Gideon

• Found: Judges 6 - 8

The People Turn Away Again (Judges 6 v 1-10)

Once more the Israelites turned away from God. This time God turned them over to the Midianites who ruled over them for 7 years. The Israelites were greatly oppressed and found it hard to survive.

Gideon Raised Up (Judges 6 v 10-40)

When we first come across Gideon he is hiding from the Midianites, threshing wheat by the winepress so they wouldn't stop him. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and called him a mighty man of valour. The Lord told Gideon that he will save Israel from the Midianites. Gideon couldn't believe that God would choose him, being the least of his family, and asked for a sign. He brought out an offering, which the angel touched with his staff. The offering was burnt up and Gideon was afraid. He thought he would die because he had seen an angel.

God assured Gideon he would not die, and asks him to cast down the altar to Baal and the grove put up by his father, and to erect an altar to the true God, sacrificing a bullock on it. Gideon and his servants did this by night because he was afraid of the men of the city. The next morning when they saw what had happened, these men came to Gideon's house, demanding his death. Joash, Gideon's father, said that they should let Baal himself take it out on Gideon, and renamed him Jerubbaal.

Gideon was still not sure of God's command, so asked him to assure him. He put a fleece out at night and in the morning the fleece was wet but the ground about it was dry. The next night he put the fleece out again. This time the fleece was dry and the ground wet, as Gideon had asked. Now he was sure that God was calling him

Gideon Defeats the Midianites (Judges 7)

Gideon raised up an army to fight against the Midianites. There were 32,000 of them, but God told Gideon this was too many. Those who were afraid were to go home. This left 10,000, still too many. This time the men were told to drink from a stream. Those who leaned over and lapped like dogs were sent home. This left just 300 men, few enough that they couldn't claim the victory for themselves.

Gideon was scared that they would lose the fight, so God told him to go down to the enemy camp to assure himself. There he heard a man tell his dream to another: a barley roll had rolled into the Midianite camp and squashed a tent. His friend said this was a sign that Gideon would be successful.

Gideon rushed back to his 300 men and told them the instructions he had been given by the Lord. Each man was to take a trumpet in one hand and a lamp, concealed inside a jug, in the other. They surrounded the enemy camp and, at Gideon's signal, broke the jugs to reveal the lamps, blew their trumpets and shouted "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon". The enemy rose up in confusion at this and started attacking each other. The people of Israel joined in to chase down the Midianites and the battle was won.

The Enemy Driven Out (Judges 8)

Gideon led his army and slew the Midianite kings. The people wanted him to be their king but he refused. Israel was quiet for another 40 years, and Gideon had seventy sons before he died at an old age. No sooner had he died than Israel again turned away from the Lord.

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