Few ever pass the test of success. To those who are given much, much is required (Lk 12:48), and that requirement is more than most can meet. Success mingled with sin causes us to forget who we are and who God is. Success often breeds pride.
Judges 8 is one of the chapters I wish wasn’t in the Bible. I wish we could end Gideon’s life with the fairy tale statement: And they lived happily ever after. But God placed this chapter in the Bible to reveal how each one of us is capable of great evil; the Bible always shows us exactly as we are. Yes, God works through weak people, but we often still assert our own strength.

I. A Gracious Answer (Judg 8:1-3). As Gideon’s 300-man army pursued the fleeing Midianites, he called upon the men of Ephraim to keep the enemy from crossing the Jordan River going east. Some people are always offended. The Ephraimites succeeded but offended they hadn’t been called earlier (Judg 6:34-35). They didn’t get part of the reward.
Gideon practiced Proverbs 15:1 before Solomon wrote it, stopping a disagreement before it became a quarrel. He complimented Ephraim’s success and minimized his own, putting down pride, promoting peace, and practicing pardon. Arguing takes our eyes off the unity God desires among His people and off the true enemy, sin and Satan.

II. An Angry Answer (Judg 8:4-17). Pursuing the Midianites after some 40 miles, Gideon arrived at the Jewish towns of Succoth and Penuel on the east side of the Jordan, asking for food and drink for his weary army. Both towns refused to help. They feared a return of the Midianites; only two Midianite princes had been killed, not the kings (5" class="scriptRef">Judg 7:25; 8:3, 5). The kings could always return with another army.
In both Succoth and Penuel, Gideon gave a harsh answer, vowing to kill the men to get even. The man who had been uncertain of God’s presence and purpose in his life now showed no patience with others who were uncertain about Gideon’s own presence and purpose. God had called Gideon to deliver Israel, not defeat Israel.
Where did Gideon’s change of heart come from? It had always been there (Jer 17:9). In salvation our sins are forgiven, and the sin nature stripped of control, but sin still lurks in each of us, ready to strike and draw us away from God.
Gideon killed the surviving Midianite soldiers and captured the two remaining kings. He then went back to Succoth and Penuel and killed his fellow Israelites (Judg 8:13-17).

III. A Vengeful Answer (Judg 8:18-21). Destroying the Midianites was God’s will (Judg 6:14, 16; 7.2" class="scriptRef">7:2, 7, 9, 14, 15), but Gideon had a secret motive in his obedience. The two Midianite kings Gideon mentions by name 5 times, killed Gideon’s brothers. He wasn’t acting as God’s deliverer, now he was a man obsessed with angry revenge.
The Biblical word justice comes from the word righteous. Justice is carrying out what God says is morally right. But to pursue what is morally right with evil is not justice, it’s revenge. Revenge desires to punish a personal or perceived wrong, often out of emotion or opinion, sometimes going so far as punishing the innocent in the process.
Whereas justice brings about peace, revenge is negative and breeds increased loss, violence, hatred, disorder, and injustice. Harming innocent people is not justice; it’s revenge and revenge is sin (Deut 32:35; Prov 20:22; Nah 1:2; Rom 12:17-19; Heb 10:30). A Christian seeks justice and leaves vengeance to God.

Gideon’s new found power drove him to pursue his own agenda under the guise of obedience to God. We must beware of the same, for God knows every hidden thought and motive of men and brings it into judgment (1 Cor 3:1 - 4:5; 2 Cor 5:9-10; Heb 4:12-13).