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Q3. Vanquishing the Midianite Army


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#4 Q3. Why must Gideon vanquish the Midianite force of 15,000 men in Karkor?

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Why must Gideon vanquish the Midianite force of 15,000 men in Karkor? What danger do we face when we deal with problems only half-way? (8:10-12)

Gideon is acting in obedience to God--He must destroy ALL of the Midianite army. If he doesn't not only will he face the consequences of disobeying God but all of Israel will as well. We sometimes forget that our disobedience affects more than just ourselves, it can harm other people.

I'm often tempted from laziness or fear to do something only half way. I often think I'll just take a baby step of faith. The danger is that the problem will not go away if we deal with it only halfway, it will come back to haunt us later. We have to deal with it completely and then keep watching so that it does not return.

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He needed to wipe out the enemy or face that possibility that they will return with their allies and with vengeance on their minds. In the same way, we shouldn't try to cure a disease and then stop halfway because we might suffer from a relapse where it'll be harder to recover and cure the disease because it's already immune to the medicine that we used to take.

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This is one of my pet peeves. In films, the good guy always knocks out the bad guy, but doesn't ensure he's dealt a death blow. So, of course the bad guy returns for additional battles. In the early 1990s, George Bush Sr failed to follow through on the Gulf War, making it necessary for his son to complete the work of removing Sadaam Hussein from power.

When we leave an enemy moaning in pain and humiliation, we double his resolve to avenge himself. And in our spiritual walk, when we fail to utterly destroy a sin in our lives, it will return to tempt us again.

Gideon ensures that the Midianites are completely defeated. While he doesn't kill every single Midianite soldier, he does remove their leaders from power and makes sure, by killing them, that they will not later return to power. I am sure that Gideon was following God's directions in determining who needed to be killed, and limited his slaughter to those few.

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Gideon Lesson 4

Question 3

Why must Gideon vanquish the Midianite force of 15,000 men in Karkor: What danger do we face when we deal with problems only half-way? (Judges 8:10-12)

Gideon lets nothing deter him from his single focus to destroy the remnants of the Midianite army of 15,000 men in Karkor.

He must do this in order to protect his people from future invasions.

When we deal with problems only halfway, the problem is much more likely to come back again with a vengeance and overcome us.

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Gideon was being obedient to God and walking in all the light God had given him.

May we not be deterred by problems to the left and right but trust God to accomplish fully His Will.

How blessed we are to have the light of Jesus' teaching.

Romans 12:20

'Therefore, if your enemy hungers, feed him; If he thirsts, give him a drink . . .

Ephesians 6:12 'For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.'

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Gideon must vanquish the Midianite force of 15,000 men in Karkor because their destruction will provide a complete victory for the Lord and for Gideon.

Like Gideon, who realized we can't deal with problems half-way, we must know the enemy,if not destroyed, can still be at work. Therefore, let there be no turning back. ( It only takes one flawed apple eventually to destroy the bushel.) The remnant of an ememy can do considerable damage. lmc

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There were 15,000 Midianites who ran away. They were stronger than 300. They could go and muster more men to defeat the Israelites and probably oppress them even more than earlier. Gideon had to defeat them thoroughly to eradicate the problem of further attack from them.

I think this is a lot like spiritual warfare. You don

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Why must Gideon vanquish the Midianite force of 15,000 men in Karkor? What danger do we face when we deal with problems only half-way?

Half a victory is not a total victory. To claim a complete victory, we must route the enemy entirely. Half an answer to our problem is not a satisfying solution. The situations we face in life cannot be dealt with by half measure efforts.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Q3. Why must Gideon vanquish the Midianite force of 15,000 men in Karkor? What danger do we face when we deal with problems only half-way? (8:10-12) See exposition

God had given the whole camp (7:14) into Gideon's hand, not just the 120,000 that had fallen so far. The whole 135,000 were to be vanquished, which left 15,000 to go. The danger we face is that when not dealing with the total problem is that it could come back to bite us again and again.

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Gideon destroys the Midianite force at Karkor in order to protect his people from future incursions. We must deal with problems 100% to completely defeat them or they will come back against us stronger than ever. We need to be single minded and not be distracted. I am afraid I am very easily distracted and it is one of my huge weaknesses.

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The Midian army was used to taking the Israeli food supply. Unless they dealt with the whole army, this constant attack on Israeli food would continue, and the nation would still go hungry. It was not enough to get rid of 90% of the raiding parties. They needed to rid themselves of all of them. Additionally they made an example of them by taking the leaders also and putting them to death. Hence the crops were safe for that and future years.

When we only half deal with a problem , it returns twice the size (angry!) We have to be very definitive about our problems, and not listen to the "do gooders" who support the rights of wrongdoers. Wrongdoers have no rights. Neither has anyone else for that matter! If we don't want the problem to continue to threaten us, then we have to deal with the problem, and that completely! An alcoholic does not give up half his drink - he completely give s it up, as must someone with a violence problem, a drug problem, etc. This is one of the problems with democracy. Decisions of this nature are so difficult to make and to defend. But we need decisive leadership.

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It was important for Gideon to finish what he had begun. Leaving the Midinites only partially defeated would be inviting them to regroup and come back. God always commanded his armies to total destroy their enemies. Also it is important that we finish what we start, and not give up or get tired, and quit. God says He will equip us and be with us we just have to be willing to follow through.

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He must complete the task or for future reference it may come on future generations. That is why he must finish the remaining 15,000 in karkor.

The problem with doing God's will half-way, first of all thats not what god wants so you can make our father angry with disobedience. Like parents today) also, you jepardize your sucess by half doing as i said before, it can come back to bite you. So its just best if you would skip the half -way attitude and please GOD by doing it right the first time obedience gets you far :D

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Q3. Why must Gideon vanquish the Midianite force of 15,000 men in Karkor? What danger do we face when we deal with problems only half-way?

If he didn't vanquish what force was left they would turn around and attack again and dominate and harass Israel again. When we only deal with our problems half-way they come back in full force to plaque us once again.

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Q3. (Judges 8:10-12) Why must Gideon vanquish the Midianite force of 15,000 men in Karkor?

Gideon must destroy the remnants of the Midianite army to protect his people from any future incursions by the Midianites.

What danger do we face when we deal with problems only half-way? (8:10-12)

The possibility of having to deal with the same problem again.

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  • 8 months later...

Q3. (Judges 8:10-12) Why must Gideon vanquish the Midianite force of 15,000 men in Karkor? What danger do we face when we deal with problems only half-way?

Gideon must wipe-out the reminding 15,000 in order to protect his people from future incursions.

Likewise, we must deal with problems completely or they may come back and cause us severe problems.

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Allowing the 15,000 Midianites to live would have probably ended in another intrusion of the Midianites and more persectution on Gideon's people. He was also following God's command and direction. He completed the job he started.

When we fail to complete tasks and follow through with God's direction, it most always comes back to cause us problems, many times larger problems than before. It is important to follow through with our jobs and directions God gives us.

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Gal 5:9; A little leaven leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Had Gideon not destroyed the entire army they would have lived to grow and fight another day. So it is with us. Problems, specifically sin, must be dealt with fully, or they will simply come back to haunt us.

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