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Finishing Off the Enemy
Judges 7:23-8:21
Pastor Marv, Grace Bible Church
5-24-20

The battle recorded in Judges 7 is one of the most incredible demonstrations of God’s grace and power in history. 120,000 Midianites fell that night…not one of them killed by an Israelite! But the battle wasn’t over. 15,000 Midianites escaped and fled toward their homeland east of the Jordan River. But Gideon was determined to see that they didn’t make it there safely. There is a great lesson here for us. Temptations and conflicts and sins in our lives which stand between us and our relationship with God must be dealt with in the same way…they must be dealt with clearly and decisively and finished off! Let’s take a look at Judges 7-8.

Working Through the Text

 Calling for reinforcements (7:23-25). Remember the 32,000 that eventually were whittled down to 300 (see 7:1-8)? It seems that a lot of them have come back…plus one addition tribe.




 Contention in the ranks (8:1-3). The great tribe of Ephraim had not been included among the tribes initially called to fight the Midianites (see 6:35). They were insulted by this omission. But note the diplomatic way Gideon handled the matter.




 Two cowardly cities (8:4-9). Succoth and Penuel were Israelite cities located on the east side of the Jordan in the territory settled by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh when Israel first came to the Promised Land.

Why didn’t they help Gideon and his men?

What did Gideon promise them when he returned that way?



 Crushing the rest of the Midianite army (8:10-12)…



 The grand conclusion (8:13-17)…

…to the two cowardly cities (8:13-17)


…to the two kings (8:18-21)




Learning From the Text

1. We must not accept or excuse things in our lives that God doesn’t.



2. Changing the things God doesn’t accept in our lives almost always involves a fight.



3. We often need a lot of help in the fight to change.



4. Whenever we fight to change what God doesn’t accept in our lives, we will discover that He will be there when we need Him with what we need from Him.