"Gideon: Mighty Man of Valor"

Judges 6

The Deborah narrative, and the Song of Deborah, concludes on a high note:

Deborah praying that all God's friends would be like the sun rising in might.

The Gideon cycle is the longest in Judges-157 verses, including the 57 about his son, Abimelech

Unlike Othniel, where we only hear the very minimum of detail,

with Gideon we are given expansive detail at every turn.

The Problem (6:1-6)

The Midianites-had given refuge to Moses, and the Kenite clan had joined with Israel-

but now relations have deteriorated.

Midianite, Amalekite and other eastern tribes now raid Israel at will.

And so Israel "became small" (brought very low)

response was to cry out to Yahweh for help.

The Prophet and the Angel (6:7-24)

Once again, like with Deborah and Barak, the phrase "and the LORD raised up a deliverer" is missing. The literary structure is deteriorating.

God sends a prophet to the people-and the angel of the LORD to Gideon

The description of this prophet parallels the description of Deborah.

She was called a "woman prophet"

He is called a "man prophet."

But his task is not to call forth a deliverer as was hers.

His task is to rebuke the people for their idolatry.

Indeed, after listening to this prophet, one would think that God would not deliver them!

But this is designed to show that God's deliverance is entirely of grace.

They do not deserve deliverance.

They have not even repented and acknowledged their sin.

Nonetheless, God has mercy.

He sends his angel to Ophrah,

where he sat under the terebinth at Ophrah.

Gideon's call echoes numerous features from the call of Moses.

1) The cry for help (Ex 2:24)

2) the call comes while the person is hiding from the enemy but working for his father/father-in-law

3) the commissioning word is "I have sent you" (Ex 3:12)

4) the one called protests his inadequacy (Ex 3:11)

5) assurance of divine presence (Ex 3:12)

6) a sign of reassurance (Ex 3:12)

7) fear-inducing fire (Ex 3:6)

Gideon is a sort of Second Moses, right?

Gideon means "hacker" or "hewer"

Ophrah is the location for the idolatry at the beginning and the end of Gideon's life

The Call (11-16)

The angel is sitting under the terebinth,

apparently watching Gideon.

At some point he speaks:

"Yahweh is with you, O mighty man of valor!"

Gideon-the mighty warrior!

Gideon the Valiant-hiding in a winepress in order to thresh his wheat

(since threshing requires wind to blow away the chaff,

this would be a very difficult task in a winepress!)

But he's hiding from the Midianites.

So there is a certain sarcasm in the angel's address,

even as there is also a certain foreshadowing of the future.

Gideon responds (v13)

While the angel had addressed "you" singular,

Gideon responds with "us" plural.

Gideon had been catechized-he knew what God had done in the past.

But that had not produced faith.

He is polite, but cynical.

Yahweh's messenger ignores this lack of faith, and says (14)

This fearful and cynical farmer is hereby informed that God has indeed heard his people's cry for help, and he is God's answer

But Gideon objects that he doesn't have the social standing to be a deliverer!

Yahweh replies, I will be with you.

As with Moses, the fearful Gideon is transformed into the deliverer of his people by the powerful presence of God (he'll be clothed with the Spirit in 6:34)

The Sign (17-24)

Gideon, like Moses before him, wants a sign.

It's all very good for a man to show up claiming to be the Messenger of Yahweh.

But if Gideon is going to go fight the Midianites,

he wants some assurance that this is the Messenger of Yahweh!

So he goes and slaughters a young goat, and prepares it with a large amount of bread,

and brings it back

(Read 20-24)

When the deity consumes the meal that you have provided,

that should be seen as a favorable sign.

But Gideon also recognizes that he has seen the Angel of the LORD

(and since he has been an idolater himself, that is a problem!)

But Yahweh says to him "Shalom"

and so he builds an altar, calling it "The LORD is peace"

Did Gideon just offer a sacrifice?

Wasn't it forbidden for Israelites to offer sacrifices, except through the priests?

Gideon certainly prepares a goat and unleavened bread,

and calls it a "present"-which was a term often used for sacrifices.

But while this looks and smells very much like a sacrifice,

Gideon is actually doing nothing more than offering hospitality to a stranger-

in a manner reminiscent of Abraham.

If this man is nothing else but a stranger, then he will simply eat the food,

and Gideon will go back to his winepress and forget the whole episode.

The event turns into a sacrifice when the Angel of the LORD takes the role of the priest,

and sets the meat and bread on fire,

transforming the simple rock upon which it sat into an altar.

As for Me and My House (25-32)

Before Gideon can be God's anointed deliverer, he must first clean his own house.

His father, Joash, had established a shrine to Baal, complete with an Asherah pole.

Just as Moses' sons had to be circumcised before he could deliver Israel,

so also Gideon must have a family that at least outwardly conforms to Yahweh.

Because the real problem in Israel is not the Midianites.

It is idolatry.

And so the same night God tells Gideon to do two things:

1) attack Baalism by breaking down the altar of Baal and cutting down the Asherah pole

2) establish Yahwehism by building an altar to Yahweh and sacrificing a bull-

and to add insult to injury, use the wood of the Asherah to burn the sacrifice!

It appears that there may have been only one bull-the word translated "second" may also mean "exalted"-so take the "exalted bull"-in other words, the bull that your father had designated for sacrifice to Baal.

The Asherah pole was a carved wooden image with exaggerated sexual features (her rites usually involved prostitution)-archeological find with reference to Yahweh and his Asherah!

Now we do have a problem!

If in the episode with the Angel, Gideon did not offer sacrifices,

here he is commanded by God to offer a burnt offering!

Dt 12:13-14 is clear:

"Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see,

but at the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribes,

there you shall offer your burnt offerings,

and there you shall do all that I am commanding you."

So why does God command Gideon to offer a burnt offering on the altar

on top of the (now ruined) shrine of Baal?

Gideon is charged with reclaiming this site for Yahweh.

The burnt offering will serve to cleanse the site,

and serve notice that Yahweh will not allow Baal and Asherah to stand.

It is important to read Dt 12:13-14 in the light of Dt 13:16.

God commands in Dt 13:16 that Israel must destroy an idolatrous town.

If an Israelite town turns to idolatry,

then all Israel is to gather and kill all the inhabitants,

and burn the town "as a whole burnt offering to the LORD."

Gideon is to serve notice.

The destruction of the shrine of Baal and the burnt offering offered in its ruins,

is to signify what Ophrah deserves.

And Gideon responds quickly.

Before the night is over, he has done all that God commanded.

Such haste could be seen as a sign of Gideon's faithfulness,

but the author does not want you to think that.

It was actually a sign of his fearfulness.

This rare comment as to internal motivation is needed to make clear that Gideon is no Othniel or Deborah!

But it also points to the Canaanitization of Israel.

Gideon knows that his townspeople will be quicker to defend Baal than Yahweh.

And he is right.

(Read 28-30)

They investigate and discover that Gideon is the culprit.

If the town of Ophrah had been faithful to God's law,

they would have executed the idolaters!

But now they wish to execute the one who destroyed their idol.

And by their own tongues they indict themselves

according to the word of the prophet in 6:10.

They come to Joash and demand that he surrender his son.

As the head of the household, Joash is responsible for those under his authority.

Interestingly, even though the shrine had been his,

he is the only one who appears unconcerned about his son's actions.

Has he been convicted of sin?

Or is he simply defending his child?

We don't know.

Let us hope for the best, and at least recognize that Joash's theology is correct:

If Baal is a god, then he can take care of himself!

Here we also discover that Joash was a powerful man in that region:

he declares that anyone who tries to "contend for Baal" will be executed,

which suggests that Joash was confident in his ability to defend his son.

So when Gideon claimed that his family was the "least" in Manasseh,

we should probably read that as "the least of the leading families!"

In other words, perhaps Ophrah was one of the smaller towns,

so while Joash was a prominent figure in his town,

he probably did not carry much weight in the tribe as a while.

So on that day Gideon was named "Jerubbaal"-which literally means "Baal will contend."

Normally a name of this sort is designed to praise the deity.

Here we are told that the name signifies "let Baal contend against him"

A sort of challenge to Baal.

The ambiguity of the name will continue to become evident throughout the narrative,

because in the end, Baal's contending will overthrow the house of Gideon!

Conclusion: The Mighty Man of Valor (6:33-35)

In the light of Gideon's own personal doubts,

and in the light of his town's attempt to execute him,

it may seem somewhat strange that now we hear that the Abiezrites

come to the sound of his trumpet

(along with the rest of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali).

Perhaps many were convinced by Joash that since Baal didn't do anything

to defend his shrine, therefore they should follow Yahweh.

But the solution is to be found in verse 34.

The deliverance of God's people will not be accomplished by the strength of man.

The salvation of Israel will not come through the righteousness of the nation.

It will come when the Spirit of Yahweh clothes the man of his choosing!

And when the Spirit of the LORD does his work,

the people of God respond.

Suddenly these idolaters and rebels are stirred up to faithful obedience.

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, declares the LORD!

Gideon, in spite of his obvious faults, is now revealed as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Spirit-clothed warrior who goes before his people to defeat his enemies

and deliver his people from their foes.

Gideon has become the mighty man of valor that the Angel of the LORD declared him to be.

The Word and the Spirit transform Gideon into a mighty warrior,

and so God's people follow him.

2 applications:

This is the requirement given for elders in the NT.

They must have "faithful children"-not meaning that every child must be regenerate,

but a faithful household that at least outwardly conforms to God's covenant.

Replace idolatry with true worship-

replace sin with righteousness

ancient and medieval church frequently did this literally by taking pagan temples, cleansing them and turning them into church buildings.