Judges 6:1-24, 36-40
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Summary
- The people cry out to God for deliverance from their enemies (sent by God because of the people's evil). God sends Gideon to deliver them.
Details and/or Comments
- God delays deliverance, because repentance must come first.
- God personally (i.e., in human form) commissions Gideon to be the leader who will bring deliverance.
Scripture
Judges 6:1-24, 36-40 – Midianite's plundering of the land, almost like a “scorched earth policy”; Gideon's calling, associated with supernatural and providential miracles.
The Midianites
| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Jdg 6:1 The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
Jdg 6:2 The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. |
All this happened because of Israel's sins. God sent the Midianites in judgment against Israel.
Before they entered the land, God warned them that this type of thing would happen, if they abandoned the true God and went after idols! (See Leviticus 26:1-45 for an example of both blessings and cursings they could expect, depending on which way they chose to go.) |
| Jdg 6:3 So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them;
Jdg 6:4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey. Jdg 6:5 For they came up with their livestock and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it. |
What typically happened: Something like the “scorched earth policy” - plundering and destroying everything that Israel had as food, or could use for growing food (such as the animals used for agricultural purposes).
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| Jdg 6:6 Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to Yahweh. | This brought Israel to the point they were willing to call out to God. |
| Jdg 6:7 It happened, when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh because of Midian,
Jdg 6:8 that Yahweh sent a prophet to the children of Israel: and he said to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; Jdg 6:9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land; Jdg 6:10 and I said to you, I am Yahweh your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But you have not listened to my voice. |
However, the first thing needed is repentance (not relief from troubles). After that can come deliverance.
God has no obligation to deliver those who reject him. They need to first change their attitudes... then cry out to God. (Even then, the only basis they had for expecting deliverance was God's promises to their forefathers. It's not that people deserve God's deliverance! Verse 10 - The God/god you "fear" is the one you serve. |
Gideon
| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Jdg 6:11 The angel of Yahweh came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
Jdg 6:12 The angel of Yahweh appeared to him, and said to him, Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor. Jdg 6:13 Gideon said to him, Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt? but now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian. Jdg 6:14 Yahweh looked at him, and said, Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent you? Jdg 6:15 He said to him, Oh, Lord, with which shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. |
The call of Gideon.
The two terms “the angel of Yahweh” and “Yahweh” are used interchangeably. This was God in human flesh. This is why Gideon was frightened and anticipated death (see below, v. 22-23). At first, Gideon did not realize who he was talking to. In v. 13, the word "lord" is a polite way to address a stranger, like "sir." In v. 15, he uses a different form of the word "Lord" that is more commonly used with God. By v. 22, he is absolutely certain about the identity of the speaker. |
| Jdg 6:16 Yahweh said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.
Jdg 6:17 He said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me. Jdg 6:18 Please don't go away, until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you. He said, I will wait until you come again. Jdg 6:19 Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it. |
Requesting a sign, to confirm the identity of the speaker.
Though he now knew that the "person" had a message from God, he still wasn't totally sure that it was God. |
| Jdg 6:20 The angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth. He did so.
Jdg 6:21 Then the angel of Yahweh put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of Yahweh departed out of his sight. |
A most-likely supernatural sign is given – fire from the rock. |
| Jdg 6:22 Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh; and Gideon said, Alas, Lord Yahweh! because I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.
Jdg 6:23 Yahweh said to him, Peace be to you; don't be afraid: you shall not die. Jdg 6:24 Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it Yahweh is Peace: to this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. |
Both: 1) terror (once he fully realized who he was talking to) and 2) assurance (from the one he had spoken to). Here, Yahweh speaks, but apparently not in a visible form. |
Preparation for war. Considering the odds, Gideon wants to make sure that it was God's will!
| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Jdg 6:36 Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,
Jdg 6:37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry on all the ground, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken. Jdg 6:38 It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. Jdg 6:39 Gideon said to God, Don't let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: Please let me make a trial just this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew. Jdg 6:40 God did so that night: for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. |
Most-likely a providential miracle.
Note Gideon's attitude! He wasn't merely trying to be entertained by God. Nor was he trying to "test" God. Because of the people's sins, God had already declined to deliver them. Gideon needed to know with absolute certainty that the message he had just received was truly from God. After all, it was a matter of life and death. (Consider what would have happened if he tried to deliver the people without God's help!) |
Scripture Passages
(Only books that have relevance to this study have active links. The others are in italics.)
Genesis • Exodus • Leviticus • Numbers • Deuteronomy • Joshua • Judges • Ruth • 1 Samuel • 2 Samuel • 1 Kings • 2 Kings • 1 Chronicles • 2 Chronicles • Ezra • Nehemiah • Esther • Job • Psalms • Proverbs • Ecclesiastes • Song of Solomon • Isaiah • Jeremiah • Lamentations • Ezekiel • Daniel • Hosea • Joel • Amos • Obadiah • Jonah • Micah • Nahum • Habakkuk • Zephaniah • Haggai • Zechariah • Malachi Matthew • Mark • Luke • John • Acts • Romans • 1 Corinthians • 2 Corinthians • Galatians • Ephesians • Philippians • Colossians • 1 Thessalonians • 2 Thessalonians • 1 Timothy • 2 Timothy • Titus • Philemon • Hebrews • James • 1 Peter • 2 Peter • 1 John • 2 John • 3 John • Jude • Revelation |
—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——
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The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.
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Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.
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