Judges 6:1-24 - Gideon's Call
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We are in ADVENT season…wow, Christmas is four weeks away.
As we continue our series in Judges, the story of Gideon will also function as our Advent series…the story of Gideon spans the next three chapters in the book of Judges.
Over the next four weeks, we will consider Gideon’s calling, his zeal, his mission and his kingdom
We will compare and contrast his coming to Israel as a deliverer with the coming of Jesus as Savior of the world.
1-7 - The Cycle Continues
1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
1 - The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord
2-6 - The oppression of the Midians
2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.
2 - The oppression was so bad, Israel made dens in the mountains to hide in
3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.
3 - When they planted crops, Midian (etc) would come up against them
4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey.
4 - Encamp against them and eat all the produce of the land. Not even leaving anything for the livestock
5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in.
5 - Brought their livestock…and laid waste the land
6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
6 - Israel was brought VERY low because of Midian
7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites,
7 - The people of Israel cried out to the Lord
8-10 - The Lord sends a prophet to Israel
8 the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.
9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
8 - Lord sent a prophet...
Thus says the LORD:
I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of slavery
I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and your oppressors
I drove them out before you and gave you their land
I said to you, I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell
BUT you have not obeyed my voice
11-25 - Gideon’s Call
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.
11 - Wheat in the Winepress
12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
12 - AOTL - 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.”
13 - Gideon - Why has the Lord forsaken us?
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?”
14 - AOTL - Pretty much ignores Gideon’s question and stays on topic...Go in this might of yours and save Israel from Midian
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.”
15 - Gideon - How? I am weak...
16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
16 - AOTL - Yeah, but I will be with you
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.”
17-18a - Gideon - If I have found favor with you, please do not depart while I bring you a present
18b - AOTL - I will stay until 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.
19 - Gideon prepared a meal
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.
20a - AOTL instructions
20b - Gideon did it
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.
21 - AOTL ate and left
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.”
22 - I have seen the AOTL 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.
23 - LORD - Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die
24 - Gideon built an altar and called it: The Lord is Peace
GO WITH THIS...
Israel’s status as the people of God was decided under the Abrahamic Covenant...They ARE the people of God.
However, separate but related to that identity, the Lord gave them another covenant under Moses as they journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land…a covenant based on obedience: you will be blessed as you OBEY and you will be cursed as you DISOBEY.
For the Christian…the same dynamic is operative in our lives...
Our salvation is SECURE by the blood of Jesus Christ
However, we are still prone to the consequences of sin and the blessing of obedience.
Even as believers, our sin makes us feel distant from the Lord and clouds our vision for the future…our sin breaks our relationships and brings harm to us.
But as believers, our obedience ALWAYS brings blessing…so much blessing to our HEARTS, that even if we are suffering for the name of Christ in our obedience, we are at peace and BLESSED. And as we steward well what the Lord gives us, he entrusts us with more to handle in His Kingdom.
So let us not forget what the LORD has done for us....
He has delivered us from our former slavery to sin
He has given us a NEW LIFE in Christ to walk in
He has defeated any enemy that should rise up against us…so we shall not be afraid.
Gideon is NOT perfect…none of these deliverer/judges are. However, let’s recognize that Word says the LORD is with Gideon. Gideon is usually criticized as being reluctant to his calling because of this scene as well as later when he puts out fleeces before battle. However, there is no evidence in the WORD that the Lord judges him for his questions or actions in these cases.
Contrast this with last week when Barak is judged for his questioning of Deborah’s prophecy OR like we noted Zechariah going MUTE after questioning Gabriel at the foretelling of John the Baptist’s birth.
What we should take from this is AGAIN that the LORD knows our hearts. Having questions of the LORD in and of itself is not wrong. Think of Thomas, he told the other disciples he would need to “place his finger in to the mark of the nails” on Jesus hands to believe that Jesus was risen…when Jesus came to him, he was not chastised for this. Rather, Jesus said, come and put your finger in my hands and my side!
I’m not here to defend Gideon’s character, but we CAN learn a lot from how Gideon responds to the Lord’s calling on his life with obedience in contrast to the people around him.
And finally as we celebrate in this season the ADVENT of a Savior: Jesus showed up to a similar scene 2000 years ago. Israel under Roman occupation and control, silence from the prophets for hundreds of years
God shows up to the Weak/Vulnerable
A favored one chosen to save
In the weightiest decisions of our lives, the LORD gives us peace.
From where does your salvation come? From your Savior God!