Midian Oppresses Israel
6 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD.
When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD on account of the Midianites, the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
The Call of Gideon
Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal
When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.
Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.
The Sign of the Fleece
Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
(ESV)
Judges 6 Commentary
In Judges 6, the Israelites once again sinned against the Lord and were oppressed by the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites, along with the Amalekites and other desert tribes devastated Israel’s crops and livestock. The Israelites cried out to the Lord and He sent a prophet to remind them of His past deliverance and their failure to obey Him.
The angel of the Lord then appeared to Gideon, a man from the tribe of Manasseh, calling him to deliver Israel. Gideon, feeling inadequate, questioned how he could accomplish this, but the Lord reassured him with promises of victory. Gideon offered a meal to confirm God’s presence which the angel consumed by fire from a rock. Gideon, realizing he had encountered the Lord, built an altar and named it “The Lord is Peace.”
That night, God commanded Gideon to destroy his father’s altar to Baal as well as the Asherah pole beside it. Gideon was fearful, so he did it secretly under the cover of night. The next morning, the townspeople discovered his actions but his father, Joash, defended him, declaring that if Baal was a true god, he could defend himself. Gideon’s act earned him the name Jerubbaal.
Later, the Spirit of the Lord empowered Gideon to summon an army to fight the Midianites. Seeking further confirmation, Gideon tested God with a fleece of wool, asking for dew only on the fleece and not on the ground. When God fulfilled the sign, Gideon asked for one more test, and God made the fleece dry and the ground wet, which confirmed His call.
The Midianites
Yet again, Israel found themselves at rock bottom and yet again, they cried out to God for deliverance. This time, their “rock bottom” came in the form of the Midianites – a desert people who traced their origins back to Abraham’s second wife. The tension between Israel and the Midianites ran deep, a longstanding conflict that began long before and continued through generations. Interestingly, many years earlier, when Israel was wandering in the desert, they had a chance to eliminate the Midianites (Numbers 31), but they failed. Now, the Midianites had repopulated, and their oppression was even worse than before.
Once again we see the theme of compromise rearing its ugly head. The book of Judges is an object lesson in what happens when we do not put away sin. It lingers, grows, and eventually consumes us. The sins we do not put away for good will return. That doesn’t mean that we will be perfect. It simply means that when God brings something to our attention that is a hindrance or shortcoming, we wholeheartedly address it with honesty and intentionality.
The attacks from the Midianites were not only frequent but also far more oppressive. In fact, they were so strong that they pushed the Israelites into hiding. The Israelites dug caves and built secret shelters, seeking safety away from the threat that loomed over them. As people dependent on the land for food, Israel couldn’t escape the relentless raids. Every time they planted crops, the Midianites (along with several other nations) would swarm their land, destroy their harvest, and take everything, including their livestock.
At this point, Israel’s situation had hit rock bottom. There was no food, no protection, and no hope. The very land they depended on had been taken from them. It was a moment of utter despair, and it was in this hopelessness that they finally turned to God.
Gideon
Gideon is not introduced as a hero but as a man hiding in fear. He is threshing wheat at the bottom of a hill, where the winepress is typically located, instead of at the top where the wind would help separate the chaff. This reflects his frustration and fear of the Midianites, as he avoids the usual threshing floor on the hilltop to stay hidden from their attacks.
“And what happens? Does the chaff blow away? No. It comes down around his neck and gets into his clothes making him very uncomfortable. There he is, trying his best to thresh in a place like that, and all the time rebuking himself for being a coward, afraid to go to the hilltop. I think he looked up there rather longingly and thought, “Do I dare go to the hilltop?” Gideon was having a very frustrating experience, but God was going to use this man. We will see why God used this kind of a man.”
J. Vernon McGee
“Then the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said: “The LORD is with you, valiant warrior.””
Judges 6:12 CSB
Valiant warrior? You mean the man who is afraid to thresh wheat on top of the hill? Him? Gideon might have looked back to see if the angel of the Lord was talking to someone else. Gideon was not only a coward, but as we will find out, he is also skeptical, pessimistic, and weak! Who says the Bible doesn’t have a sense of humor?
This is a great point, though. The Lord does not see us as we see ourselves. The Lord sees who He created us to be, even when we can’t see it. He sees us for who we are through grace by faith!
“This term can refer to fighting men, but it can also refer to men of prominence and wealth who belong to the upper class and aristocracy of the nation. By applying the term to Gideon, the LORD was obviously preparing Gideon for the commission he was about to receive. Note that it was not the term mighty warrior that stuck in Gideon’s mind; it was the reference to the LORD being with him.”
The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible – Old Testament
I Am With You
Gideon was a practical man. He rightly points out the present struggle of the Israelites to which the Lord once again responds, “I am with you.” These are powerful words. The Bible tells us that if the Lord is with us, no one can stand against us. It was a significant moment for Gideon to know that God had called him, but it is even greater for him to know that God will be with him.
Gideon knows he is incapable of delivering the nation on his own. We are all incapable in our own strength as well. But the Lord was with Him… and the Lord is with us!
“It is important to know that God has sent us but it is even greater to know that He is with us. This was the same assurance God gave to Moses (Exo 3:12) and that Jesus gave all believers (Mat 28:20).”
David Guzik
Do you believe that the Lord is with you today? Do you go about your day with the attitude that the Lord (literally His Holy Spirit) is living inside you?
