the Midianites, Amalekites, and eastern peoples who were camped in the Valley of Jezreel. But before he went to war, fear and cowardess creep into his soul again. He tries to get out of his mission by testing God twice.
The first time, Gideon says that he would place a dry fleece (a wool coat) on the ground and if there was only dew on the fleece and not on the ground in the morning, he would know that this really is what God wanted him to do. When he woke up, the fleece was soaked but the ground was dry. So, he tried to get out of it again by saying that he would set out the fleece again the next night and if it was dry and the ground was wet, then he would know for sure that God wanted him to lead the Israelites into battle. Sure enough, in the morning, the ground was wet but the fleece was dry, and Gideon knew what he must do. He should have known that it is impossible to pull the wool over God’s eyes!
Have you ever tried to lay your fleece before the Lord? We may not have used a literal wool fleece, but I would bet that most of us have tried to manipulate God at some point in our lives. Have you ever tried to make a deal with him by saying, “If you really want me to do this, then show me a sign or give me a miracle?” We need to realize that God doesn’t make deals with us! He’s not interested in our fleece, he wants our faith!
Unfortunately, many people in the church have misinterpreted this episode as a model for discovering God’s will. Like Gideon, most of us already know what God wants us to do—the problem is that we are either afraid or we just don’t want to do it! As we learn in the story of Jesus’ temptation, we should “never put the Lord your God to the test!” (Luke 4:12)
Conclusion
Despite Gideon being the unqualified coward of the county, who, having the wrong background and a bad attitude toward God, resisted obedience and put the Lord to the test, God was gracious to him. The Spirit of the Lord clothed him and empowered him for the mission at hand! How will it all end? Come back next week for part 2!
Until then, let me summarize what we have learned from the first part of Gideon’s story. Here are some arrows for your quiver as you battle against the world this week:
- 1. When we do evil in the eyes of the Lord, he uses oppression and hardship to lovingly convict us, humble us, and bring us back to him!
2. Instead of blaming God for the bad things that happen to us, look for how he uses suffering to accomplish his bigger plan for our lives!
3. God is likely to call and use unlikely people to accomplish his purposes! People just like you and me!
4. Obedience to God usually comes at a cost, but the blessings of obedience are always worth it!
5. God cannot and will not be manipulated! Don’t ever use a fleece to try to pull the wool over his eyes!