Ep. 67. Judges 6-8 | Gideon

EPISODE 67

GIDEON: JUDGES 6-8

There are a lot of things to glean from the Gideon narrative. It shouldn't surprise us to see that the people of God have now become the people of Baal and Asherah. If you haven't gathered it by now, let me just reiterate: the Hebrew people were idolatrous almost since the beginning.

The angel of the Lord meets with Gideon and calls him to service. Gideon, of course, is reluctant. But so was Moses. And Jeremiah. And Jonah. And a bevy of others. Thankfully, God is bigger than our perceived weaknesses and uses us according to his power at work within us and not according to our own power.

I do find it interesting that Gideon is unwilling to cut down the altar of Baal during the day. He's scared of being caught, so he obeys God but under the cover of darkness. Nicodemus, a pharisee, met with Jesus under the blanket of darkness. Most of the time, when the Bible speaks of people doing their deeds in "darkness," it is because they have rejected God. In Ezekiel, the priests worship idols by night, presuming God can not see them. In Job, the adulteress conducts her business by night. In Proverbs, the foolish youth sneaks off to the adulteress' house in the twilight and evening. In John, the wicked do their deeds in the darkness, afraid to step into the light. In 1 Thessalonians, it is the unbeliever who does deeds consistent with the night. In Isaiah, those who hide themselves from the Lord cover their deeds with darkness. I think this gives us a little insight into the shame Gideon is feeling about the work he has been called to do. Of course, he is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as a person of faith, and God does use him in a powerful way, but the shame still seems to be there.

One thing we shouldn't do is take Gideon's testing of God as an example to follow. Moses told the people before he died that they should "not put the Lord your God to the test." Jesus quotes that very text when being tempted by the Devil in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. Gideon is not being brave, or noble, or humble at that moment. It is not wise for us to "lay out a fleece" to see what God might want us to do. In fact, God had already plainly instructed Gideon on the task before him. Therefore, the fleece, twice laid out, was Gideon doubting the command of God on his life. I'm not sure why we feel the need to "look for signs." If people were more educated on the reality and influence of confirmation bias, we'd be less likely to trust the so-called signs around us. But this blog is not a place for that discussion. (Text me if you want an earful on my opinions of signs and the false support of confirmation bias.)

It is important to see that Gideon's army was decreased from 32,000 to 300, while the Midianite army numbered 135,000. God tells us the significance of this two times in the text; he does not want Gideon or his men to be able to take credit for what God himself is about to do. By the way, this is a theme in the New Testament as well. It is why salvation is by grace rather than any degree of works, so that no man may boast. Most of 2 Corinthians deals with false teachers who boast in their credentials and accolades, while Paul is content to boast only in the cross of Christ. If salvation were by works, then Abraham and all who came after him would have something to boast about. But we people of faith recognize there isn't a thing we could have done to impact our salvation. That's not the point of the Gideon story, but it still makes me think of the similarities, and now you will too.

I'll leave you with one question we cannot answer: why did Gideon build the ephod? Why did he set it up in his city? His story begins with him breaking down the altar of Baal and tearing down the Asherah pole, and then it ends with him setting up another pole, which became a snare to Gideon and his entire family. The story ends where it begins: idolatry.

ADDITIONAL READING: Isaiah 10:26; Psalm 83; Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:7; Proverbs 7:9; Job 24:15; John 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:7; Ezekiel 8:12; Isaiah 29:15, Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 4: 1-5