Gideon

One of my favorite Old Testament stories is that of Gideon in the book of Judges.[1] Perhaps no one tested the Lord’s patience as much as Gideon and lived to tell about it.

By the time of Gideon, the Israelites were living in Canaan (that is, Palestine or Israel), the “promised land,” having conquered most of it under the leadership of Joshua, Moses’s successor. As so often happens in the book of Judges, the Israelites fell into idolatry and God therefore allowed them to be oppressed by a foreign power—in this case, the Midianites, who lived east and southeast of the Dead Sea. The Midianites and their allies would periodically invade Canaan and steal the Israelites’ crops and livestock, leaving behind only what the Israelites managed to hide from them. So the Israelites cried out to God for help—another common pattern in Judges—and that is what leads us to Gideon, for he would be God’s chosen instrument to rescue the Israelites from the Midianites.

When we first meet Gideon, he is secretly threshing wheat in a wine press to hide it from the Midianites. Suddenly an angel greets him, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.”[2] Instead of graciously accepting this undeserved compliment, Gideon impudently responds, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles . . . ?”[3] The angel instructs Gideon that he will save Israel from the Midianites and assures him that he will have God’s help. So Gideon asks for a sign to prove it.

When Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, displayed similar skepticism, an angel made him unable to speak for nine months.[4] However, this angel gives Gideon a sign—fire from a rock that consumes an offering of meat and bread which Gideon prepared for him.

The angel then gives Gideon an assignment—destroy his father’s altar to the god Baal, and use the wood from it to make a burnt offering to God in its place. Gideon does so—at night, for he was not yet a brave man.

Soon thereafter the Midianites and their allies invaded the land of the Israelites, coming with an army “as numerous as locusts,” and with camels “without number.”[5] In response, Gideon gathers an army of his own. Then he asks God for another sign. He puts a wool fleece—essentially a sheepskin—out overnight and asks God to make the fleece wet and the ground around it dry, as proof that “You are going to save Israel through me.”[6] And of course God does it.

But that is not enough for Gideon. No doubt wondering if perhaps that could have been an amazing coincidence, Gideon again sets the fleece out overnight and asks God to make the fleece dry and the ground around it wet.

If we were God, how many of us would have struck Gideon dead on the spot for such audacious and shameless incredulity? Yet, remarkably, God honors his request and performs the sign. But the Lord would soon give Gideon his comeuppance.

God tells Gideon that his army of 32,000 warriors was “too many” for the Lord to allow them to be victorious over the Midianites, lest the Israelites believe that they, and not God, were responsible for the victory. So Gideon sends home “whoever is afraid and worried”[7]—22,000 in all, leaving Gideon with an army of only 10,000.

But that is still too many. So God tells him to lead his army to water and to keep only those who drink warily, keeping an eye out for danger, while sending home those who drink incautiously. Gideon does so, and that leaves him with a mere 300 men—300 against an army “as numerous as locusts.”

God must have realized that Gideon still had doubts, so God told him to sneak into the Midianite camp. There Gideon heard one of the Midianites predict that God would certainly give Gideon victory over the Midianites.

Needless to say, the Midianites could have easily cut Gideon’s 300 men to pieces if God had not been faithful to His promise. Instead, God gives them the victory. The 300 brave and faithful men surround the Midianite camp at night. Then, at a word from Gideon, they all make noise and reveal torches they had previously hidden, shouting, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”[8] The Midianites and their allies, suddenly seeing themselves surrounded, panic, fight and kill each other, and then flee.

The story of Gideon should comfort those of us who sometimes have doubts. Is God really there? Does he really care? Will he really do what he has promised? God is infinitely patient with our doubts and our questions. We must remember that doubt is not the same as unbelief or faithlessness. If we remain faithful to God despite our doubts, He will ultimately give us the victory, just as he did for Gideon. But our victory will be over sin and death rather than Midianites.

[1]. See chapters 6-8 of Judges.

[2]. Judges 6:12

[3]. Judges 6:13

[4]. See Luke 1:18-20.

[5]. Judges 7:12. Judges 8:10 indicates that the Midianite army originally had 135,000 warriors.

[6]. Judges 6:36

[7]. Judges 7:3

[8]. Judges 7:20