Judges 6, Call of Gideon

Now Israel needs another judge. This will be our fifth, after Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar and Deborah. This judge will have a spotted history and his reign will hint at the fractured and degraded nature of Israel

Judges 6: 1-5, Midianite oppression

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.

Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.

The Israelites have to build hideaways in caves in the hills, to protect themselves from the Midianites. The Midianites, "like locusts" would swarm over Israel and destroy their crops and animals.

Judges 6: 6-10, Cry to YHWH

Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land.  I said to you, `I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me."

Eventually the Israelites cry out -- they are so impoverished that they need God again.  An unamed prophet is sent out.  (This may represent a summary of what is to come.)

Judges 6: 11-18, A messenger visits Gideon

The angel of the LORD came and 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 of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."

"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."

The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"

"But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."

The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you." And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return."

A "messenger" from YHWH appears to Gideon.  Gideon is secretly threshing wheat in a winepress, a small area that would have allowed him to stay out of the view of Midianites. (A photo of an ancient Hebrew winepress is here.) The village of Ophrah of Abiezrite, in Manasseh, was probably close to Shechem. (There is apparently another Ophrah in Benjamin; this Wikipedia stub.)

The author of Judges reports a dialogue between YHWH and His chosen prophet.  Just like Moses, Gideon argues back.

The phrase "My clan is the weakest..." uses the Hebrew word eleph. That Hebrew word, often translated "thousand", is translated "clan" here as "thousand" does not fit the context.

Judges 6: 19-21, The messenger lights a fire

Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." 

And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.

The messenger displays power by setting the sacrifice on fire. The burnt offering requires no fire from Gideon.

Judges 6: 22-24, YHWH is Peace

When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!"

But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die."

So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Gideon's eyes are open now.  This is not a human messenger. Gideon then creates an altar that still stands in the time of the author of Judges at the site of Ophrah

Judges 6: 25-27, Asherah pole cut down

That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering."

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

Gideon acts against the village idols, but he is still timid.

Judges 6: 28-32, Joash defends Gideon

In the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal's altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar! They asked each other, "Who did this?" 

When they carefully investigated, they were told, "Gideon son of Joash did it."

The men of the town demanded of Joash, "Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it."

But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, "Are you going to plead Baal's cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar."

So that day they called Gideon "Jerub-Baal," saying, "Let Baal contend with him," because he broke down Baal's altar.

The townspeople discover the culprit but Gideon's father defends Gideon -- and suggests a challenge to Baal. Because of this challenge, Gideon receives a second name, Jerub-Baal.

Judges 6: 33-35, Gideon calls out an army

Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.

Once Gideon is identified as opposing Baal, emboldened by the Spirit of YHWH, Gideon takes an active role in resisting the eastern people (from across the Jordan) who are oppressing them. Several tribes are called out to form an army

Judges 6: 36-40, A fleece

Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised-- look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said."

And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew--a bowlful of water.

Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew."

That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Gideon calls out the tribes but also lays out a test using a wool fleece. Twice. Apparently the result of the first test is more natural, as the fleece would tend to absorb water during the cool night.  The second test is less natural and apparently more convincing to Gideon.

These tests, have come down through the ages as "Gideon's fleece". I recall, as a teenager, people using the idea of this chapter to test God's direction by demanding some type of special, miraculous response. But there is nothing in the text that recommends Gideon's actions. Gideon's "laying out a fleece" here reveals his timidity and his desire to avoid the commandments clearly given him already by the supernatural messenger. In this case, the messenger seems unperturbed by Gideon's timidity and answers his tests anyway. Gideon is now locked into action.