That the Midianite oppression lasts seven years certainly does seem significant as it suggests that the Israelites have actually learnt something. Seven years is still a long time for them to wait before crying out for help, but it is nevertheless an improvement on twenty. God responds by sending a prophet, who reminds them of all that he has done for them and their failure to keep up their end of the deal. In other words, God has done everything he can and they have no one to blame but themselves. How often does he want to say the same to us? We are blessed with so much yet we still spoil things and get things so horribly wrong. We ignore the good God does for us and then blame him for the bad we bring upon ourselves.
Fortunately for the Israelites - and indeed for all of us - God never washes his hands of us, never says that we made the mess so we have to clean it up. After speaking through his unnamed prophet, God goes one better and sends the angel of the Lord to a man named Gideon. There is much debate over who this figure actually is, and the confusion is not helped by the fact that 'Lord' and 'angel of the Lord' at times seem to be used interchangeably. Some say that he is simply an angel, although the use of the definite article would suggest that he's not just any angel, and so others speak of him as an angel representing or bearing the name of God. Some say that that he is God himself, but this would contradict other passages that say that no one may look on the face of God and live, and so others say that he is rather the physical incarnation of God, which according to some theologies would essentially make him the second part of the Trinity, later known as Christ. Whatever the case, the appearance of the angel of the Lord is often spoken of as a theophany or an appearance of God, and it can at least be said that Gideon here encounters God in a very special way, as at moments during his conversation with the angel of the Lord, he speaks directly to the Lord himself. Just stop and think about that for a moment. Gideon talks to God as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Which of course it is. An awesome privilege and yet a freely given gift. It blows my mind!
The angel of the Lord tells Gideon that the Lord is with him, and Gideon asks the questions that must have been on every Israelite's lips. "If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?" It's the big one, isn't it? The question we all want to know the answer to. Why does God let bad stuff happen? Where is he when it hurts? Gideon comes straight out and asks it, and it seems likely maybe this is where we'll finally find the answer, but it's not to be. Gideon doesn't get the answer he was looking for and neither do we. Maybe the answer is just too big, too far beyond our understanding. Maybe there is no easy answer.
But that doesn't mean there is no answer. Gideon has been talking to the angel of the Lord, but now the Lord himself turns to him and says, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" You see, this is God's answer. I know bad stuff has happened to you but it doesn't matter why. What matters is that I'm going to help you fix it. It's the Israelites that have made the mess and so it is an Israelite who will have to clear it up, but God is sending him and that means that God is with him. He's going to help put this right. Isn't this God's answer to us too? Whatever has gone wrong, however we've been hurt, he is there to pick up the pieces. We waste so much of our energy shouting at God and demanding answers, when we could be crying out to him and asking for help. We may never get the answers, but we will always get the help.
Up until this point, Gideon appears to have been taking this conversation in his stride, but now it all seems to get a little too much and he needs some reassurances. First, he questions his ability to save Israel, pointing out that he is the runt of the weakest clan in his tribe. The Lord replies that he will be with him and that he will strike down all the Midianites, and this seems to be enough for Gideon as he doesn't push the point further. He believes that he can do what God says if God is with him, but now he doesn't seem quite sure that God really is with him. He needs proof before he can accept the evidence of his own senses, and so he runs to fetch a sacrifice while the Lord patiently waits for him. When Gideon returns, the angel of the Lord consumes the sacrifice with fire then disappears, and Gideon finally accepts that he has seen the angel of the Lord face to face.
Now that there is no arguing with it, Gideon must get to work. God tells him to tear down his father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole, then build a proper altar and use the wood of the Asherah pole to make a sacrifice. Gideon does as he's told, but rather sheepishly does it in the middle of the night so that no one will know. It doesn't help though, because when the new altar is discovered, it doesn't take long for the men of the town to work out that it was him that did it. The men are ready to lynch Gideon, but his father steps in and points out that if Baal really is a god then he will deal with him. Baal clearly doesn't deal with him, but the implications of this go unnoticed as the Midianites, the Amalekites and other eastern peoples cross the Jordan, presumably bringing them closer to Israel. The Spirit of God comes upon Gideon and he summons the Israelites to arms.
It's a brave thing to do, putting yourself forward as military leader, but Gideon is still a little nervous. Before he goes into battle, he wants one last assurance. He tells God that he will place a fleece on the threshing-floor, and that if the fleece is wet with dew and the ground is dry, he will know that God will save Israel by his hand. Of course the next morning, the fleece is wet and the ground is dry, but Gideon still isn't happy. He asks God not to be angry with him but to allow him on more test. He will leave another fleece on the threshing-floor, and this time if the fleece is dry but the ground is wet, he will know for sure. It is no surprise that the next morning, the fleece is dry and the ground is wet, and this time it seems that Gideon is finally satisfied. I love how patient and gentle God is though all of this. There's a real parental quality to his actions as he eases Gideon's anxieties.
When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he quoted the Scripture that says "you shall not test the Lord your God", so it is perhaps surprising that Gideon gets away with so much. However, I have an inkling that this may be because Gideon is not really testing God. He trusts that if God has spoken then it will be so, he just wants to make sure that it really is God who has spoken. He wants to test his calling to make sure he is doing the right thing, and God honours that. In the same way, if we think God is calling us or convicting us, it's okay to ask for assurances if we do so out of a desire to get things right. But once we have had that assurance, we must be prepared to do something about it.
It seems Gideon is finally ready, because the next morning he takes his men and sets up camp south of the Midianites. However, this time God's not quite ready. He declares that Gideon has too many men, that if people are to know that it is he who has delivered Israel, he must do so with a smaller force. Sending most of your army home may not sound like the greatest battle plan, but Gideon faithfully goes and tells all those men who are afraid that they may leave. Twenty two thousand scarper, leaving ten thousand behind. It's quite a cull, but apparently this is still too many. Gideon goes back to the men and takes them drink, separating those who lap the water like dogs from those who kneel to drink. Three hundred men lap the water, and God declares that with these men he shall defeat the Midianites. I don't know how many Midianites there are, but if Gideon started off by thinking he needed thirty two thousand men, I'm thinking there are probably a fair few. If three hundred Spartans couldn't take the Persian army, three hundred Israelites don't seem to stand much chance against the Midianites. If they win, there will be no question that it is by God's strength.
It's probably not too much of a spoiler to say that they do win. And don't they do it in style?! First though, God sees that Gideon is feeling a little anxious, so he sends him into the Midianite camp to do some eavesdropping and calm his nerves. While he is there, he overhears a man relaying a dream he's had, in which a loaf of bread rolls into the camp and and knocks a tent down. The man's friend declares that this must mean that God has handed the Midianites over to the Israelites, and so Gideon returns to the camp full of confidence, buoyed by the fact that even the Midianites know they're done for. It's another beautiful touch from God, giving Gideon an assurance he didn't even ask for.
The men must think it's gone to his head and sent him a little crazy, because instead of weapons, he arms them with trumpets and jars containing torches. It's of great credit to them that they accept these gifts and follow him to the edge of the Midianite camp. In the depths of the night, when the guard has just changed and the Midianite camp is unsettled, Gideon and his men smash their jars and blow their trumpets and send the camp into total disarray. The Midianites totally freak out and turn on each other or flee. Those who aren't killed by their fellow soldiers are chased down by the men who had stayed behind, and so the Midianite army is destroyed and the Jordan reclaimed. If only the Spartans had thought of using trumpets. We could have had 300: The Musical. Or maybe not. The point is, God may not always do things by the most obvious means, but isn't that part of the adventure? Even when he sends us on what appears to be a fool's errand or an impossible task, we can trust that he knows what he's doing.
The Ephraimites complain that they weren't part of the initial offensive, but Gideon manages to pacify them by pointing out that hey have killed the Midianite leaders and so done more than he has. This quibbling about who's done what is all rather petty, but sadly it is all too often a feature of church politics. It doesn't matter what we have done as individuals so long as we have done all that has been asked of us. It's a team game, not a competition. Having settled this, Gideon and his continue to chase down the Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. They are tired and hungry by this point, and so twice they stop to ask for bread, but the officials they approach rather churlishly accuse them of having already captured the kings and so refuse to give them any bread. It's nonsensical, but it seems they're happy to support the campaign but not to reward it. Gideon is understandably irritated by this and threatens them with punishment before continuing the chase.
Finally he catches the kings and punishes the disbelievers, and then things get personal. He learns that they have killed his brothers, and so he declares that though he would have spared their lives, now they must die. He instructs his eldest son to kill them, but he is only a boy and he is afraid and so he won't draw his sword. It's a really horrible moment that recalls children being pressured and forced into fighting in places like Sierra Leone and Uganda, and it makes me shudder to think of it. I find any kind of violence utterly objectionable, but there is something especially repulsive about acts of violence committed by young children, especially when they are committed in response to acts or threats of violence against them. There should be no need for soldiers, but there is certainly never any justification for child soldiers. As War Child say, some words don't belong together. Thankfully on this occasion the boy is spared, as Gideon does not press him and instead kills the kings himself.
The Midianites are now utterly defeated and the Israelites ask Gideon to lead them because he has saved them. They've really missed the point, haven't they? Fortunately Gideon has not, and he refuses to lead them because he says the Lord will lead them. After all, it was the Lord that saved them. He does however ask that they give him one earring each. They happily oblige and he melts the gold down to make an ephod. According to the law books, an ephod was a linen garment worn by the high priest, but given that this one was solid gold and Gideon was not a priest, the word must have had another meaning we do not know about. What this object was may not be clear, but sadly the problems it caused are, as we are told that Israel prostituted herself by worshipping it and it became a snare to Gideon's family (although I should point out here that nowhere does it say that Gideon himself worshipped this object, which he presumably made to honour God). What a shame it is that after everything God has done, it should come to this. We can be so obtuse at times and it must break God's heart. We need to be aware of what God has done for us and we need to respond to that by worshipping him, not the gold of what we our own success.
Things only get worse as Israel slips further down the proverbial slope. There is peace while Gideon is alive, but no sooner has he died than the the Israelites again prostitute themselves to the Baals, forgetting about God and failing to show kindness to Gideon's family. They've really stuffed up this time. Things can go wrong so quickly and this is why we need to be so careful. This is why we need to hold fast to God and this is why we need an active Gideonite faith that asks the right questions and then acts on the answers.
This part of our story ends on something of a wrong note, which is a shame because there has been much that is good. I only hope the sour aftertaste does not diminish the earlier sweetness.
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