Judges 8:18-21

The children of a king.

The royal house of Jesus

There are family names that stand for wealth, or patriotism, or intelligence. The name of Washington means patriotism, although some of the blood of that race has become very thin in the last generation. The family of the Medici stood as the representative of letters. The family of the Rothschilds is significant of wealth. The house of Hapsburg in Austria, the house of Stuarts in England, the house of Bourbon in France, were families of imperial authority. But I come to preach of a family more potential, more rich, and more extensive--the royal house of Jesus, of whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named.

1. First, I speak of our family name. To have conquerors, kings, or princes in the ancestral line gives lustre to the family name. In our line was a King and a Conqueror. Our family name takes lustre from the star that heralded Him, and the spear that pierced Him, and the crown that was given Him. What other family name could ever boast of such an illustrous personage?

2. Next, I speak of the family sorrows. If trouble come to one member of the family, all feel it. So, in the great Christian family, the sorrow of one ought to be the sorrow of all.

3. Next, I notice the family property. After a man of large estate dies, the relations assemble to hear the will read. Our Lord Jesus hath died; and we are assembled to-day to hear the will read. He says: “My peace I give unto you.” Through the apostle He says: “All are yours.”

4. Next, I speak of the family mansion. Almost every family looks back to a homestead--some country place where you grew up. But all the dwelling-places of dukes and princes and queens are as nothing to the family, mansion that is already awaiting our arrival. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

The royal appearance of God s children

The people of God resemble the children of a king--

I. In their spiritual conformity to the image of King Jesus.

II. In their illustrious titles.

III. In their courtly apparel.

IV. In their royal immunities and privileges.

1. They dwell in the royal presence.

2. They have constant access to God.

3. They have royal provision.

4. They have special instruction.

5. They have a kingly guard.

6. They have royal prospects.

Learn:

1. The dignity and rights of the saints of God.

2. How full of consolation to believers in sorrow and affliction! (J. Burns, D. D.)

Jether.

Jether, the timid son of a brave father

The command of Gideon was in harmony with the savage character of that age. We are told by Tacitus concerning a Roman knight, one Civilis--who headed a revolt of the Gauls against Rome--that he acted in a similar but cruel manner, for he gave to his little son some prisoners whom he might use as targets for his little darts and arrows. This was done from revenge and from a desire to initiate the child into the dreadful art of war. Gideon may have desired thus to stimulate his eldest son to hatred of the enemies of his country and boldness in slaying them. Moreover, it was to add dishonour to the death of Zebah and Zalmunna. Jether must have had some boldness and strength, or he could not have followed his father in his last pursuit of the Midianitish kings or have risked the dangers attendant on the campaign; but he shrinks from obeying the command. He was paralysed by fear, not kept back by pity; and hence he stands before us as the type of one who in higher spheres loses advantages which might be gained by the exercise of strength and fearlessness. Nothing more is heard of him in Scripture. He drops out of notice. Life is a battle. Severe are the assaults to be resisted, wearying ofttimes the marches to be undertaken. Fearlessness is, however, essential if we would overcome the Zebahs and Zalmunnas of evil and wrong around.

1. In order to this, then, we must as far as we have opportunity cultivate physical power. There is truth in the phrase “muscular Christianity.” To keep a healthy body for the home of the mind should be a persistent aim. We have no right to neglect it. We should be as unwise as would a cottager who, knowing that the rainy season was setting in, should neglect to stop up the gaping hole in the rotting thatch roof. We should strive to develop our powers to the full extent, and when we can go no further, we should conserve the force we have gained.

2. That which we say of the body applies also to the cultivation of mental faculties. The opportunity of strengthening the body may be brief, but that of the mind lifelong. We have but little power at first, but reading, thinking, and mingling with our fellows increases the conscious vigour of intellect.

3. Further, we should be strong in convictions of duty. We should have principles. Our arms should be nerved by moral earnestness.

4. It is well to cultivate a confidence in our powers and principles. Jether was fearful as to his powers, and so he drew not his sword. We should have no hesitancy in doing that which our heavenly Father directs, in our consciences or in His Word, to be undertaken. Yea, we should seek to go beyond others in service. We should arouse ourselves to the putting forth of strength, that by effort we may gain greater strength. We are not urged to put forth effort to attain knowledge and spiritual power in our own strength. We must “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Needless to say, there must be humility, penitence, faith. This conscious spiritual strength and fearlessness are necessary in various circumstances.

(1) In the effort to prosper in lawful undertakings, to provide things honest in the sight of all men, and “to provide for our own.” The strain on bone and brain at this day is very great.

(2) They are necessary in view of some of the contingencies of life. It is useless to be thinking always that something dreadful is about to happen. Fearlessness is a far better spirit in which to meet trial. But it must be a holy fearlessness, because we know that our God cares for us. We need to put aside fear when we stand before that which may cause us a greater anxiety than any circumstances of trial, personal suffering, or even death, the prosperity of Christ’s Church and triumph of His truth. We may be concerned, like Eli, for the ark of God. We may hear the roar of the bulls of Bashan--the attacks of infidelity. We may shudder as we see the strongly netted leash of worldliness thrown over the Church. Even then we must not be paralysed by fear, as Jether before Zebah and Zalmunna, for the Spirit of the Lord can lift up a standard against all evil. He can defend His cause. (Fredk. Hastings.)

As the man is, so is his strength.--

Strength the property of truth

Yes: as a man is in character, in faith, in harmony with the will of God, so is his strength; as he is in falseness, injustice, egotism, and ignorance, so is his weakness. And there is but one real perennial kind of strength. The demonstration made by selfish and godless persons, though it shake continents and devastate nations, is not force. It has no nerve, no continuance, but is mere fury, which decays and perishes. Strength is the property of truth, and truth only; it belongs to those who are in union with eternal reality, and to no others in the universe. Would you be invincible? you must move with the eternal powers of righteousness and love. To be showy in appearance or terrible in sound on the wrong side with the futilities of the world is but incipient death. (R. A. Watson, M. A.)

As the man is, so is his strength

I. As a man is physically, so is his strength. If we are to estimate him by his muscular strength, we must take into account his bodily form, his age, his health, his build, his stature. Gideon belonged, as we may say, to the order of nature’s nobility. Now, it is perfectly true that we cannot give to ourselves a handsome mien, nor add one cubit to our stature; nevertheless, it is equally true that we can do much to promote our health, to build up our constitution, and even to give dignity to our physical presence. By a regular life, by scrupulous temperance, by due bodily exercise, by habits of order and cleanliness, every one can do not a little in this direction.

II. As a man is intellectually so is his strength. I use the word “strength” here as meaning power of work, capacity for accomplishing the ends of life, and making the world the better for his existence. I suppose that, during the past hundred years, no proverb has been more often quoted, as none has been more largely illustrated, than the pithy aphorism of Lord Bacon, “Knowledge is power.” In order to succeed, it is requisite to have intelligence and brains. The commerce of England is not indeed in the hands of learned scholars; but it is, for the most part, in the hands of shrewd, clear-headed, practical men, who understand their business, and know how to push it. Thus intellect becomes an equivalent for strength, and mind means money. In real power of work, the skilled artisan leaves the mere labourer far behind, and the thoughtful clerk the mere mechanical penman; so that as a man is in intelligence so is his strength.

III. As a man is morally and spiritually, so is his strength. Character and faith, I will venture to say, more than anything else, determine your power of overcoming difficulty and of accomplishing good. This is the sure gauge of your personal force in society and in the world. A man with a resolute conscience will always be a power.

IV. As the man is in faith, so is his strength. Ah! that’s the main point of all. What a work that brave soul accomplished all through unshaken confidence in his God! Be that faith yours, young men, and you shall be strong, and shall overcome the wicked one. There is no strength in the world to compare with that which faith imparts, especially the faith which lays hold of a risen and all-sufficient Redeemer. The splendid undertakings of an Alexander, Hannibal, a Caesar, are nothing to the achievements which it has accomplished. It has mastered legions of passions, quelled the turbulence of lust, overcome the world, driven the devil to flight, and thrown open an entrance to the palaces of heaven! (J. T. Davidson, D. D.)