Getting Rid of the Fearful and Distracted Men

The nation of Israel was ready to act. They had been oppressed long enough, so they responded in large numbers to Gideon’s call (Judges 6:34). But, because there was so little knowledge of the Lord in the land and the people had such a corrupt understanding of the Covenant they had with YHWH, the Lord tells Gideon he has too many men. An army of 32,000 men had assembled when Gideon blew his trumpet to summon Israel to battle. Because of their ignorance of the Lord these men would credit themselves with the victory that the Lord wanted to give them.

In order to demonstrate to this new generation of ignorant Israelites the Lord reduces the number of fighting men in two phases from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300. The Lord first eliminates all the men who were fearful by inviting them to leave. And, 22,000 men left. Then the Lord eliminated the men who were not focused on the battle, but where more concerned about their own comfort and provision by telling 9,700 men who drank water like a dog to leave. Now, with 300 fearless, focused men the Lord would demonstrate his power and fulfill his covenant to Israel by acting in the positive sense of deliverance instead of discipline and punishment.

“The kingdom of God bursts history open, sets it in motion…toward the liberation of men in all the many stratifications in which they are endangered or enslaved.”
– J. M. Lochman

WHY GOD NEVER RECEIVED TENURE AT ANY UNIVERSITY
1.  He had only one major publication.
2.  It was in Hebrew.
3.  It had no references.
4.  It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
5.  Some even doubt he wrote it himself.
6.  It may be true that he created the world, but what has he done since then?
7.  His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
8.  The scientific community has had a hard time
replicating his results.
9.  He never applied to the Ethics Board for permission
to use human subjects.
10. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it up by drowning the subjects.
11. When subjects didn't behave as predicted, he deleted them from
the sample.
12. He rarely came to class, just told students to
read the Book.
13. Some say he had his son teach the class.
14. He expelled his first two students for learning.
15. Although there were only ten requirements, most students failed his tests.
16. His office hours were infrequent and usually
held on a mountaintop.
(This is copied from these sources here, here, here and here.)