Judges 8: Gideon subdues the Midianites.

In this chapter, Gideon continued to dismantle Midian’s oppression over Israel, facing opposition from some of his fellow Israelites in the process. First, the men of Ephraim complained that he did not call them to war. Gideon replied by praising them for their vineyards, and for capturing the two Midianite princes. So, Ephraim’s indignation subsided.

Then Gideon went to the city of Succoth, and asked for bread to feed his army. But the men of Succoth refused, instead taunting him because he had not yet captured the kings of Midian. Gideon told them them he would punish them with thorns and briars, after he had killed the two kings. The people of Penuel were equally dismissive when Gideon asked them for help, and he swore to tear down their tower.

In due course, Gideon captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. Gideon told his oldest son to kill them, but he was young, and too afraid to do it. So Gideon killed the two kings, and punished the people of Succoth and Penuel.

When he returned from battle, the people of Israel asked Gideon to rule over them. However, he refused, saying that the Lord would rule Israel. He then collected gold from people’s earrings, used it to make an ephod (a priest’s garment), and set it up in his own city, Ophrah. The people began to worship it, and it became a snare for Gideon.

And Israel had peace for forty years under Gideon. Gideon had seventy sons, and died at an old age. As soon as he passed away, the Israelites forgot all the goodness that the Lord had shown them, and turned to worship other gods.

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The message of Gideon’s exchange with the Ephraimites is that sincerity and openness are the most powerful response to confrontation. Gideon, led by his trust in the Lord, could see the reason for Ephraim’s outburst, so he dealt with it by praising their strengths. This encounter shows how our faith in the Lord gives us a broader perspective, granting us the ability to respond rather than react (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 8159[3]).

When Gideon lashes out at the people of Succoth and Penuel, it may appear that he is acting purely from anger, and a wish to retaliate. In reality, he is filled with zeal to drive out the Midianites and free Israel. It is unthinkable to him that his own people would refuse to give his soldiers food. In our own lives, we can at times be astounded by our own resistance to serving the Lord’s purpose. We are constantly torn between two forces: heaven and hell (Arcana Caelestia 3839[3]).

The killing of the two Midianite kings reflects the need for justice in spiritual matters. If we fail to heed the truths we know and believe, we will suffer the consequences of fear and guilt. These are not inflicted by the Lord, but follow on from our own choices (Arcana Caelestia 2447). Gideon’s son’s inability to kill the kings means that behind spiritual justice, there must be an understanding of the essential value of all life (Arcana Caelestia 5826[2]).

Gideon’s ephod is a symbol showing how easily we can deviate from obeying the Lord. The text does not tell us the reason for Gideon’s actions, but perhaps he felt it was better for the people to worship something superficially related to worshiping the Lord, rather than following a foreign god. Seeing a priest’s garment reminds us that a priest serves the Lord. But we can so easily focus on the majesty of the ephod itself, and think no more about the priest’s duty nor about the Lord. We sometimes drift further from the Lord without even realizing it (see Swedenborg’s work, Divine Providence 327).

4837. 'And so it was, when he came [in] to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground' means the reverse of conjugial love. [This is clear from the following considerations:] 'Er, Judah's firstborn' is used to describe falsity springing from evil which reigned in the Jewish nation at first, and 'Onan the secondborn' to describe evil begotten by falsity springing from evil which reigned in that nation later on. And 'Shelah the third son' is used to describe the idolatry which followed on from this and reigned in that nation at a still later time, 4826. Evil begotten by falsity springing from evil is described by the action Onan took, which was this: Being unwilling to provide seed for his brother, he spilled it on the ground. The reason this means that which is the reverse of conjugial love is that the conjugial relationship is used to mean in the internal sense that which is the essential element of the Church. Essentially the Church is a marriage of goodness and truth; and evil begotten by falsity springing from evil is the complete reverse of that marriage, that is, those with whom that kind of evil exists are the reverse of it.

[2] Nothing of true marriage meant both in a spiritual sense and in a natural one existed with that nation. This is quite evident from the fact that men were permitted to marry more than one wife; for where a marriage meant in a spiritual sense exists - that is, where the good and truth of the Church exist, consequently where the Church exists - that practice is not at all permitted. Genuine marriage cannot possibly exist except among those with whom the Lord's Church or kingdom exists, yet not with these except between pairs, 1907, 2740, 3246. The marriage of a pair in whom genuine conjugial love is present corresponds to the heavenly marriage, that is, to good and truth joined together. That is to say, the husband corresponds to good and the wife to the truth of that good. Also, when genuine conjugial love is present in them, that heavenly marriage is present too. Therefore where the Church exists men are never permitted to marry more than one wife. But because no Church existed among those descended from Jacob, only that which was a representative of the Church - that is, the external shell of the Church without its internal substance, 4307, 4500 - they were therefore permitted to have more than one. Furthermore the marriage of one husband to a number of wives would present in heaven an idea or image in which so to speak one good was joined to a number of truths which do not agree with one another, and so an image in which there was no good at all. For when its truths do not agree with one another good ceases to be good, since good receives its particular nature from truths and their agreement with one another.

[3] It would also present an image in which so to speak the Church was not one Church but many, set apart from one another along the lines of the truths of faith, that is, along doctrinal lines, when in fact the Church is one if good is the essential element there and this receives its particular nature from truths and is so to speak moderated by these. The Church is an image of heaven, because it is the Lord's kingdom on earth. Heaven consists of many distinct and separate general communities, and of smaller ones subordinate to these general ones; nevertheless good makes them a united whole. Good there enables the truths of faith to stand in agreement with one another; for these look to good and are grounded in it. If the truths of faith and not good were the lines along which parts of heaven were separated from one another, heaven would cease to be heaven, because there would not be any unanimity at all. For their oneness of life or unity in soul could not come to them from the Lord and exist among them. That oneness dwells solely within good, that is, within love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Love binds everyone together, and when the love of what is good and true is present in each individual, everyone shares that which comes from the Lord, so that the Lord is the One who binds everyone together. The love of what is good and true is called love towards the neighbour, for the neighbour is one with whom good and accompanying truth are present, and in the abstract sense good itself and its truth. From these considerations one may see why within the Church marriage must be a relationship involving one husband and one wife, and why the descendants of Jacob were permitted to marry more than one wife. They were permitted to do so for the reason that no Church existed among them, and therefore a representative of the Church could not be established among them by means of marriages, because the reverse of conjugial love reigned among them.