Gideon: An Unlikely Hero Series

(Note: This message is edited from a sermon preached at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO on October 9. 2022 and is not an exact transcription.)

Introduction: Gideon is mentioned here in Judges and he’s also one of those in the “Hebrews Hall of Fame” in Hebrews 11. I have to confess, the first time or two that I heard about Gideon I thought he was a real hero, kind of like a John Wayne or Sergeant Alvin York type of guy.

Was I in for a surprise! The story of Gideon is another one of God’s stories where He chooses and uses those who most people wouldn’t even dream of. We’ll see a bit of this in the message to follow. The main thing to remember is that Gideon was faithful. In God’s eyes, that was enough.

1 The conditions

Text: Judges 6:11, KJV: 11 And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

In the first 10 verses of Judges 6, the writer describes, again, how Israel had rejected God, the God of Israel to worship pagan idols. Most of Judges covers this horrible cycle. Now, at this moment, the Midianites and Amalekites, plus “sons of the east (some think this refers to various Arab tribes) were camped near Israel’s best land, waiting for harvest so they, not Israel, would grab-steal—the food and leave Israel with little of anything.

This had happened for seven years and I’m still amazed why Israel waited so long to cry out to the God of their fathers! Something that they should have realized—and who knows why they didn’t—was that “Baal”, one of the idols they had adopted as one of their “gods” was, according to Canaanite religion, the god of harvest and fertility, among other things (Eerdmans Handbook to the Bible gives more details). Why would they continue to worship a “god” like this who couldn’t stop enemies from stealing their harvest?

Even the message from one of the LORD’s prophets didn’t seem to have much success. His message in verses 7-10 appeared to land on deaf ears as there is no record of any repentance or moving away from the idols and back to the LORD, God of Israel. But let’s not forget, God always has one or a few who remain faithful. Gideon was one such man.

What’s odd, interesting, unusual (take your pick) is that Gideon, even though he was still, if not always, a believer in the LORD, his faith seemed weak at times. This was one of those times. Remember, the enemies had come up to Israel every year for six previous years, this making the seventh, and you could almost set your watch that when harvest time came, so did they,

Somehow Gideon was able to sow, tend, and harvest some wheat; we’re never told how much but I’m guessing it was barely enough to live on. At any rate, whatever he could harvest, he took to a wine press in order to thresh or process it there. Let’s not be too hard on Gideon, though: if he threshed his wheat in the open, it might have been suicide if the enemies caught him. I’ve never seen a real wine press but from what I’ve been able to find, the press had an upper section where people would stack or arrange the grapes and then stomp on them to produce juice. The second or lower level was, of course, where the fluid, liquid, juice, whatever you want to call it, would flow and then be collected.

The small amount of wheat Gideon did harvest would have been, perhaps, easy to toss into the air with the wheat falling in one place and the chaff (lighter, as I understand) would fall away. Some of it would probably fall into the lower part of the wine press, still mostly out of sight. Gideon would then be able to, somehow, get some grain back to his house and family.

And this is the setting for the story so far. Israel is under severe oppression, they’re living in famine-like conditions, and worst of all, and they still haven’t turned to the LORD by this time. Gideon is doing the best he could, trying to provide some food for his family, and I’m sure his faith was about as weak as it could be. Now imagine how Gideon reacted when he found himself face to face with a Very Special Visitor!

2 The conversation

Text, Judges 6:12-13, KJV: 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.