Jehovah Shalom - God Is Peace Series

23But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

24So 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.” (Judges 6:11-24)

Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress. This is interesting because they would normally separate the wheat from the chaff on a hill, where the wind could blow the useless bits away. Gideon, though, is doing this in a winepress -- essentially, a pit -- so he could hide the food from the Midianites. God comes up to Gideon as he’s doing this and tells him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

Gideon asks, “OK, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this bad stuff happened? Where are all of the miracles we’ve heard about from our parents? We’ve been abandoned!”

Sound familiar? I know I’ve felt that way before. I’m going through something and I feel like God just isn’t there anymore. I become afraid. God responds by telling Gideon that he will be Israel’s deliverer. Gideon objects and tells Him that He’s got the wrong guy.

I’ve been there too.

But here’s where it gets interesting. Gideon wants to set an offering before his visitor, and asks him to wait. He goes and prepares the offering, then brings it out to God. God gives him specific instructions: “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” So Gideon did. God miraculously consumes the sacrificial offering with holy fire, confirming what Gideon must have already suspected -- he was in the presence of God Himself.

Gideon starts freaking out because he saw the Lord face-to-face! Gideon was afraid of seeing the face of the Lord because he is filled with sin, and that causes death for anyone who sees God. Gideon was full of fear. But God says not to be afraid, “you will not die”. God says this because Gideon was chosen by God. Gideon accepted this choice by showing respect and reverence for God and His commandments through an offering. When finished, Gideon calls the altar Jehovah Shalom because God gave him peace when he was afraid. There is a lot we can learn from these final few verses.

First, it’s interesting that Gideon names the altar. Not every altar had a name -- many were used for sacrifices without ever having a recorded name. In fact, that’s exactly how Gideon’s started -- it wasn’t even “officially” an altar, but just a rock! It became an altar when Gideon made his sacrificial offering. By naming it, though, Gideon transformed the altar from a simple place of sacrifice to a memorial to the grace of God. Gideon’s sacrifice showed part of God’s personality -- that He is Jehovah Shalom, God of Peace.

This is mirrored in the New Testament, by the way. Jesus was sacrificed on a cross. The cross wasn’t anything special -- it was just two pieces of wood. When Jesus was crucified, though, the wood was transformed into an altar. When Jesus rose again, the cross became a memorial to the Grace of God -- also showing that He is Jehovah Shalom, God of Peace.