Q1. Refusing the Kingship

[ShariRose]

Gideon feels that God should rule over Israel.  Becoming a king would be treason - going against the Rule of God. They saw Gideon as the leader in flesh and blood.  When our faith is weak, we need to have reassurance. They wanted to honor Gideon for saving them.  They were also fickle

[JanSumi]

Gideon does not accept the kingship over Israel because Israel already has a king, God Himself. This relationship of King and His vassal was established in the initial covenant between God and Israel after He delivered them from Egypt. As an Israelite,  accepting the kingship would be treason against God, who is King over Israel and Gideon's king. The Israelites failed to see this as treason maybe because they couldn't physically see God, and thus, it was harder to put their faith entirely in Him and too easy to forget Him and their covenant with Him. In the same way, they failed to see that the One who won the battle against the Midianites was not Gideon, but God. Gideon was just God's instrument. I guess, to understand this, we would need to understand and be honest with ourselves about why we constantly lift people up as great, almost to the point of worship. We want to do this. It is all over society. Does it come back to Adam and Eve's first sin, that of pride and desiring to lift up ourselves rather than give all the glory to God? Also, for some reason, we want to, almost have a need to put our faith in a person rather than in God. Maybe it all comes down to the possibility that our faith in God isn't as strong as we would like to believe. And if we're not putting our trust in God, well, we have to put our trust in someone, either ourselves or someone else. I've realized something though. It's that we don't fully realize how complete and fulfilling God's love is for us. We're looking for love and don't really realize how completely and without condition He loves us. He loves each of us for who we are. This can be one reason why we lift others up, usually believing them to be more than they really are. Even from afar we see that person as someone who could love and value us when the only One who can completely and truly is God. He fills that need for love, our desire to be recognized, loved, and valued for who we are. And that's what He wants us to know.

Edited yesterday at 08:13 AM by JanSumi
I wondered why I lift others up. God showed me.