Untitled Sermon
And more than a political attack, the Midianite crisis threatened the very physical survival of Israel, whose economic basis consisted in a mix of subsistence agriculture (some crops raised for exchange; i.e., grapes) and herding.
This story also emphasizes the obvious but eternal fact that our God is merciful! Israel cried out not in repentance, but simply in anguish before the threat of starvation. Yahweh did not wait for their response to be perfect. Indeed, as we read the Gospels we conclude that if Jesus only helped people who came to him the “right” way, he wouldn’t be helping very many people. People came to Jesus out of the daily pain of their lives, often with little thought of repenting and being spiritually transformed. Desperation drove them, as it drove Gideon’s countrymen. Still, the fact of Israel’s unresolved sin places the story of Gideon under a question mark. Divine mercy is not denied, but the presence of that mercy should not lead us to think God has no interest in his people discovering the real reasons why they should cry out to him.
22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000. Note the instantaneous loss of two-thirds of Gideon’s force, whose hearts were not in the battle. For a leader lacking inherent tribal authority and depending only on divine charisma, this had to be disheartening. As a result, the Israelites were outnumbered 13.5 to 1.