Judg 8:22 | KingComments | STEP | The next flattery that Gideon has to face doesn’t come from the side of the world, but from the side of God’s people. The people want a visible leader, as do the nations. What God warns about in Judges 7 ( ) is going to happen here. They attribute victory to a man. They give Gideon the honor only due to God. They also want to secure the kingship through succession. After all, you never know who and how the next judge will be. Successive kingship offers certainty. It all seems so plausible, but it indicates that the people have lost their real dependence on God. In professing Christianity there is a lot of talk about leadership. Its importance is always stressed. Without clear leadership, it is said that God’s people are not doing well. Much of such talk in reality indicates that one does not know how to deal with the leadership of the Lord Jesus that He exercises through the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that there are no brothers with the gift of government or who function as pastors, or overseers, or elders. But in God’s people there is often no longer the spiritual condition to recognize such people and also to recognize them according to the spiritual characteristics indicated in Scripture. What happens then is that such people are appointed or openly indicated, or whatever one wants to call it. In any case, they want to be able to hear and see clearly who the leaders are. In many cases the seed is sown for the difference between the clergy and the laity. What Israel is asking for is comparable to the introduction of a clergy. The servant is magnified and God is forgotten. Later Israel will repeat this question ( ). Then they will get a king in Saul ( ), after which God comes with the man after His heart: David ( ). Fortunately, Gideon sees through the danger of the request. He refuses to become king and reminds the people of God as their King. That should also be our answer when there are remarks to appoint someone or a few in the position of leader. A leader to God’s mind will reject any appointment by people. Paul gives a good description of his apostleship. As an apostle he is a great leader, but his whole apostleship is separate from man, so he can say that he is an apostle “not [sent] from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ” ( ). This means that the origin, the source of his apostleship, is not in man and that he has not been appointed by a man in this apostleship.

‏ Judges 8:22

Escaping a Snare

The next flattery that Gideon has to face doesn’t come from the side of the world, but from the side of God’s people. The people want a visible leader, as do the nations. What God warns about in Judges 7 (Jdg 7:2) is going to happen here. They attribute victory to a man. They give Gideon the honor only due to God. They also want to secure the kingship through succession. After all, you never know who and how the next judge will be. Successive kingship offers certainty. It all seems so plausible, but it indicates that the people have lost their real dependence on God.

In professing Christianity there is a lot of talk about leadership. Its importance is always stressed. Without clear leadership, it is said that God’s people are not doing well. Much of such talk in reality indicates that one does not know how to deal with the leadership of the Lord Jesus that He exercises through the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that there are no brothers with the gift of government or who function as pastors, or overseers, or elders. But in God’s people there is often no longer the spiritual condition to recognize such people and also to recognize them according to the spiritual characteristics indicated in Scripture. What happens then is that such people are appointed or openly indicated, or whatever one wants to call it. In any case, they want to be able to hear and see clearly who the leaders are.

In many cases the seed is sown for the difference between the clergy and the laity. What Israel is asking for is comparable to the introduction of a clergy. The servant is magnified and God is forgotten. Later Israel will repeat this question (1Sam 8:1-6). Then they will get a king in Saul (1Sam 10:17-24), after which God comes with the man after His heart: David (1Sam 16:1-13).

Fortunately, Gideon sees through the danger of the request. He refuses to become king and reminds the people of God as their King. That should also be our answer when there are remarks to appoint someone or a few in the position of leader. A leader to God’s mind will reject any appointment by people.

Paul gives a good description of his apostleship. As an apostle he is a great leader, but his whole apostleship is separate from man, so he can say that he is an apostle “not [sent] from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:1). This means that the origin, the source of his apostleship, is not in man and that he has not been appointed by a man in this apostleship.