6. Are you kidding me?” Then, he gets real with God: God doesn’t even address his questions or his assessment of the situation. With Job, He gave Him the teleological talk of the century by showing all that He designed and created. When the angel of the LORD leaves and after Gideon verbally responds to this sweet encounter with the angel of the LORD, the LORD then responds verbally with “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” For one, God always says “do not fear” to those who encounter Him because He is truly worth fearing. He must keep going from this point onward, but before we get to that let’s dive into the text first for some well-rounded context: “Now on the same night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night. Almost 2,000 years ago, all the forces of hell assembled against a man crucified between two thieves. 1. Gideon united the Israelites against their common enemies and through God's power, defeated them. A legacy that is unique to Gideon and to Gideon alone. Information: As Winston Churchill once said, “You have enemies? Use me as You wish and I will serve You according to Your will. Bottom line: something or someone changed Joash’s heart because he let Gideon live and stood up for him. As for the youth of Succoth? Then they all go after the Midianites. What prominent events transpired in the person’s life? It is hard to blame Jether for his actions. The loaf of bread may also signify how the Midianites were known for taking the Israelites resources, only to have it literally come back on their heads. There are others like the 16th-century Swiss poet Benedikt Gletting wrote that the Swedish need the “Sword of Gideon” in his work. “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” said the angel of the Lord to Gideon. Name: Gideon The men of Succoth mocked the things of God, so God sends Gideon to judge them on His behalf for taunting Gideon who was an ambassador for God. They’re about to vanquish their enemies, but then God gives one final command to Gideon: you have too many men and need to send some home. I hope you have been able to take some time to read their stories for yourself. Here are just a few things I think Gideon would tell us if he could sit across the table over a cup of coffee: 828 Church | PO Box 3395, Wilmington, NC, 28406 |, “My Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?”, And, “where are all His miracles, which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?”, “But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”. He is hiding in a wine press, beating wheat because the Midianites keep stealing their harvest. He commands Gideon to do a number of things in sequential order: 1) take your father’s bull and a 7-yr. old bull, 2) pull down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it, 3) build an altar to the LORD on the stronghold previously holding Baal’s altar, 4) and then finally take the second bull and make an offering to the LORD using the wood from the Asherah. Judges 6:11-12. That Gideon is known for his years of prime faithfulness and not his latter years of consistent compromise. I love the way verse 12 reads: The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him “ The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” Did you notice where Gideon is in verse 11? There is a great, detailed article that thoroughly explains Baal worship, which you can read here. The Midianites under the leadership of kings Zalmunna and Zebah encroached on the land of the Israelites in central Palestine. Gideon nearly matches every category listed here and is praised by the author for his tremendous faith alongside some other faithful figures of history. Also of note, “the Book of Ruth was originally a part of the Book of Judges, but in A.D. 450 it was removed to become a book of its own” (3). How in the previous chapter, “the land was undisturbed for forty years” (, It’s usually during times of war when one finds out what they are made of in the face of extreme circumstances. When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army. Once the final sword is swung of this long war, the people of Israel ask Gideon to be their king and for Jether to rule over Israel alongside his father (v22). a. negative: Judges 6:1-24(click the link to read the passages) At the time Gideon appears on the pages of Scripture, the nation of Israel was being invaded year after year by hordes of nomadic Midianites who deprived them of both crops and livestock. When we first started, Gideon had an army of 32,000 men going against an army of 135,000 soldiers of Midian. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. After this whole span of time he gives into a stupid, sinful desire: misguided worship. God ran the numbers again. Let’s first examine the passage for this week and then dive into the deeper themes within the text: “Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose early and camped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.