Judges 6:11-27--The Call of Gideon

Judges 6:11-27
English Standard Version

The Call of Gideon
11 Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, LORD, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” 16 And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”

19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O LORD God! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” 23 But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

​25 That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

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If you went to Sunday School as a child where you were taught various Bible stories, you probably were taught about Gideon and "putting out the fleece," (that will be the next passage we study).  However, the text spends quite a bit of time here on the actual call that the the LORD gave to given.

First, let's notice that this message was important enough for God Himself to deliver it because the angel of the LORD (that is the second person of the Trinity in the Old Testament) is there under the terebinth at Ophra waiting to deliver this message.  Gideon was beating out the wheat in the winepress because they were hoping to conceal their harvest from the Midianites who swooped in every harvest season and stole all the grain that the Israelites had worked hard to grow.

When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, He first said, "The LORD is with you," and then addressed Gideon for who he would be in Christ, not who he currently was, and this confused Gideon for the angel of the LORD called Gideon a "mighty man of valor."  Gideon had not won any battles.  He probably had not even fought any battles.  He was the least (the weakest) of a small family from a small class from the weakest of the twelve tribes--at least, this is the way that Gideon tells that story.  He's just a "nobody" so that no one should want to bother him or his family.  They aren't important enough politically or rich enough economically or powerful enough militarily that the enemy would be concerned about them.

Gideon questions the greeting by making it apply to all the people of Israel and wondering if the same LORD that brought them up out of the land of Egypt was for them, then why were they once again servants of a pagan, Gentile nation?  Where were the mighty miracles that the LORD used to save His people and the salvation that He gave to them at Passover?  Little did Gideon know that he was going to be part of the answer to that question, for the LORD was about to use him to help provide salvation for the people of Israel.

In fact, the LORD replies to Gideon and says, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?"  Gideon doesn't understand that the LORD is saying that He gave Gideon both the desire to save the people and would equip him with all the strength he would need to accomplish this task, but Gideon hears that the LORD is telling him to save all of Israel in his own strength, and he knows this is not possible.  How can one man like Gideon strike the death-blow against a strong nation like Midian all by himself? (He doesn't consider the fact that the LORD is on his side and will fight for him).

Gideon then asks for the first of several signs.  He asks for the angel of the LORD to stay there in that place until he can return with a gift (that is an offering) for Him, for Gideon understands that he is speaking with God, and that He should be presented with an offering.  Gideon also understands that the way in which the messenger responds to this offering that is being brought to Him will confirm for Gideon if he is really talking to the angel of the LORD, for the angel of the LORD would accept the offering for Himself because He is God, but no ordinary angel from heaven would accept worship in this way.  The angel of the LORD agrees to stay until Gideon returns.

Gideon went to his home and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes (unleavened bread was used in most of the offerings of the Old Testament not just because it could be made quickly and was the kind of bread used when they left Egypt, but because it symbolized being without sin which is what was necessary for the sacrifice to be pleasing and acceptable to the LORD).  He returns and the angel of the LORD instructed Gideon to put the meat and the loaves on a particular rock that acted as an altar and the angel of the LORD reached out His staff and touched the offering and it was consumed by fire.  This was the sign that Gideon was looking for.

Gideon is now afraid because he has seen the angel of the LORD face to face and he fears that the angel of the LORD is there to bring judgment upon him (for that is one of the reasons that the angel of the LORD shows up in the Old Testament--look at the story of Balaam for instance).  However, the angel of the LORD assures Gideon that He comes in peace to Gideon and that Gideon need not be afraid.  Gideon then built and altar to the LORD and called it "The LORD is Peace." (Jehovah Shalom).  "The LORD is Our Peace" is still one of the names of God that we study and reflect on sometimes in our Sunday Morning worship service at the church where I attend.  Jesus is the one who not only is the Prince of Peace, and not only is He the one who made peace between God and man, but He Himself is our Peace and Rest (for Shalom has both connotations) that we will one day enter into.

​The the text shifts and it says that the LORD commanded Gideon to make a sacrifice by killing his father's bull and a second bull that was seven-years-old, and he was to cut down all idols to Baal and all the Asherah poles that his family worshiped, and he was to build another altar to the LORD on top of the very place where these idols used to be worshiped.  He was to take the second bull that was seven-years-old and offer it as a burnt offering, using the wood of the Asherah poles to offer that burnt offering.  God wanted Gideon to do this in daylight where everyone could see him do it, but he was afraid of the townspeople and so he took ten men with him and then went at night in the cover of darkness and did that which the LORD commanded.  I think it is fair to call Gideon the judge that lacked courage.  This will be a trait that we will see through all of his story until the very end when he seems to fall victim to another flaw that we don't yet see.  Next time we'll discuss Gideon fulfilling this command of the LORD and how the LORD would use it to help rally the troops.