Ep. 62 - Gideon (Part 2)

Last we left Gideon, the Angel of the Lord had just given him the good news. Gideon, though he was from the smallest family in the smallest clan in his tribe, would lead the Israelites into battle against the Midianites and deliver Israel after 7 years of oppression. But before Gideon could go to war against the Midianites, he had to go to war against idolatry. Which he did in his hometown when he burned down the idol of Baal and setup an alter to God. The men of his town really didn’t like that, but Gideon’s father managed to convince the mob to stand behind Gideon. And not a moment too soon, because right then the Midianites’ yearly “visit” to Israel began. Was this the turn of the tide? Would Gideon lead the Israelites against the invaders? Let’s find out.

As soon as Gideon found out that the invasion had begun, the Bible says that, “the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.” (6:34) Gideon knew in his heart that this was his moment, and he blew the trumpet…the signal for God’s people to gather for battle. And right away, the men from his own town and his own clan - the Abiezrites – obeyed the call. But of course, that wasn’t going to be enough to fight the Midianites! So Gideon also sent messengers throughout his tribe – which was Manasseh – as well as to the neighbouring tribes – Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. And wouldn’t you know it, all these tribes also took the call seriously and also sent men to Gideon.

Now we don’t know this for sure, but it sure seems like Gideon didn’t actually think that anything was going to happen when he blew that trumpet. I mean…these people didn’t know Gideon from a hole in the wall, right? Why would they come just because some random stranger blew on a trumpet? But once men started showing up in their thousands, Gideon realized…oh wow this thing is really going to happen!…and started to get scared. And needing some encouragement, Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— (37)  look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” (Judges 6:36-37)

So, even though the Angel of God had already appeared to him, even though he had seen his offering burst into flames, even though he had seen the Angel disappear right before his eyes…Gideon still needed another sign that he was supposed to lead God’s people against the Midianites. Seems like a bit much, right? But thankfully we serve a merciful God who has more than enough patience for those of us who maybe lack a little bit of faith every once in a while. So, what was the sign the Gideon wanted to God to do for him? Gideon was going to leave a fleece outside on the ground overnight, and if the ground was dry and the fleece was wet, then that would be the sign. Now what is a fleece? A fleece is a piece of sheepskin with the wool still on it. You know those rugs that are like super fluffy on the top and have leather or a fabric on the bottom? Yah like that but smaller and more fluffy. Now if the super fluffy wool got wet, it would absorb a lot of water. You’d go to pick it up and it would be heavy with water until you wrung it out. So, Gideon was going to leave this fleece outside overnight…and if when he woke up the ground was dry and the fleece was wet… well that would be the sign.

So Gideon woke up the next morning…and wouldn’t ya know it…the ground was dry and the fleece was wet. Super wet. He wrung it out and it filled a whole bowl full of water. It was a miracle! Alright time to fight the Midianites! But then Gideon realized…wait a second, what if the overnight dew had dried in the morning (like it normally did) and the fleece was just still naturally wet like it would have been anyways? Well then maybe this wasn’t a miracle at all. And so, probably kicking himself that he hadn’t thought about this to begin with, Gideon went back to God and said, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” (6:39) And the very next morning, that’s what happened. The ground was wet and the fleece was dry. Ok…now THAT was a miracle. Alright, now it’s time to go fight the Midianites!

More and more Israelites kept gathering, until about 32,000 men had come together. Once all the men had arrived, Gideon led his new army to a place called the Well of Harod, which was up on a hill overlooking the valley where the Midianites were camped. While Gideon was on his way, he already would have known that his 32,000 man army was probably small in comparison to how many Midianites usually came. But who knows…maybe this year would be different. But when Gideon arrived at the hill and looked over the valley, wouldn’t you know it, there was a 135,000 strong Midianite army waiting for them. And not only that, don’t forget that the Midianites were nomadic…so not only was there an army in this valley, there were all the families, livestock, and belongings that the Midianites brought with them everywhere they went. So, when Gideon looked over the valley, the Bible says, “the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.” (7:12) There were probably millions of Midianites down there. Gideon’s heart probably sank into his stomach. What could his eensy weensy 32,000 man army possibly do against this horde of Midianites?

While Gideon was worrying about this, God spoke to him. Gideon was probably expecting that God was going to do something about his small army…but boy was Gideon in for a surprise. And God said to him, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands” (7:2) What? Was Gideon hearing this right? Too many? I mean…didn’t God know that the Midianite army was almost 5 times the size of the Israelite army? Too many?!? But God went on to explain that if the army stayed the size that it was and went on to be victorious, the Israelites would think that they had defeated the Midianites. Definitely a 32,000-man army defeating a 135,000-man army wasn’t very likely…but stranger things have happened. And God wanted it to be absolutely clear to idolatry-infested Israel that God was defeating the Midianites, not Israel. And for it to be absolutely clear, God needed the Israelite army to be smaller…much smaller.

So, God said to Gideon, “proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once.'” (7:3) So Gideon went ahead and said to his army, “Hey guys…anyone who is scared…feel free to head home.” And with that, 22,000 out of his 32,000 man army quickly slinked away…leaving Gideon with only 10,000 men. With the most of Gideon’s army gone, now the Midianite army was 13 times the size of Gideon’s army…surely that was small enough, right? Well, apparently not. Because again God spoke to Gideon, and said, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there.” (7:4) And even though Gideon had no idea how this was all going to work out, Gideon did as God commanded and led his small army down to the river.

Now the river was on the way to attacking the Midianites. So, for all the Israelite army knew, the battle was about to begin. And God said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” (7:5) Gideon was to separate the Israelite army into two groups. The first group would be the men that, when they crossed the river on their way to (what they thought was) the battle, quickly scooped up some water from the river and drank it out of their hands…continuing to move forward ready to fight. The second group would be the men that, when they arrived at the very same river, decided…ya know what…what’s the rush…we’re just going to die over there anyways…I think I’m gonna bend down here and take a good long drink…no reason to die thirsty! And after all the men had crossed over the river and had fallen in one group or the other, guess which group had the most men in it? That’s right, by far it was the group that took their sweet time drinking out of the river. And God told Gideon to send all those men home. And after they were all gone, only 300 men out of the 10,000 that had crossed the river were left. 300 Israelites against a 135,000 man army and the Midianite horde? How was that going to work? It was impossible. This math didn’t make any sense to Gideon.

Instead of fighting the Midianites that very day like they had expected, the Israelites camped for the night just up in the hills…right next to the Midianite camp. And understanding that Gideon was feeling pretty down about losing basically all of his army…and probably not have any idea about what to do next, God again spoke to Gideon…this time not to whittle down his army even more…but to give him some encouragement and an idea about what to do next. And God said, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.  …and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” (7:9-10) So, under the cover of darkness, Gideon snuck down to the Midianite camp until he ran into an outpost. And in the silence of the night, Gideon heard a few of the Midianites talking to each other. And the first one said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.” (7:13) And then the guy he was talking to said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.” (7:14) Whoa! So..the Midianites were scared…of Gideon? Of Gideon and his eensy weensy 300 man army? Somehow, God had caused this huge horde of invaders to be scared of Gideon…a man from the smallest family of the smallest clan of his tribe.  It didn’t seem likely, but there it was. And Gideon knew in his heart that the battle was already over.

Feeling super encouraged, Gideon now knew exactly what to do. Immediately he rushed back to his camp and yelled to his 300 men (who were already sleeping in their tents), “Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” (7:15) There was no time to waste…they were attacking the Midianites tonight! Gideon then divided his men into three groups of 100 men each. And he gave each man a trumpet, a torch, and a pitcher (a pitcher is clay jar for carrying water and things like that). And then Gideon said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do:  (18)  When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!'” (7:17-18) So the three groups split up and took their positions up in the hills around Midianites who were down below fast asleep in their camp. And after everyone was in position, Gideon lit his torch, took out his trumpet and blew it as hard as he could. And then each of the brave 300 men followed suit, each lighting their own torches and blowing their own trumpets. And then they all screamed in unison, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” And if that wasn’t enough, all the men took the clay pitchers they were holding and broke them…making it sound like something was crashing all around the camp.

As the bleary-eyed Midianites woke up and came out of their tents, they looked around and saw torches on all sides and crashing and yelling something about Gideon. And as we already know, the camp was already super skittish…so when all this started happening…with the feeling of being attacked from all sides, the Midianites just felt like they needed to be fighting something. So, in all the confusion and panic, the Midianites picked up their swords and started fighting…each other! Yah! We don’t know how long they fought each other or how many men died, but at some point the Midianites realized what was going on, and stopped fighting each other long enough to start running. And what did Gideon and his 300 men do? Well, they started running after them. Imagine, hundreds of thousands of Midianites…maybe millions…running away from just 300 Israelites. What a sight!

Seeing that Gideon somehow had the Midianites on the run, that’s when all the Israelites who had just gone back home decided they wanted to get in on the action, and ran all the back so they could chase the Midianites too. Gideon also sent messengers to the largest tribe in Israel, Ephraim, and asked them to help with the chase as well. The Midianites tried their best to get out of Israel and get back to Midian, they tried this and that…even splitting into two groups trying to get past the Israelites. But everywhere they ran, the Israelites found them and defeated them. By the time that Gideon lead the Israelites in the final battle, the Midianites had gone from an army of 135,000…down to just 15,000…and that was before Gideon defeated them. It’s safe to say that hardly any Midianites made it out of Israel and that they weren’t going to be able to “visit” Israel again anytime soon.

Ya know kidzos, God does not need huge numbers of people to do big things. God can do big things through just a few people. And if this story is anything to go by, what matters much more than numbers is character. God needs just a few brave and dedicated people who are willing to step out of the crowd and do God’s will…no matter how crazy it seems in the moment. Are you one of those people? When the time comes, will you be brave like Gideon and his 300 men? I hope and pray yes!

After Gideon had defeated the Midianites, the Bible says, “Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted their heads no more.” (8:28) Gideon went back to his hometown, Ophrah, had many children and lived out the rest of his days as a judge of Israel. Gideon was well-liked in Israel. Actually, at some point the Israelites even came to Gideon to make him their king. But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.” (8:23) And while Gideon was judge, there was peace in Israel for 40 years. And after Gideon had lived a good long life, the Bible says, “Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.” (8:32) Now that Gideon was dead, would the Israelites finally learn the lesson and remain faithful to God? Or would they continue with cycle of doom? Well, we will find out all about it…next time.