Judges 6
McGeeCHAPTERS 68THEME: Fourth apostasy; God delivers Israel through GideonGideon is the next judge. He is called to his position in chapter 6. Chapter 7 tells how mightily God used him. He is one of the most interesting judges, although not the most outstanding. In reality none of the judges were great. They were little people, marked by mediocrity. Each one was insignificant, insufficient, and inadequate. Each one had some aberration in his life. Each one of them had a glaring fault, and sometimes that fault was the very reason God chose them and used them. I would like to add some background to this incident with some very pertinent facts. The account of the judges was discounted by the critics for many years. They said because it was not in secular history, these events actually did not take place, and there was no situation in the past into which they could be fitted. But all of that has changed now because of the spade of the archaeologist and the scholarly work of men like Burney, Moulton, Breasted, and Garstang. These outstanding conservative scholars have given us the background for the Book of Judges. Now we know that at this particular time in history Egypt was weak, very weak. It had been a world power, but it was weak because the pharaohs who were in office were weak men. Also there were internal problems and troubles. As a result, this nation was losing its grip upon its colonies. The nomadic tribes to the east of the Dead Sea and to the south of the Dead Sea began to push in. They pushed in because there was a drought in their land. They had experienced it there for several years. So these nomadic tribes of the desert began to encroach upon the territory of Israel. The Midianites and the Amalekites were among the Bedouins of the desert who came into the land. The story of Gideon opens with that.
Judges 6:1
ISRAEL SINS AND IS OPPRESSED BY MIDIANThe Midianites and the Amalekites moved as a disorganized tribe. They were raiders. They would raid the crops and supplies of others. They generally took their families with them. In fact, they took all that they had with them. They would pitch their tents as they moved along. In this incident, we are not given numbers concerning them because no one in the world would have been able to number themthey were so disorganized. But by sheer numbers, and they were many, they overwhelmed the inhabitants of the land. The children of Israel fled from their homes and lived in caves and dens. There is abundant evidence in the land of Israel today that they lived in caves, especially during the period of the judges. It is the same old story once again. Israel sinned and the hoop started moving. God had blessed the children of Israel under the administration of Deborah. When they sinned, God delivered them to Midian, and they cried out for deliverance.
Judges 6:5
The Midianites came up against the children of Israel. They were like a plague of grasshoppers as they came into the land. They came “without number,” which means that they had not been counted. They were such a large company that certainly the enemy could not count them. The Midianites saw that Israel had good crops, and they needed grain and foodstuff for themselves and for their animals. The tribe of Manasseh, of which Gideon was a member, occupied the plain in which was located the Plain of Esdraelon (the place where Armageddon will be fought). Although they had occupied that territory, when these nomads came into that area, they took to the hills; they moved into the dens and into the caves up there. They had to. They saw their crops which they had left all taken by the enemy. This is the historical period into which the story of Gideon is cast.
Judges 6:7
Here goes Israel again, whining and complaining. But God is gracious and good. A prophet came and told them why they were in their present condition. They cried out to God, and God in mercy sent them another judge.
Judges 6:11
GIDEON, THE SIXTH JUDGENow at this juncture, God appeared to Gideon in a most embarrassing situation. We are told: Gideon is not introduced to us as a hero or an outstanding man. Do you know what he is doing? He is threshing wheat by the winepress. Now the winepress is the key to this entire situation. You see, in that day the winepress was always put at the foot of the hill because they brought the grapes down from the vineyard. Naturally, they would carry the heavy grapes downhill; they carried them to the lowest place.
In contrast, the threshing floor was always put up on the top of the hill, the highest hill that was available, in order to catch the wind which would drive the chaff away. Here we find Gideon, down at the bottom of the hill, threshing. Now that would be the place to take the grapes, but that is no place to take your crop in order to do your threshing. Can you see the frustration of this man? Why doesn’t he go to the hilltop? Well, he is afraid of the Midianites.
He does not want them to see that he is threshing wheat. And you can imagine his frustration. There is no air getting to him down there, certainly no wind. So he pitches the grain up into the air. 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. It was at that time that the angel of the Lord, which many of us believe was none other than the pre-incarnate Christ, appeared to him. We are told:
Judges 6:12
Don’t tell me, friend, that there is no humor in the Bible. Don’t you think it sounds humorous to call Gideon a mighty man of valour? God has a wonderful sense of humor. The Bible is a serious book, of course. It deals with a race that is in sin, and it concerns God’s salvation for that race. It reveals God as high and holy and lifted up. But God has a sense of humor and, if you miss that in the Bible, you will not find it nearly as interesting. Jesus Christ has a great sense of humor. One day He said to the Pharisees, “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” (Mat_23:24). If you don’t think that is funny, the next time you see a camel, look at it. A camel has more projections on it than some of our space vehicles. I rode a camel in Egypt and found out they even have horns. They also have the biggest Adam’s apple in the world. They have pads on their knees, great big hoofs, and some have one hump, and some have two humps. Everywhere you look at them there is a projection. Can’t you see these religious rulers trying to swallow camels? God indeed has a sense of humor. One of the funniest things the Lord could have called Gideon was a mighty man of valour because he was actually a coward. I think that when Gideon looked up and saw Him and heard Him say, “Thou mighty man of valour,” he looked behind him to see if there wasn’t somebody else there, because that term did not apply to him. And then he turned to the angel and said, “Who? Me? Do you mean to call me a mighty man of valour when I am down here at the winepress pitching grain up into the air when I ought to be up yonder on top of the hill? If I were a mighty man of valour, that is where I would be, not down here. I am nothing in the world but a coward.” The Lord does want to encourage him, of course, but the point is that it was a rather humorous title that the Lord gave to this man. Well, God has called him now to this office to deliver his people, and He has called a most unusual man. This man is suffering from an inferiority complex.
Judges 6:13
Now the angel of the Lord did not say that He was with Israel at this time; He was with Gideon. Frankly, He was not with Israel because of their sin. The angel said, “The Lord is with thee"singularwith you, Gideon. But Gideon cannot believe that God would be with him. He wants to know where all those miracles are that their fathers had told them about. He believed that the Lord had forsaken Israel. He was as wrong as a man could be. The Lord had not really forsaken them; they had forsaken the Lord. This man is in a bad state mentally and a bad state spiritually. Actually, he not only had an inferiority complex, he was skeptical, he was cynical, he was weak, and he was cowardly. That is this man Gideon. What a wrong impression is given of him today when he is described as a knight in shining armor, a Sir Lancelot, or a Sir Galahad. Why, he was nothing in the world but a Don Quixote charging a windmill, my beloved. He was the biggest coward that you have ever seen. But this was the man that God called.
Judges 6:14
This is the call and commission of Gideon. It is a commission of courage. It is interesting to note, however, that even at this point Gideon did not believe God. Note what Gideon says:
Judges 6:15
Now consider for a moment the position Gideon occupies in his own thinking. He said in effect, “You certainly are not asking me to do this. To begin with, I belong to the nation Israel. We are now under the heel of the Midianites.” It was bad enough to be under Egypt, but imagine being under these nomads of the desert, the Midianites! “We are in slavery. Here we are hiding, and here I am threshing at the foot of the hill. And you come and call me?
Well, to begin with, the tribe of Manasseh (one of the sons of Joseph) is not noted for anything; we have had no conspicuous men. In the tribe of Manasseh, my family is not very well known. We are sort of ne’er-do-wells. We are not prominent folk. In my family I happen to be the very least one. You made a big mistake in calling me because you happen to have called the smallest pebble that is on the beach.” Honestly, this man felt that he was the last man in Israel to be used of God.
And do you know that he was right? He was the last man in Israel that God should have called. Our problem today, friend, is that most of us are too strong for God to use. Most of us are too capable for God to use. You notice that God uses only weak men, don’t you? 1Co_1:26-27 tells us that this is so: “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” God used all of these judges but not because they were capable or outstanding. Does that encourage you, friend? Do you know why God does not use most of us? We are too strong.
Most of us have too much talent for God to use us. Most of us today are doing our own will and going our own way. There are multitudes of people, talented people, people with ability, whom God is not using. Do you know why? They are too strong for God to use. Paul mentions this: “And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1Co_1:28-29).
There is something wrong with any Christian worker who is proud. God does not use the flesh. Anything that this poor preacher does in the weakness of the flesh and boasts about is despised by God. God hates it and cannot use it. God wants weak vessels, and that is the only kind he will use. God follows this policy so that no flesh will glory in His presence.
When God gets ready to do anything, He chooses the weakest thing He can get in order to make it clear that He is doing it, not the weak arm of the flesh. That is God’s method. Remember Moses down in the bulrushes was only a little baby. Then look at Pharaoh Ramses II, the strongest of the pharaohs, who sat on the throne. He is the one who built the great cities of Egypt. Put the one down by the side of the otherthe little weak, helpless baby and the powerful Pharaoh on the throneand whom will you take? Of course you would take the Pharaoh because he is the strong one. But God took the little fellow in the bulrushes to demonstrate that He uses the weak things of the world to confound the wise. Also God chose a man by the name of Elijah. Elijah was not a weak man, but he had to become weak. God had to put that man through a series of tests. He schooled him in the desert and finally forced him to listen to the still, small voice of God. And Elijah did not much care for still, small voices. This is the man who liked the three-ring circus, the fireworks, the noise and the fanfare, but God had to train him and let him know that He chooses the weak things of the world.
After Elijah walked into the court of Ahab and Jezebel, he told them it would not rain for several years. Then God put him out by the brook Cherith. There as he saw the brook dry up, he found out that his life was no more than a dried-up brook. Later he looked down into an empty flour barrel, but he could sing the doxology. When he did, God fed him and the widow’s family out of that empty flour barrel. Why?
Because God chooses and uses weak things. Then consider Simon Peter. Whoever would have chosen him? Why, everybody knew he was as weak as water, and our Lord said, “You are going to be a rock-man. I will make you as stable as a rock.” I imagine everybody laughed when He said that. Even Simon Peter gave up on one occasion and said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man” (Luk_5:8). What he is really saying is this, “Why don’t you give me up and go get somebody else?
I am such a failure.” But the Lord Jesus said, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men” (Luk_5:10). In effect He said, “You are the very one I want. You are going to preach the first sermon on the day of Pentecost which will bring three thousand people to Me. I am going to demonstrate that I can use the weakest thing in the world.” God always does that, my beloved. The interesting thing is, someone has said, that Nero was on the throne while Paul was being beheaded. At first glance, it looked like Paul had lost and Nero had won.
But history had already handed down its decision. Men name their sons Paul and call their dogs Nero. This is quite interesting, is it not? God is choosing the weak things of this world. Have you ever compared that little Baby in Bethlehem with Caesar Augustus who could sign a tax bill and the whole civilized world was taxed? Which would you pick? I would take the tax-gatherer every time because he seems to have a lot of power, but God took that little Baby in Bethlehem, for He was His Son. God always chooses that way. Although Gideon was a very weak individual, God told him that he was the one who was going to deliver Israel. Yes, God is going to use Gideon, but first He must train him. Gideon had to overcome his fear and develop courage. He needed faith to help strengthen his feeble knees and make him patient. I want you to notice some of the training that he went through. He immediately, you see, was afraid; so God gave him his first lesson.
Judges 6:23
He said, “Thou shalt not die,” because Gideon feared that he would die after seeing God. And he told Gideon to go to his own hometown, to begin there by throwing over the altar of Baal, and burning the grove that was by it. All of this represented the worst sort of immorality.
Judges 6:24
GIDEON REPUDIATES BAAL: ISRAEL CALLED TO ARMSAnd so Gideon begins his adventure. Even with God’s commission he is still afraid. Instead of obeying God in the bold daylight, he does it under the cover of darkness. But they find out who did it, and they are ready to execute Gideon. But God again delivers him. Gideon is still hesitant. God has to overcome the fear. God has to develop courage and faith. God has to strengthen Gideon’s feeble knees. It is a patient, long ordeal. The next step is to fill this man with His SpiritGod has always given a filling of the Spirit to the man that He uses.
Judges 6:34
The blowing of the trumpet meant war. The minute he blew the trumpet, his people knew it meant war against the Amalekites, and they began to gather unto him. Do you know what happened? Gideon got cold feet and went back to the Lord with a proposition.
Judges 6:36
The next day Gideon went back (and I am of the opinion that he intended to do this all the time regardless of the outcome of the first test because if you put out a fleece here in California it would be damp, whereas the ground would be dry). He gave a two-way test that could not be gainsaid. He said, “Now, Lord, I will put out the fleece again. If You are really in this thing, put the dew around everywhere else and let the fleece remain dry.” I am glad he did it that way because, frankly, I would be skeptical enough to believe it “just happened” the first time. Or let us say that it was natural for it to happen one way, but it was supernatural for it to happen the other way. This man asked God to put dew on the fleece and then for God not to put dew on the fleece.
How gracious God was to Gideon. We will find that God will gradually school this man until He brings him to the place where Gideon can see that there is nothing in him. Then God will use him to win a mighty battle. Now, looking back at verses Jdg_6:34 and Jdg_6:35, we see that men for his army had come to him from everywhere. When a trumpet is blown in Israel, it means war. And frankly, friend, he was the last man you would want to gather around. He certainly was not a man prepared to lead them into battle. So God begins to move in this man’s life in a definite way, as we shall see in chapter 7.