Journeying through Judges 6

Judges 6

After 40 years of peace under Deborah and Barak we see a change in the cycle.  Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord.  This time it was at the hands of the Midianites.  The Israelites had fought against the Midianites in the past and had conquered them but here we see that they had grown in strength and the Israelites found themselves on the other side….the side of defeat.

The Israelites were living in constant fear under the Midianites so much so that they have moved to the mountain areas for protection whereby they lived in caves and shelters.  Imagine this…..  You are an agricultural society.  You work hard to prepare the ground for planting, you plant and take care of what you have planted and enjoy watching the crops grow.  Just when you think great we are going to have enough food to see us through till the following year your sworn enemies swarm in like locusts on camels destroying all your hard work. Your food for the coming year, your livestock are the land are completely destroyed.  This happened for 7 long years.  Can you imagine that time and time again?  I am amazed that it took them 7 years before they cried out to the Lord.

How did the Lord respond?  He sent a prophet (v8) who gave them a brief history lesson reminding them of what God had done for them and also where they were disobedient.  Sometimes we need a history lesson.  We complain to God regarding our circumstances but yet maybe God is trying to get our attention for some reason.  The Israelites were blaming the Midianites for their predicament however they were just the tool that God was going to use to get their attention.  Their disobedience was the heart of the issue.  How long do we wait to cry out to the Lord?

In verse 11 the Angel of the Lord came and sat under at tree that belonged to Gideon’s dad, Joash.  This angel of the Lord was the pre-incarnate Jesus.    The Angel of the Lord finds Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress.  This is not an ideal location for threshing wheat.  In order to separate the grain from the chaff you need some wind.  There is not much wind in a winepress.  You want to be up on a hill somewhere threshing wheat.  It shows the fear that Gideon and his family were facing with the Midianites.  They were struggling to make ends meet.

Notice the words out of the Angel of the Lord when he meets Gideon “The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior”  In looking at the conversation following I don’t think Gideon is feeling like a mighty warrior or inclined to be one at this point.  This makes me wonder if Jesus came and appeared to each of us whilst we were going about our day what would He say to us?  There is huge potential in each one of us when God is working in and through our lives.  Some of it is being realized but I wonder if there is more.  Something to think about.

Okay let us look at the conversation in verse 13.  Gideon tells the Angel of the Lord that God has abandoned them and God is not doing any signs and wonders anymore and that they have been left to fend of the Midianites by themselves.  But who left who?  It was the Israelites that had disobeyed God and God hadn’t left them at all.  Our disobedience affects our relationship with God and often distorts what we think about God and how we view Him.

The Lord continues the conversation and says to Gideon go in the strength you have and save Israel from Midian.  Notice what Gideon thinks of himself and his clan.  He feels pretty small at this point, his self-esteem is not existent.  He replies by saying “how can I save Israel?”  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in his family.

However, the Lord answers Him by saying “I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midanites together”  That is the key here.  Gideon could not do it by himself.  It wasn’t possible but it was possible with God.

Have you said something similar to God recently regarding something He is asking you to do.  But I can’t because I am only……..you fill in the gap.   As one Pastor put it Gideon doesn’t need more self confidence but more God confidence.  Maybe that is true for us some of us today.  What should your reply be when God speaks and asks you to do something that seems completely out of your league?

Let us move on.... so Gideon had this visit from the Pre-incarnate Christ and was told that the Lord would go with him.  You would think that would be enough right?  However, Gideon wanted confirmation and Lord granted him that.  Gideon prepared meat, bread and broth and brought it to the Angel of the Lord.  The Angel of the Lord touched it with the tip of his staff  and fired flared from the rock and consumed it all.  At this point Gideon realized he had been in the presence of the Angel of the Lord.  This special sign was the confirmation that he needed along with the words that were said. 

I just want to caution us at this point.  It is okay to ask God for confirmation on something we have been questioning but we shouldn’t rely on miraculous signs alone as there are deceptive ones also.  However, in the case of Gideon he had a whole experience with the Angel of the Lord and all of it together confirmed that this was from the Lord.   Remember God will never do something that is contrary to His Word as that would make Him out to be a liar.

So Gideon realizes he has just had face to face time with the Angel of the Lord and he is obviously frightened because the Lord says to him “Peace, do not be afraid.  You are not going to die”.  Gideon experienced a lot of fear not only from the Midanites and the time he was living in but now with the Angel of the Lord.  He needed peace and the Lord gave it to Him.  He experienced Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is peace and he built an altar to remind him. 

Some of us need to be reminded that the Lord is peace today.  What disturbs us from having peace?.   We need to talk to the one that can give us peace.

Gideon had quite an exciting day and it wasn’t over.  He didn’t have time to process what had just happened to him before the Lord had a challenge for him.  Read 6:25-26.  What was Gideon’s response in 6:27.

Gideon’s family worshipped Baal and Asherah.  God needed Gideon to destroy the false gods in his life and in his family’s life.  Notice Gideon is not showing his mighty warrior nature here just yet as he only has courage to do it at night and not in the daytime.  However, he is still being obedient and doing what the Lord says even if he might lack a bit of courage. 

Well if you wanted to get your name on a wanted poster this was the way to do it.  It says the men of the town did a careful investigation, they were intent of finding out who had destroyed their altar and put up a new altar.  The town mob were after Gideon.  They appeared at Joash’s place demanding that he hand over Gideon to be killed.  Destroying their gods that dealt with weather and fertility was a big deal in this town.  However, Joash made a reasonable argument at this point.  If Baal is truly a god then he can defend himself.  The men were put in a difficult position here.  If they took matters into their own hands then it would mean that they didn’t really believe that Baal could defend himself.  So they made the choice to let Baal deal with Gideon.

In v33ff we see the Midianites and the Amalekites joining forces together with people from the East and they all camped in the valley of Jezreel.  Notice who comes upon Gideon…..the Spirit of the Lord.  Gideon blows a trumpet to call the tribes to arms and to fight in the valley of Jezreel.  The response is pretty amazing as 32,000 men showed up.  However, as we will read in chapter 7 he faced an overwhelming opposition. Read 7:12

At the end of chapter 6 we see this interesting encounter between Gideon and God.   He “put out a fleece” to God.  Look at what Gideon says to God before he does that.  “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised….”  Why did Gideon need to test God when he already knew that God had promised him victory and had given him a sign back in 6:19-21.  God in His graciousness goes along with this with Gideon, but I believe, from verse 39 that Gideon wasn’t 100% comfortable in doing it.  He is asking God not to be angry with him.  If you know you are asking God for something that is right then you don’t need to fear God’s wrath.  Gideon didn’t have that confidence.  He was asking for a fleece out of unbelief and immaturity of faith.    Nowhere else in the Bible that I know of do we see this being practiced as a general way of finding out God’s will.  Who are we to tell God what He should and should not do when He has already spoken to us through His word. 

As one writer put it we have an advantage over Gideon.  We have two tools that Gideon lacked.  First of all we have the complete Word of God.  What does 2 Timothy 3:16-17 say?  We do not need experiential proof such as signs, voices or miracles although there are times He does show himself in that way.  However, we do need to take him at His Word and not rely only on the miraculous.

God has also given us the Holy Spirit which is God Himself.  He resides in us to guide, direct and be our counsellor.  We have a greater advantage over the OT believers.  Sometimes we need reminded of that.