Judges 8:29-32 And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelled in his own house.… It is interesting to watch the after life of great men. In some it is a continual progress, in others a growing weakness of character and faculty. Gideon's was - I. A REWARD AND CONSEQUENCE OF FAITHFUL SERVICE TO JEHOVAH. Long life, quietness, prosperity, honour. II. KEPT ON THE WHOLE RIGHT, AND MADE A BLESSING BY THE GRACE OF GOD. He had begun well. His youth was a consecrated one; his old age was its true outcome. And yet not by natural virtue, but by the blessing of God. III. CONTAINING THE GERMS OF NATIONAL EVILS. He was not ever on the heights of spiritual excitement. Perhaps his was a nature that required great difficulties to be surmounted in order to keep it right. At any rate he fails to rise above the laxities of his age, and he enters into connection with the Canaanites. How much too of his after-life could be explained as a living on the memory of a glorious past, and a growing estimation of the part he himself had played. The ephod, the natural son by the Canaanitish woman, the conflicting interests of the many heirs to his influence and renown - these were the occasions of untold evil. - M. Parallel Verses KJV: And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.WEB: Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. |
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