Old Testament Characters (Part 9)
Does God Really Care About Us?" - JUDGES 6-8

Judges 6:13: ""But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has
all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told
us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But
now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.""

He had chastened them (vv. 1-6).
"My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His
correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son
in whom he delights" (Prov. 3:11-12).

Charles Spurgeon said, "The Lord does not permit His children to sin
successfully."

God is not a "permissive parent" who allows His children to do as they
please, for His ultimate purpose is that they might be "conformed to the
image of His Son" (Rom. 8:29).

· Chastening is evidence of God’s hatred for sin and His love for His
people.
· We can’t conceive of a holy God wanting anything less than His very
best for His children, and the best He can give us is a holy character
like that of Jesus Christ.
· Obedience to the Lord builds character, but sin destroys character; and
God cannot sit idly by and watch His children destroy themselves.

Israel had already experienced 43 years of suffering under the harsh rule
of the neighboring nations, but they hadn’t yet learned their lesson and
turned away from the heathen idols. This is the fourth cycle in this
book: apostasy, judgment, supplication, and deliverance.

· The Midianites organized a coalition of nations to invade the land, and
all that Israel could do was flee to the hills and hide from the enemy.
Their invasion was most unusual, since it came every year just as the
harvest was ready to be gathered. Their work was so devastating they were
compared to locusts.
· When the Jews returned to their homes, they found only devastation; and
they had to face another year without adequate food.

He had rebuked them (vv. 7-10).
Previous to this, an angel of the Lord had come to reprove Israel for her
sins (2:1-5); and now an unnamed prophet came to repeat the message.
· Often in the Old Testament, when the Lord denounced His people for
their disobedience, He reminded them of the wonderful way He had
delivered them from Egypt.
· He also reminded them of His generosity in giving them the land and
helping them overcome their enemies.
· If the Jews were suffering from Gentile bondage, it wasn’t God’s fault!
He had given them everything they needed.

The purpose of chastening is to make God’s children willing to listen to
God’s Word. Often after spanking a child, parents will reassure the child
of their love and then gently admonish the child to listen to what they
say and obey it.

God speaks to His children, either through the loving voice of Scripture
or the heavy hand of chastening; and if we ignore the first, we must
endure the second. One way or another, the Lord is going to get our
attention and deal with us.

Now He came down to help them (vv. 11-13).
The people were crying out to the Lord for help (6:7), as people usually
do when they’re in trouble. The Israelites gave no evidence of real
repentance, but their affliction moved God’s loving heart. God in His
mercy doesn’t give us what we do deserve; and in His grace, He gives us
what we don’t deserve.

When you consider the kind of man Gideon was at this time, you wonder why
God selected him; Gideon’s family worshiped Baal (Judges 6:25-32),
although we have no reason to believe that Gideon joined them. Gideon
wasn’t a man of strong faith or courage, and God had to patiently work
with him to prepare him for leadership.

Gideon’s negative response to the Lord’s words indicates his lack of
faith and spiritual perception. Here was Almighty God telling him that He
was with him and would make him a conqueror, and Gideon replied by
denying everything God said!

"God would have to spend time with Gideon turning his question marks into
exclamation points."

2. "DOES GOD KNOW WHAT HE’S DOING?" (JUDGES 6:14-24)
Gideon’s first response was to question God’s concern for His people, but
then he questioned God’s wisdom in choosing him to be the nation’s
deliverer.

The Lord’s statements recorded in verses 12 and 14 should have given
Gideon all the assurance he needed, but he wouldn’t believe God’s Word.
In this, he was like Moses (Ex. 3:7-12), whose story Gideon surely knew
since he was acquainted with Hebrew history (Judges 6:13).

"It has often been said that "God’s commandments are God’s enablements."
Once God has called and commissioned us, all we have to do is obey Him by
faith, and He will do the rest. God cannot lie and God never fails. Faith
means obeying God in spite of what we see, how we feel, or what the
consequences might be."

Gideon asked for a sign to assure him that it was really the Lord who was
speaking to him (1 Cor. 1:22), and the Lord was gracious to accommodate
Himself to Gideon’s unbelief. Gideon prepared a sacrifice, which was a
costly thing to do at a time when food was scarce.

An ephah of flour was about a half a bushel, enough to make bread for a
family for several days. It probably took him an hour to dress the meat
and prepare the unleavened cakes, but God waited for him to return and
then consumed the offering by bringing fire from the rock.

The sudden appearance of the fire and disappearance of the visitor
convinced Gideon that indeed he had seen God and spoken to Him, and this
frightened him even more.

God had to give Gideon a message of peace to prepare him for fighting a
war. Unless we’re at peace with God, we can’t face the enemy with
confidence and fight the Lord’s battles. It was customary for the Jews to
identify special events and places by putting up monuments, so Gideon
built an altar and called it "The Lord is peace." Gideon now believed the
Lord was able to use him, not because of who he was but because of who
God was.

3. "WILL GOD TAKE CARE OF ME?" (JUDGES 6:25-32)
What kind of a day did Gideon have after his dramatic meeting with the
Lord? Remember, he belonged to a family that worshiped Baal; and if he
challenged the Midianites in the name of the Lord, it meant defying his
father, his family, his neighbors, and the multitudes of people in Israel
who were worshiping Baal.

Knowing that Gideon was still afraid, God assigned him a task right at
home to show him that He would see him through. After all, if we don’t
practice our faith at home, how can we practice it sincerely anyplace
else? Gideon had to take his stand in his own village before he dared to
face the enemy on the battlefield.

· "Before God gives His servants great victories in public, He sometimes
prepares them by giving them smaller victories at home.
· Before David killed the giant Goliath in the sight of two armies, he
learned to trust God by killing a lion and a bear in the field where
nobody saw it but God (1 Sam. 17:32-37).
· When we prove that we’re faithful with a few things, God will trust us
with greater things (Matt. 25:21)."

The assignment wasn’t an easy one. God told him to destroy the altar
dedicated to Baal, build an altar to the Lord, and sacrifice one of his
father’s valuable bullocks, using the wood of the Asherah pole for fuel.

Jewish altars were made of uncut stones and were simple, but Baal’s
altars were elaborate and next to them was a wooden pillar ("grove,"
Judges 6:26; "Asherah pole," NIV) dedicated to the goddess Asherah, whose
worship involved unspeakably vile practices. Since altars to Baal were
built on high places, it would have been difficult to obey God’s orders
without attracting attention.

It’s worth noting that true believers can’t build an altar to the Lord
unless first they tear down the altars they’ve built to the false gods
they worship. Our God is a jealous God (Ex. 20:5) and will not share His
glory or our love with another.

Gideon had privately built his own altar to the Lord (Judges 6:24), but
now he had to take his public stand; and he had to do it without
compromise. Before he could declare war on Midian, he had to declare war
on Baal.

When ten other men are involved, it’s not easy to keep your plans a
secret; so it wasn’t long before the whole town knew that Gideon was the
one who had destroyed his father’s idols. The men of the city considered
this a capital offense and wanted to kill Gideon. Gideon was no doubt
wondering what would happen to him, but God proved Himself well able to
handle the situation.

Joash, Gideon’s father, had every reason to be angry with his son. Gideon
had smashed his father’s altar to Baal and replaced it with an altar to
Jehovah. He had sacrificed his father’s prize bull to the Lord and had
used the sacred Asherah pole for fuel. (See Isa. 44:13-20.)

But God so worked in Joash’s heart that he defended Gideon before the
town mob and even insulted Baal! "What kind of a god is Baal that he
can’t even defend himself?" asked Joash. "What kind of a god is Baal that
he can’t even plead his own cause?" Joash asked. Because of this, the men
of the town gave Gideon the nickname "Jerubbaal," which means "let Baal
contend" or "Baal’s antagonist."

4. "DOES GOD KEEP HIS PROMISES?" (JUDGES 6:33-40)
The Midianites and their allies made their annual invasion about that
time as more than 135,000 men (8:10; 7:12) moved into the Valley of
Jezreel. It was time for Gideon to act, and the Spirit of God gave him
the wisdom and power that he needed. (See Judges 3:10; 11:29; 13:25;
14:6, 19; 15:14.)

Gideon blew the trumpet first in his own hometown, and the men of Abiezer
rallied behind him. Gideon’s reformation in the town had actually
accomplished something! Then he sent messengers throughout his own tribe
of Manasseh as well as the neighboring tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and
Naphtali. These four tribes were near the Valley of Jezreel, and
therefore the invading army affected them most. Thus at Gideon’s call,
32,000 men responded.

But what chance did 32,000 men have against an army of 135,000 men plus
numberless camels? (Judges 7:12) God had promised a victory...Gideon
doubted God’s promise. Did God really want him to lead the Jewish army?
What did he know about warfare? After all, he was only an ordinary
farmer; and there were others in the tribes who could do a much better
job. So, before he led the attack, he asked God to give him two more
signs.

The phrase "putting out the fleece" is a familiar one in religious
circles. It means asking God to guide us in a decision by fulfilling some
condition that we lay down.

The first sifting (vv. 1-3).
God tested Gideon’s faith by sifting his army of 32,000 volunteers until
only 300 men were left. If Gideon’s faith had been in the size of his
army, then his faith would have been very weak by the time God was
through with them! Less than 1 percent of the original 32,000 ended up
following Gideon to the battlefield.

God told Gideon why He was decreasing the size of the army: He didn’t
want the soldiers to boast that they had won the victory over the
Midianites. Victories won because of faith bring glory to God because
nobody can explain how they happened.

· Pride after the battle robs God of glory, and fear during the battle
robs God’s soldiers of courage and power.
· Fear has a way of spreading, and one timid soldier can do more damage
than a whole company of enemy soldiers.
· Fear and faith can’t live together very long in the same heart.
· Either fear will conquer faith and we’ll quit, or faith will conquer
fear and we’ll triumph.

John Wesley said, "Give me a hundred men who fear nothing but sin and
love nothing but God, and I will shake the gates of hell!"

The second sifting (vv. 4-8).
God put Gideon’s surviving 10,000 men through a second test by asking
them all to take a drink down at the river. We never know when God is
testing us in some ordinary experience of life.

Marsden: "Make every occasion a great occasion, for you can never tell
when somebody may be taking your measure for a larger place." Why did
God use this method? We just don’t know!

God graciously gave Gideon one more promise of victory: "By the 300 men
that lapped will I save you" (v. 7). By claiming this promise and obeying
the Lord’s directions, Gideon defeated the enemy and brought peace to the
land for forty years (8:28).

The soldiers who departed left some of their equipment with the 300 men
thus each man could have a torch, a trumpet, and a jar—strange weapons
indeed for fighting a war.

God gave Gideon another promise (v. 9).
The Lord told Gideon for the fourth time that He had delivered the
Midianite host into his hand. Although the battle must be fought, Israel
had already won! The 300 men could attack the enemy host confident that
Israel was the victor.

· "Some people have the idea that confident, courageous faith is a kind
of religious arrogance, but just the opposite is true.
· Christians who believe God’s promises and see Him do great things are
humbled to know that the God of the universe cares about them and is on
their side.
· They claim no merit in their faith or honor from their victories.
· All the glory goes to the Lord because He did it all!"

"Hope and love are important Christian virtues, but the Holy Spirit
devoted an entire chapter in the New Testament—Hebrews 11—to the
victories of faith won by ordinary people who dared to believe God and
act upon His promises."

God gave Gideon another sign (vv. 10-14).
It took courage for Gideon and his servant to move into enemy territory
and get close enough to the Midianite camp to overhear the conversation
of two soldiers. God had given one of the soldiers a dream, and that
dream told Gideon that God would deliver the Midianites into his hand.
The Lord had already told Gideon this fact, but now Gideon heard it from
the lips of the enemy!

It’s significant that Gideon paused to worship the Lord before he did
anything else. He was so overwhelmed by the Lord’s goodness and mercy
that he fell on his face in submission and gratitude.

God gave him wisdom to prepare the army (7:15b-18).
Gideon was a new man when he and his servant returned to the Israelite
camp. His fears and doubts were gone as he mobilized his small army and
infused courage into their hearts by what he said and did. "The Lord has
delivered the camp of Midian into your hand," he announced to the men (v.
15, NKJV).

Gideon’s plan was simple but effective. He gave each of his men a trumpet
to blow, a jar to break, and a torch to burn. They would encircle the
enemy camp, the torches inside the jars and their trumpets in their
hands. The trumpets were rams’ horns (the shofar) such as Joshua used at
Jericho, and perhaps this connection with that great victory helped
encourage Gideon and his men as they faced the battle. At Gideon’s
signal, the men would blow the trumpets, break the pitchers, reveal the
lights, and then shout, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" God would
do the rest.

God gave him courage to lead the army (vv. 19-22).
Gideon led his small army from the Spring of Harod ("trembling") to the
Valley of Jezreel, where they all took their places around the camp. At
Gideon’s signal, they all blew their rams’ horns, broke the jars, and
shouted, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!"

Finding themselves surrounded by sudden light and loud noises, the
Midianites assumed that they were being attacked by a large army, and the
result was panic. The Lord intervened and put a spirit of confusion in
the camp, and the Midianites began to kill each other. Then they realized
that the safest thing to do was flee. Thus they took off on the caravan
route to the southeast with the Israelite army pursuing.

’God gave him opportunity to enlarge the army (vv. 23-25).
It was obvious that 300 men couldn’t pursue thousands of enemy soldiers,
so Gideon sent out a call for more volunteers. I’m sure that many of the
men from the original army of 32,000 responded to Gideon’s call, and even
the proud tribe of Ephraim came to his aid. To them was given the honor
of capturing and slaying Oreb ("raven") and Zeeb ("wolf"), the two
princes of Midian.

Gideon’s great victory over the Midianites became a landmark event in the
history of Israel, for it reminded the Jews of God’s power to deliver
them from their enemies. The day of Midian was a great day that Israel
would never forget (Ps. 83:11; Isa. 9:4; 10:26).

"The church today can also learn from this event and be encouraged by it.
God doesn’t need large numbers to accomplish His purposes, nor does He
need especially gifted leaders. When the church starts to depend on
"bigness"—big buildings, big crowds, big budgets—then faith becomes
misplaced, and God can’t give His blessing. When leaders depend on their
education, skill, and experience rather than in God, then God abandons
them and looks for a Gideon."

Hebrews 11:32 puts Gideon at the head of the list of judges. Jewish
history records him as second only to Samuel as Judge.

Though he sometimes wavered in his faith, he was still a "man of faith"
who dared to trust the Word of God. When we realize that he was a farmer,
not a trained warrior, we see fhow wonderful his faith was!

Last modified: April 18, 2006