Reflections on Judges 6

Judges 06 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Then once again the Israelites started disobeying the LORD, so he let the nation of Midian control Israel for seven years.
   
2. The Midianites were so cruel that many Israelites ran to the mountains and hid in caves.
   
3. Every time the Israelites would plant crops, the Midianites invaded Israel together with the Amalekites and other eastern nations.
   
4. They rode in on their camels, set up their tents, and then let their livestock eat the crops as far as the town of Gaza. The Midianites stole food, sheep, cattle, and donkeys. Like a swarm of locusts, they could not be counted, and they ruined the land wherever they went.
   
5. (SEE 6:4)
   
6. The Midianites took almost everything that belonged to the Israelites, and the Israelites begged the LORD for help.
   
7. (SEE 6:6)
   
8. Then the LORD sent a prophet to them with this message: I am the LORD God of Israel, so listen to what I say. You were slaves in Egypt, but I set you free and led you out of Egypt into this land. And when nations here made life miserable for you, I rescued you and helped you get rid of them and take their land.
   
9. (SEE 6:8)
   
10. I am your God, and I told you not to worship Amorite gods, even though you are living in the land of the Amorites. But you refused to listen.
    
11. One day an angel from the LORD went to the town of Ophrah and sat down under the big tree that belonged to Joash, a member of the Abiezer clan. Joash's son Gideon was nearby, threshing grain in a shallow pit, where he could not be seen by the Midianites.
    
12. The angel appeared and spoke to Gideon, "The LORD is helping you, and you are a strong warrior."
    
13. Gideon answered, "Please don't take this wrong, but if the LORD is helping us, then why have all of these awful things happened? We've heard how the LORD performed miracles and rescued our ancestors from Egypt. But those things happened long ago. Now the LORD has abandoned us to the Midianites."
    
14. Then the LORD himself said, "Gideon, you will be strong, because I am giving you the power to rescue Israel from the Midianites."
    
15. Gideon replied, "But how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest one in Manasseh, and everyone else in my family is more important than I am."
    
16. "Gideon," the LORD answered, "you can rescue Israel because I am going to help you! Defeating the Midianites will be as easy as beating up one man."
    
17. Gideon said, "It's hard to believe that I'm actually talking to the LORD. Please do something so I'll know that you really are the LORD.
    
18. And wait here until I bring you an offering." "All right, I'll wait," the LORD answered.
    
19. Gideon went home and killed a young goat, then started boiling the meat. Next, he opened a big sack of flour and made it into thin bread. When the meat was done, he put it in a basket and poured the broth into a clay cooking pot. He took the meat, the broth, and the bread and placed them under the big tree.
    
20. God's angel said, "Gideon, put the meat and the bread on this rock, and pour the broth over them." Gideon did as he was told.
    
21. The angel was holding a walking stick, and he touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick. Flames jumped from the rock and burned up the meat and the bread. When Gideon looked, the angel was gone.
    
22. Gideon realized that he had seen one of the LORD's angels. "Oh!" he moaned. "Now I'm going to die."
    
23. "Calm down!" the LORD told Gideon. "There's nothing to be afraid of. You're not going to die."
    
24. Gideon built an altar for worshiping the LORD and called it "The LORD Calms Our Fears." It still stands there in Ophrah, a town in the territory of the Abiezer clan.
    
25. That night the LORD spoke to Gideon again: Get your father's second-best bull, the one that's seven years old. Use it to pull down the altar where your father worships Baal and cut down the sacred pole next to the altar.
    
26. Then build an altar for worshiping me on the highest part of the hill where your town is built. Use layers of stones for my altar, not just a pile of rocks. Cut up the wood from the pole, make a fire, kill the bull, and burn it as a sacrifice to me.
    
27. Gideon chose ten of his servants to help him, and they did everything God had said. But since Gideon was afraid of his family and the other people in town, he did it all at night.
    
28. When the people of the town got up the next morning, they saw that Baal's altar had been knocked over, and the sacred pole next to it had been cut down. Then they noticed the new altar covered with the remains of the sacrificed bull.
    
29. "Who could have done such a thing?" they asked. And they kept on asking, until finally someone told them, "Gideon the son of Joash did it."
    
30. The men of the town went to Joash and said, "Your son Gideon knocked over Baal's altar and cut down the sacred pole next to it. Hand him over, so we can kill him!"
    
31. The crowd pushed closer and closer, but Joash replied, "Are you trying to take revenge for Baal? Are you trying to rescue Baal? If you are, you will be the ones who are put to death, and it will happen before another day dawns. If Baal really is a god, let him take his own revenge on someone who tears down his altar."
    
32. That same day, Joash changed Gideon's name to Jerubbaal, explaining, "He tore down Baal's altar, so let Baal take revenge himself."
    
33. All the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern nations got together and crossed the Jordan River. Then they invaded the land of Israel and set up camp in Jezreel Valley.
    
34. The LORD's Spirit took control of Gideon, and Gideon blew a signal on a trumpet to tell the men in the Abiezer clan to follow him.
    
35. He also sent messengers to the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, telling the men of these tribes to come and join his army. Then they set out toward the enemy camp.
    
36. Gideon prayed to God, "I know that you promised to help me rescue Israel, but I need proof. Tonight I'll put some wool on the stone floor of that threshing-place over there. If you really will help me rescue Israel, then tomorrow morning let there be dew on the wool, but let the stone floor be dry."
    
37. (SEE 6:36)
    
38. And that's just what happened. Early the next morning, Gideon got up and checked the wool. He squeezed out enough water to fill a bowl.
    
39. But Gideon prayed to God again. "Don't be angry at me," Gideon said. "Let me try this just one more time, so I'll really be sure you'll help me. Only this time, let the wool be dry and the stone floor be wet with dew."
    
40. That night, God made the stone floor wet with dew, but he kept the wool dry.
    

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    Over a 40 year period in which Israel experienced peace, the people again drifted into idolatry. Several questions come to mind regarding this repeated cycle of idolatry. What was the appeal of Baal worship compared to God's mighty works on their behalf? Why were the Israelites so prone to forget what God had done for them? Since there was normally a generation of time lapse between their cycles of disobedience one wonders if they were failing to teach their children about God and how He had blessed them? Actually, there is little doubt that the parents were failing to teach their children of God's blessing and greatness, for this teaching would not only have encouraged the children to worship God and stay away from idolatry but would have kept the parents from forgetting.
    
    After 40 years of peace, God sent the Midianites to oppress Israel because of her idolatry. The Midianite oppression was not a continual enslavement as other oppression had been, but rather a seasonal invasion of their land and confiscation of their crops. They came in such large numbers that scripture describes them as a "swarm of locusts." Their intent went beyond simply taking food for themselves for it says they "entered the land to waste it." (6:5) Their intent was as much malice as it was survival. The result was that Israel became "poverty stricken." (6:6)
    
    Though Israel had forgotten God enough to slip into idolatry, they had not forgotten Him altogether. They remembered Him as a deliverer and so they cried out to Him for deliverance from the Midianites. Before sending a deliverer the Lord sent a prophet to remind them of how He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and then driven out the people of Canaan and given the land to them. He also reminded them of how God had commanded them not to "fear the gods of the Amorites," and rebuked them for not obeying God. This reference to fearing the gods of the Amorites is probably a reference to revering them.
    
    Following the visit by the prophet came a visit of an angel of the Lord to a man by the name of Gideon. The angel addressed Gideon as a "mighty warrior." No doubt refering to what he would become with God's spirit upon him rather than his identity at that time. Gideon voiced the perspective of most people, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened?" (6:13) We may not credit God for His blessings to us, but we will for sure blame Him for our problems. But despite Gideon's shallow viewpoint, the angel commissioned him to "deliver Israel from the power of Midian." (6:14) But Gideon protested, "how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house." (6:15) Gideon was well aware of his inability to take on this task. I  suggest this is a good starting point that will press one to rely on the Lord.
    
    Gideon requested a couple of signs from the Lord and in turn the Lord requested one from Gideon.  First, Gideon asked for a sign to assure him it was indeed the Lord speaking to him. The Lord gave him this sign by burning up the offering Gideon gave to Him. Then the Lord told Gideon to tear down the altar of Baal that belonged to his father and build a altar to the Lord. This was Gideon's test and sign to the Lord of his obedience. Though it may seem to be a very simple request, it was an act that nearly got Gideon killed.
    
    After Gideon passed his test, "the Spirit of the Lord enveloped" him and he began to rally the troops of Israel to do battle with the Midianites. Then Gideon asked for another sign of the Lord. This is his well-known sign often referred to as "laying out the fleece before the Lord." There were two parts to this sign. First, Gideon layed out the fleece and asked that the Lord make it wet with dew and leave the ground around it dry. The Lord granted this request. Then Gideon asked to repeat the sign but this time make the ground around the fleece wet with dew and the fleece remain dry. Again, the Lord granted his request. The purpose of this sign was to assure Gideon that the Lord would be with him in challenging the Midianites.