Joash The Father of Gideon

Judges . 6

Let the message be an eye opener for many fathers and devotees of  personal gods. The real story narrates  Gideon’s encounter with God. The angle of God talks to Gideon about the cause  behind the fall of Israelites and their miserable life . The remedy God recommended  was  simple, but it was not an easy task. First of all, tearing down father’s alter to Baal and demolishing Asherah pole was really a difficult mission. Along with his father ,there were hundreds  who worshiped  Baal- the pagan god . Joash being an Israelite , worship Baal- the pagan god is abominable to God of Israel. Though he knew the truth of living God  ,  he preferred worshipping Baal. In one sense ,if ,Gideon would carry out the task, he himself put his hands in hornet’s nest. His family  and all the followers of Baal would be provoked .

Gideon was confident in doing the task after confirming the voice of God. He took ten of his close friends for the mission .  He preferred  night  instead of day in order to avoid  direct confrontation from his family and public. He demolished the Baal’s  alter  with Asherah pole .    He built a new alter to God and sacrificed the bull, according to  the instruction of the angel of God .

In the morning when the men of the town got up  , they saw Baal’s alter demolished with the Asherah pole . They investigated the matter ,it was something unpardonable . They got the culprit . There was no way for Gideon to get escaped. They knew, Joash would release his son  ; after all ,he too was a devotee  and worshipper of  Baal.

They gathered around the house of Joash. They demanded “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it." Joash reply to the hostile crowd was quite amazing . He said to the crowd “Are you going to plead  Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him ?  “Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar."So that day they called Gideon "Jerub-Baal," saying, "Let Baal contend with him," because he broke down Baal's altar” Jud. 6: 31,32

Dear friends ,  out of zeal ,   we often tend to do something God never expect us to do at all..If  someone talks against  faith  , it would offend us . Offending other’s faith is really not acceptable to God, but God never expects anyone to protect Him by shedding blood of others . Let almighty God be our protector . Let the message of Gideon be an eye opener for us.  

Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money?

Jesus never said  a parable from  imagination . Almost all of them  he took from day today life of people around him. For example , the sawing farmer , shepherds who take care of sheep, workers in the field and so on  . From the day today incidents, he always  wants to illustrate some spiritual truth.

Here ,Jesus wants to illustrate Kingdom of heaven in a simple way so that those who gathered around him  could understand them  with ease . Matt. 20:1-15

Here was a landlord who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard . In four  phases  he gathered the labors . One lot came early in the morning at 3^rd  hour of the day; others at 6^th ,9^th and 11^th hour. The wages were  fixed and it was agreed by all .

When the evening came , it was his turn to distribute wages for them .He called the workers and pay their wages , beginning with the last ones hired and going on the first .The workers who came at 11^th hour came first and had their wages . When , the workers who were hired at 3^rd Hour came to receive their wage . They thought they would get more ,though ,they were agreed to work on the fixed wage . They started grumbling over the wages . Their complain seems to be genuine , they said how could they be treated same as who worked only for one hour . Perhaps the workers who came at 11^th hour had   worked only  for an hour . They considered the landlord was impartial in distributing the wages .     But , in fact, he was quite frank in doing his responsibility . He didn’t do any injustice at all . The greediness of the workers who came at 3^rd hour had made the difference . When men take justice in their hands such things happens .They often forget that ,the landlord has all legal right to distribute his money not in a way he likes, but in a way it was agreed with.

Let it be one’s job , money or works , if it doesn’t deprive of justice , no one has authority to question him .The man  has got the full freedom to do with his belongings .Suppose a man quits his job , he is not answerable to anyone as to why he did so .It is his freedom of conscience . He is accountable only to God, not anyone else . No one has any right to complaint against that person.