Judges 8:28

Judges 8:28 says, Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.  The Midianites were subdued, and the nation of Israel enjoyed forty years of peace in the days of Gideon.  Though we as followers of Christ may be at war with the forces of evil in the world today, we should be at peace with God.  As Paul said, whatever our state, we should be content, because we know that the victory is already ours through our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Verse twenty-nine adds, And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.  Jerubbaal, or Gideon, went and dwelt in his own house. Gideon did not demand a place of honor and prestige to live, but returned to his own house.  He didn't place himself above his fellow Israelites, and we as Christians cannot do that today either.  Verse thirty continues, And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.  Gideon had seventy sons,because he had many wives.  We know that even though many of the Old Testment leaders of God's people had many wives, this was not God's plan for marriage.  We may break God's law, and we will, as followers of Christ and yet still be led by God to do great things for His kingdom.  Verse thirty-one states, And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.  Gideon also had a son named Abimelech by his concubine in Shechem.  Verse thirty-two adds, And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.  Gideon died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father.  No matter how long we live, one day we will all die, unless Jesus Christ returns first.  Verse thirty-three continues, And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.  They had already started to worship the golden ephod that Gideon made, but after he died, the people of Israel turned totally away from God and again began to worship Baal, and made Baalberith their god.  Matthew Henry says that Baalberith signifies the god of the covenant, which may have been an imitation of the covenant relationship between the people of Israel and God.  We may go seeking other gods today, but the one and only true God comes seeking us instead.  Verse thirty-four says, And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:  The people of Israel once again forget the true God, Who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies.  We as followers of Christ serve that same God today, but if we do not teach our children about Him and lead them to a personal relationship with Him, in a generation He can be forgotten.  Verse thirty-five adds, Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel.  They not only forgot God, but they showed no kindness to the descendants of Jerubbaal, or Gideon.  After all, before delivering them from the Midianites, he had first torn down the altar to Baal and destroyed the grove associated with Baal at his father’s house.  I don't believe that those who chase after other gods will ever look at the followers of Christ with kindness.  They will likely tolerate us at best.