Such ways of revenge cannot be justified any more than Gideon’s extreme measures of reprisal can be justified. God did not call Gideon to exercise revenge; he called him to deliver his people. He did do the latter, it is true, but he also did the former. Trusting God is not just trusting him for deliverance but also for dealing in a positive way with those who may have wronged us. Only when we do this will the cycle of reprisal and counterreprisal stop. Gideon’s torturous reprisals against Succoth and Penuel were an excessive response to people who doubted Gideon’s ability to achieve the
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