Judges Chapter 6

This chapter is about Gideon. Gideon is Deborah’s successor for being a judge/leader of the Israelites. It seems like, after Joshua, none of the leaders really had direct contact with God. You know, like Moses saw God, like actually saw Him. Joshua talked directly to God. But the judges don’t seem to carry that same privilege. Except for maybe Deborah, because she was a prophetess. Let’s get into it, friends! Enjoy.

So we start with the Israelites not listening to their god, again. (Cyclical) For 7 years, God gave the Israelites into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites sheltered themselves in mountain clefts, caves, & strongholds. (This makes us think of the Indigenous Americans of the Southwest.)

Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, & other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land, ruining the crops all the way to Gaza. They didn’t spare a living thing for the Israelites, neither sheep nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock & their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men & their camels. They invaded the Israelite land to ravage it. Midian impoverished the Israelites so much that they began to cry to God, again!

When the Israelites cried to God because of Midian, He sent them an unnamed prophet who told them: “This is what God says: ‘I brought y’all out of slavery in Egypt. I snatched y’all from the power of Egypt & from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you & gave you their lands. I said to you, ‘I’m the Lord your God; don’t go worshipping the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you’ve not listened.”

An angel of God came & sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. Where his son, Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel appeared to Gideon saying, “My guy. God is with you, mighty warrior.”

Gideon starts in on the angel, questioning him. “But sir, if God is with us, what the hell has all this happened to us? (Ooo, we know! Pick us, teacher, pick us! *Raises both hands fanatically*) Where are all these cool things that our forefathers told us about the good ol’ days? But God’s abandoned us & put us into the hands of the Midianites.”

God turned to Gideon telling him to go into the strength he had. Gideon was going to be the Israelites’ rescuer. Gideon pulls a Moses, pretty much. “My clan is the smallest & weakest in Manasseh. As for me personally, I’m the least in my family.” (See, Moses vibes.)

God tells Gideon that He is totally going to have Gideon’s back. That Gideon & God was going to kick some Midianite butt together.

Gideon wants to see some ID. Gideon was the original Doubting Thomas. But it’s more along the lines of “wise as a serpent, gentle as a dove” kinda deal. Gideon tells God & the angel not to go anywhere. They promised they wouldn’t go anywhere.

Gideon goes & gets young goat meat & unyeasted bread as an offering. The angel told Gideon to put the meat & bread on a specific rock. As soon as Gideon does, the angel takes the staff that was in their hand & touches the meat & bread. Fire shot up from the rock. This consumed the meat & bread.

Then the angel decides that they’re David Copperfield (If you don’t know who this is, Google him immediately. We’ll wait…..Welcome back!) because the angel disappears. When Gideon realizes that is an angel of God, he freaks out.

God, however, tells Gideon that he’s going to be okay and that he’s not going to die. So Gideon built an altar to God there. He called it God is Peace. To this day, it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

That same night God said to Gideon, “Look, take another bull from your father’s herd. Destroy your father’s altars to Baal & cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then you can build a proper altar, to Me, of course. Using the wood of the Asherah pole, offer the bull as a burnt offering.”

So Gideon took 10 servants & did what God told him to do. But Gideon was afraid of his dad, & the other men of the town, so he did this at night. So in the morning, everyone was asking who had done the vandalism. They found out that Gideon had done it.

The men of the town demanded Joash to bring out his son, Gideon. They wanted to inflict a capital punishment on Gideon for this. But Gideon’s dad wasn’t having any of that mess. He tells them that if Baal was really a god, he could defend himself. So from that day, they gave Gideon the nickname of: Jerub-Baal. (This means ‘Let Baal Contend.’) They let Baal contend with Gideon since he’s the one who tore down Baal’s altar.

Now all of the Midianites, Amalekites, & other eastern peoples joined forces & crossed the River Jordan. They camped in the Valley of Jezreel. Then the Holy Spirit/Ghost came upon Gideon. He blew a trumpet (again, probably a shofar), which summoned the Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, being like Paul Revere. “To arms, the British are coming! To arms!” Asher, Zebulun, & Naphtali went also.

Gideon decides to test God, twice. This guy. Right? Gideon says to the Big Guy, “Hey, buddy, pal. How ya doin’? If you’ll save the Israelites by my hand, of course, as YOU promised, Big Guy. I’m going to put this wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there’s dew only on the fleece & all the ground is dry, then I’ll know for sure that God will save the Israelites, by my hand, of course.”

Gideon got up early the next day. He squeezed the fleece, wringing out the dew into a bowl. There was a whole bowlful of dew water.

Gideon decides to get squirrel-y again! Gideon says to God, “Don’t get mad at me! Please. Let me just ask one more “test” with this here fleece. This time could You make the fleece dry & the ground covered with dew?”

That night God made it so. (Sorry.) Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.