Day 97 of 100 Days: “Destroying the Ravaging Wolves” Read:
Judges 6; 7:25
Gideon called on the tribe of Ephraim to pursue and kill the Midianite princes
Oreb and Zeeb. Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh. Manasseh and Ephraim were
the “half-tribes” that made up the portions of Joseph. Joseph received a double portion of
the land. Manasseh received one portion; Ephraim the other portion. Joseph knew in his
youth that his portion was greater and that those who were “over” him would eventually
bow to him. Joseph had the anointing to prosper things and the authority to which others
would bow. Ephraim and Manasseh carried this anointing with them. We have to carry
this same anointing with us if we are going to pursue and destroy enemy structures that
come against us. Oftentimes though we choose to bow to enemy structures because of
the way they have attacked us in the past. Gideon knew that dynamic from personal
experience.
In Judges 6 the story of Gideon begins with a brief account of how the Midianites
regularly swept into the lands of Manasseh and other tribes to devour their harvests. The
angel of the Lord found Gideon threshing wheat in the family winepress because he was
trying to hide his new grain from the Midianite horde and avoid being ravaged by them
again. This is a vivid picture of what enemy structures do to us. They are like a pack of
wolves roaming around looking for us in vulnerable places in order to ravage and
consume all we are and have.
One of the key leaders of the ravenous pack that descended on Gideon’s region
was a man named Zeeb. Zeeb means “wolf.” Perhaps Zeeb was the alpha wolf in
Midian. I particularly like what happened to Zeeb when the sons of Ephraim pursued.
Judges 7:25 says they killed him at the winepress of Zeeb. The ravager died in the kind
of place he ravaged. My guess is that Zeeb hid in the winepress just as Gideon hid when
Zeeb was the pursuer rather than the pursued. That is what happens when righteousness
prevails. Unrighteousness must bow and will bow to righteousness.
I recently grabbed hold of the reality that the righteousness and anointing God
placed in Joseph is also in me. I no longer have to be ravaged or to hide from the
possibility of it happening. I no longer have to worry about going where I formerly was
held captive by my enemies. As long as I pursue my former captors to the end I will see
them cut off even in the kind of places where they once tried to cut me off. Because I am
righteous my enemies must bow to me.
Allen Faubion
Pastor
Glory Of Zion International