November 01, 2025
So far, in the short history of Israel’s occupation of Canaan, they have been in a never-ending cycle of sin, oppression, crying and deliverance. Despite their continued unfaithfulness and seeming love of the spin, Yahweh has sent, Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar and Deborah/Barak to deliver them.
Last week, after the defeat of Jabin’s army and the infamous death of Sisera “at the hands of a woman,” Israel was at peace for 40 years.
That brings us to Gideon “to hew down or cut off” (6:1-8:28)
Tribe: Manasseh
Enemy: Midian along with the Amalekites and “other eastern peoples”
The sons of Israel did what was evil in Yahweh’s sight.
He gave them into the hands of Midian for 7 years. So severe was Midian’s treatment that the Israelites lived in dens and caves in the mountains and barely had enough food to survive. The Midianites plundered their fields and carried off their animals - leaving Israel with nothing.
Finally, they cried out to Yahweh.
Before sending Israel a deliverer, however, Yahweh took a moment to reprove Israel for her sin and remind the people of his saving power.
They had forgotten Yahweh and were experiencing the consequences of their own choices, but Yahweh had not forgotten them.
He went looking for a deliverer and he found one in a winepress threshing his crop of wheat (separating the grain from the straw/chaff)……
Once again, the “angel of the Lord” refers to Yahweh himself in the role of messenger. He is his own messenger.
“Yahweh is with you O valiant warrior!”
Gideon looked up….. “If Yahweh is with us then why is all this happening to us? Where are all the miracles our fathers told us about? Yahweh has abandoned us and given us into the hands of the Midianites.”
“I have chosen you to deliver Israel.”
“Exactly how am I supposed to do that? My family is the least important in all Manasseh and I am my father’s youngest child.”
“I will be with you and you will defeat the Midianites.”
“I want a sign. Wait right here.”
“Okay, I’ll wait.”
Gideon ran home and prepared a meal of mutton and unleavened bread and then returned to the wine press.
After he placed the offering on a rock, Yahweh took the staff he was holding and touched the offering. Fire sprang up and consumed the meat and bread and then he vanished.
Realizing in Whose presence he had been, Gideon exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!"
Yahweh appeared to Gideon again and said, “Peace! Don’t be afraid – you are not going to die.” So Gideon built and altar and called it “Yahweh Shalom” - The Lord is Peace.
Before Gideon could be the deliverer of Israel, he must first deal with the sin in his own family. Joash, Gideon’s father, was a worshipper of Baal, so Gideon was told to destroy his father’s altar to Baal and his Asherah pole, then build a proper altar to God, use the wood from the Asherah pole as fuel and sacrifice his father’s 7-year-old bull on the new altar.
Gideon did as Yahweh had instructed, but he waited until dark, because he was afraid of how his family and the towns people would respond.
When the men of the town discovered their place of worship had been destroyed, they were not amused! After it was determined that Gideon was responsible, they demanded that his father bring him out because, “he must die.”
His father’s response was interesting, “Why are you trying to plead Baal’s cause? Does he need you to save him? If he really is a god he can defend himself.”
The people called Gideon, “Jerub-Baal” ----- “Let Baal contend with him.”
The Midianites, Amalekites and “other eastern peoples” once again raided into Israel and occupied the Jezreel Valley.
The Spirit of Yahweh came upon Gideon. He blew his trumpet summoning his kinsmen, then sent messengers throughout Manasseh and into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali. 32,000 men responded to the call.
Still unsure of Yahweh’s promises, Gideon asked for a sign: dew on wool but not on threshing floor. Done.
Still unsure, Gideon asked for another sign: wool dry but ground covered in dew. Done.
Gideon and his little army camped at the spring of Kharod. The Midianite camp was to their north (the camp was massive – the camel herd alone was too numerous to count).
“You have too many men, Gideon. In order for the people not to get too cocky, tell your men that anyone who is afraid (khared) can go home.” 22,000 men went home leaving just 10,000.
“You still have too many men. Take the men to the spring and separate them by those who lap at the water and those who kneel to drink.”
300 lapped. 9,700 knelt and were sent home.
Now the Midian camp lay below in the valley. Yahweh came to Gideon in the night, “Go down against the camp and I will give it into your hands. If you are afraid, take your servant and sneak into their camp and listen to what they are saying. Afterward you will be encouraged”
Gideon and Purah snuck down to the camp outpost and overheard the guards talking.
“I had a dream….. a round loaf of bread came rolling into camp and struck a tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”
“Well that can mean only one thing… the sword of Gideon. God had given the whole camp into his hands.”
When Gideon and Purah returned to camp, he shouted, “Get up! Yahweh has given the Midianites into our hands!”
He divided the 300 men into 3 companies giving each man a trumpet, an empty jar with a torch inside of it.
They arrived at the edge of the camp at the changing of the guard. As one man, they blew their trumpets, smashed their jars, lit their torches and shouted, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!”
The Midianites fled crying as they went, so afraid and confused that they began to killed each other. The men of Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh pursued them. Then Gideon sent messengers calling for the men of Ephraim to join the fight. The Ephraimites were not happy to have not been included initially. This is the first mention of intertribal tension, but it will not be the last.
Gideon and his 300 men, though exhausted continued their pursuit and crossed the Jordan. When they arrived at Succoth, they asked the towns people for food, but the officials of the town said no. Things will not end well for them…. Upon Gideon’s return the 77 elders in the town will be taken into the dessert and punished with thorns and briars.
Then Gideon arrived at Peniel and made the same request and received the same answer. Things will not end well for them…. Upon Gideon’s return, the tower will be torn down and the men of the town killed.
Midian kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, with their 15,000 men were all that were left. 120,000 men had already fallen before Gideon’s 300. Gideon snuck around them and attacked the unsuspecting army – routing them and killing Zebah and Zalmunna.
The Israelites asked Gideon to be their king, “because you saved us from the Midianites.”
The fact that Gideon declined, saying, “Yahweh will rule over you.” gives us an indication that he had good intentions in wanting to point the people to their true Deliverer. However, he did make one request, “each of you give me a gold earring as plunder.” They did, the total weight 1700 shekels, not counting the rest of the plunder he had accumulated.
And here is where we see how deeply rooted idolatry was. Gideon took the gold and made an ephod and erected it in his town. The people worshipped the Ephod and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
While Gideon was alive, however, the land had peace for 40 years.
Gideon died and once again, the Israelites prostituted themselves and worshipped the Baals. They did not remember all Yahweh had done for them and they failed to show kindness to Gideon’s family. This time, the apostasy of Israel was not punished by foreign invasion, but by internal conflict.
Gideon had 70 sons with his many wives. One of his concubines bore him a son, Abimelech.
Abimelech wanted to be king, so he convinced his mother’s relatives (the citizens of Shechem) to crown him king.
He murdered 69 of his brothers - only the youngest, Jotham, escaped and went into hiding.
Jotham went to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted down to the people a fable about the trees of the forest seeking to appoint a king to rule them and the consequences. Jotham charged the people with not acting in good faith when they made Abimelech king and that their experiment with kingship would fail. Then he ran away.
Abimelech reigned for 3 years, then his people rebelled and they replaced him with Gaal, who led the revolt.
There was war between the inhabitants of Shechem and Abimelech and just like Jotham’s fable, Abimelech swept through the land like a wild fire – bent on senseless destruction.
When he besieged the town of Thebez. A woman dropped a millstone on his head, cracking his skull. He didn’t want to be known as the guy who was killed by a woman, so he asked his servant to run him through. The servant obliged.
Thus, ended Israel’s 1st experimentation with kingship.
Until Next Time………….
