Gideon’s Plea for a Miracle
“And there came an Angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”. Judges 6:11-12
God requires repentance before He saves. The whole purpose in God allowing Israel’s enemies to overtake them and treat them so harshly was to bring them to repentance. When they came to the place where they realized their own guilt before a holy God, admitted so to God, and returned to Him, then He would send a deliverer.
Because of Israel’s disobedience, God had allowed the Midianites to overrun them, a great army compared to a multitude of grasshoppers, which came and destroyed Israel’s crops and caused the people to be impoverished. Israel cried unto the LORD for help. God did help by sending an unnamed prophet to them who reminded them of earlier rescues that God had done for them. God had told them to not fear their enemies for He was their LORD, and He could be trusted to protect, provide, and care for them. After His message was given to them by this prophet, some of the people did repent which caused God to send another deliverer, a man named Gideon, son of Joash, whose family lived in the land of Manasseh and were wheat farmers. Joash was a Baal worshiper; thus, Gideon apparently did not grow up in a home where Jehovah God was worshiped. Because of that fact, we could assume that Gideon would not be an appropriate candidate for the position of judge and deliverer for Israel, but he was the very one whom God chose to rescue Israel from the Midianites. It is a good idea to never assume that God is going to act how we think He should. He is way smarter that any of us.
Gideon’s first encounter with the God of Israel began under an oak tree nearby where he was threshing wheat, the process whereby the hulls and kernels of wheat were separated. While Israel was under the dominion of the Midianites, any threshing had to be done in small batches in a private place to escape the eyes of Israel’s enemy. Otherwise, the grain would be confiscated, and the farmers left with nothing. There was also a winepress nearby which was not normally a place for threshing. Underneath the oak tree sat the Angel of the LORD, likely watching Gideon hard at work. This Angel, who it is believed to be Jesus Christ in an Old Testament physical appearance known as a Christophany, approached Gideon, speaking plainly to him that the LORD was with him and then called him a “mighty man of valor”. I can picture in my mind’s eye Gideon looking all around to see if there was someone else to whom the Angel was speaking. After all, he was just a common farmer, the son of an idolater. How could this Angel possibly be speaking to him in such respectful and honorable tones?
Valor means to be fearless and brave, especially in battle or when defending a just cause. Gideon had never fought in battle and had never proved himself under fire. Why would the Angel call him such a brave man when he was hiding from the Midianites? However, Gideon did show courage in how he responded to the Angel’s statement that the LORD was with Gideon. He boldly, but respectfully, asked, (paraphrasing) “if God is with us, then why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracles that our fathers told us about, particularly how God rescued His people from Egypt? But now he has forsaken us and given us over to the Midianites”. We can understand why he asked that question. We wonder why so many bad things are happening in our nation and our world today. Sometimes it seems that God has put us on the back burner, so to speak, and allowed us to simmer in a pot of sin and perversions of all kinds. We see some of the most ungodly things going on in our nation and wonder why God is allowing these things to happen. It is not so much how we are affected by it all; it is more about how God is being dishonored by people whose pride causes them to think they know more than God. We know that God will deal with it all in due time, but in the meantime, we are zealous for the honor of God and grieve for the state of our homeland.
The Angel (Jesus) did not get angry at Gideon’ complaint and expression of doubt as to God’s ways and particularly God’s motives. In my opinion, that took a “lot of guts” to be so bold. However, God tells us to “come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Next time: God’s Miracle