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A BEAUTIFUL BLOODY MESS (17 OF 42)

by Mike Stone

Scripture: Judges 8:1-21
This content is part of a series.


A Beautiful Bloody Mess (17 of 42)
Series: The Coming King: Finding Jesus in Judges
Mike Stone
Judges 8:1-21

In those days there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Our study of Judges is the story of Israel's rebellion and their longing for a king. But this book, like the whole of Scripture, is ultimately about the Lord Jesus.

And in this 17th lesson in our verse-by-verse study through Judges, we see a little glimpse of our Lord, even in the beautiful bloody mess of war. (Judges 8:1-21)

It was Tuesday night, August 14, 1945, at 7pm when reporters gathered at the White House for a highly anticipated press conference. President Harry Truman joyously announced the message he had received from the Emperor of Japan.

The terrible war that had begun on a day of infamy nearly 4 years earlier had finally come to a close. While America erupted in celebration, history has not been kind to the president for his decision to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese Islands.

As a student of American History, I do not share in the criticism. Nevertheless, we have to deal with the official count of 105,000 dead from the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Even with the death count just over 100,000, it still is not as much as the carnage of war in Judges 7 that now spills over into this 8th chapter. In last week's main battle, 120,000 of the Midianite Army were killed. And they fell by "friendly sword."

Judges 8 chronicles the "mop-up" portion of the campaign. Several thousand Midianites escaped the battlefield along with some of the Midianite nobility. Gideon and his men are in hot pursuit.

Judges 8 is not the stuff for a Veggie Tales episode. Bob and Larry would have wanted nothing to do with this battle. If this chapter were made into a movie, it would be rated R for extreme violence. We have no record of profanity or immorality here, but the carnage would be enough for an R rating.

The wholesale violence of thi ...

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