The most fragile man from the weakest clan in Manasseh couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge the angel’s greeting.
“The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
Gideon responded with an interrogation instead of gracious acceptance.
“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.’ “
The angel hadn’t arrived to negotiate. He had come to initiate Gideon.
“Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; did I not send you?”
Gideon got to the heart of the issue: his own unworthiness.
“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.”
The Lord replied through the angel: “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
Gideon’s brain could hardly process the angel’s labeling of him. Mighty man of valor? Go in this might of yours and save Israel?
There began Gideon’s obsessive compulsive pursuit of signs. It wasn’t enough that an angel of the Lord appeared under his father Joash’s terebinth tree at Ophrah. He required two-factor authentication.
So, Gideon took the angel to Flavortown. He prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes, setting this offering out on a rock and pouring broth over it. The angel stood before the offering and touched it with his staff. Blazing fire consumed the offering, and the angel vanished.
“Alas, O Lord God!” said Gideon. “For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”
“Peace be to you,” said the Lord. “Do not fear; you shall not die.”
That was enough for Gideon…at least for the moment.
Breaking Baal
The Lord gave Gideon further instructions. Tear down the altar of Baal on your father’s property and the sacred Asherah pole beside it.
Gideon, unused to operating with his chin up and chest out, did the deed by night alongside ten of his father’s servants. He feared what his family and fellow Israelites would say if they saw him. Their apostasy and idolatry ran deep as they caves they lived in.
Because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God had permitted the Midianites and their allies to rule over Israel. They did not govern with kid gloves. When the Israelites planted crops, Midianite raiders would swoop in, ravage the land, and carry off livestock. As a response, the Israelites built strongholds in the mountains and lived in caves.
The next morning after Gideon’s nighttime knockout of Baal, the entire town wanted his head on a pole. They said to Gideon’s father Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.”
Although Joash had permitted the altar of Baal on his property, his son’s newfound spine restored some of his own. He waved away the village mob by saying that if Baal was a god, he would contend for himself.
Crisis averted.
Gideon “Fleeces” God
Not long after, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the other mighty “Ites” of the East crossed the Jordan river and encamped in the Valley of Israel. The time had come to pillage as they pleased.
Gideon, standing a little bit taller since his showdown with Baal, sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, gathering the clans for war.
Then, he let second thoughts gnaw at his brain. The need for two-factor authentication crippled him once more.
He laid out the plan for God. I’m putting out a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there’s dew on the fleece only, and the ground remains dry, I’ll know you’ll save Israel by my hand.
God showed mercy even though Gideon was testing him.
The next morning, Gideon squeezed the dew from the wool fleece, filling a bowl full of it. The ground remained dry.
His compulsions were not satisfied, so he asked for God to do the opposite.
“Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more…Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.”
Even Gideon knew he was being obsessive. God, gracious as ever and using this as teaching moment, granted Gideon’s request.
This series of events revealed plenty to Gideon. He recognized his sign-seeking was really an excuse for inaction and a window into his feelings of unworthiness as a leader. The rituals would never be enough for reassurance, because there would always be another bit of uncertainty that crops up.
God Downsizes Gideon’s Army
Gideon’s recruiting efforts produced 32,000 Israelites to pit against the 135,000-strong Midianite army.
God didn’t like those odds, so He whittled down the army to a mere 300. He wanted His glory to show forth, because if there was any excuse for the Israelities to say they were their own cause of victory, they would take it.
Gideon obeyed, and the Biblical text doesn’t record him asking for more signs. However, God steps in and gives him a choose-your-own ending decision.
“Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterwards your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.”
Gideon chose to take his servant and do some reconnaissance.
“When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade.
And he said, ‘Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.’
And his comrade answered, ‘This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’
As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped.
And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.’ ”
Gideon, flush with confidence, asked for no more signs and led the army of Israel to rout over the Midianties. You can read the story in its entirety, along with the rest of Gideon’s biography, in Judges 7 and 8.
Despite his compulsive requests for confirmatory signs, Gideon’s obedience and action earned him a place in the “hall of faith” passage in Hebrews 11.
His story is a reminder that avoidance of action never produces reassurance in the end. You can receive all the signs you’ve ever desired, but without faith in motion, you’re chasing after your own tail.
Live with discernment, test the spirits (1 John 4), and put one Gospel shoe in front of the other.
Bonus Content
Remember when Gideon tore down the altar of Baal with his father’s bull? That act of defiance earned him a new name, “Jerubbaal.” It roughly translates to “Let Baal contend with him.” The moniker is a subtle dig toward this false god, essentially saying, “If you’re so powerful, go ahead and do your worst.”
Following this incident, Baal went remarkably quiet and had no further contention with Gideon. Go figure.
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