Gideon Part 3: Judges 6:7-24

Let’s read Judges 6:7-24,

“When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”

Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “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.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “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.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”

So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.”

Last week we considered how Judges 6:7-10 emphasizes two things. First, it shows us the importance of Israel’s need to truly repent. In this moment Israel may be calling out to the LORD for help simply because they are miserable. They may not yet understand that these things have happened to them because they have sinned and they are being disciplined. Therefore, the first thing that God does when Israel cries out to the LORD is to send a prophet to speak the Word of God to them.

Second, and this will be our topic for today, Judges 6:7-10 is a moment when the LORD confronts His people for having broken covenant with the LORD. We have seen this happen before in Judges. We saw this happen in Judges 2:1-5. That text was very dramatic and it was hard to miss what was happening at that time because the LORD Himself came to address Israel’s sin.

When we compare the messages in these two texts we find that they are similar.

• In Judges 2:1 the LORD says, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers.” Similarly, the prophet says in Judges 6:8, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.”

• In Judges 2:2 the LORD speaks of the peoples failure to obey Him and says, “But you have not my voice. What is this you have done?” Similarly, in Judges 6:10 the LORD speaks through the prophet, “But you have not obeyed my voice.”

Note: The words of this prophet is nothing new. His message is a restatement of what God has already said to His people. False prophets don’t sound like this; rather, they speak a word that does not take sin seriously and so they do not show us our need for Jesus Christ and His atoning work of redemption.

The unregenerate love false prophets. But you cannot love two masters, so they love false prophets and they persecute those who do speak the Word of God. Listen to what Stephen says in Acts 7:51-53, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” Stephen is showing Israel why there is a need for Jesus and the New Covenant established by Him.

These similarities between these two messages in judges reminds us that something significant is happening in Judges 6:7-10. Before the LORD raises up Gideon to be Israel’s next judge He speaks through this prophet and confronts their sin and faithlessness. Initially I overlooked the importance of what was happening in Judges 6:7-10 and this may have happened for several reasons.

First, if we are not a covenant minded people we won’t see the significance of this moment. To be covenant minded means that we see the significance of how God has related to His people in the Old Testament and in the New Testament through covenants. God established these covenants with Adam, Noah, Moses, David and all of these covenants are ultimately fulfilled in Christ Jesus. (Hebrews 8:8-13)

Secondly, we might miss this strong covenant connection because in Judges 2:1-5 the LORD Himself comes personally to confront Israel, but in our text today a prophet is sent. The message is similar but the preacher is different. We are given no information about this prophet; instead, it is his message that is important for Israel to hear and respond to. This prophet is like John the Baptist, the last old testament prophet and the greatest of them all, who is calling God’s people to repent and return to God.

We are not told how the people responded to this message. The text is silent about this and this silence is only stopped when the LORD displays His continued faithfulness to His people by going to Gideon to raise him up as their next judge. (6:11-24) This action by God displays what was spoken of in Judges 2:1 when the LORD says, “I will never break my covenant with you…”.

After the prophet speaks to Israel, the LORD comes to Gideon and begins to raise him up as a judge. Although we don’t know how Israel responded to the prophet we are told how Gideon responds to the LORD in Judges 6:22, “Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD.’”

Third, we might overlook the connection between these two texts because Israel was told the consequences of their sin in Judges 2, but in Judges 6:7-10 the prophet does not do this. In Judges 6 the people are already miserable and suffering because of their sin and God is responding to their cry for help.

Now that we see the significance of this moment from a covenant perspective we can make an observation about Judges 6:10-24. When we come to the end of Judges 6:10 and begin to read Judges 6:11-24 we can see that it was not the Holy Spirit’s desire to focus on the response of the people to the message. No, the Holy Spirit focuses our attention upon the raising up of Gideon as their next judge. It is this event in Judges 6:11-24 that is as dramatic as Judges 2:1-5. (The LORD comes to Gideon and speaks to him. There is an offering given. Even more dramatic than Judges 2:5 is that we know that this offering was accepted by the LORD.)

When we consider Gideon as God calls him in these verse we begin to see that there are many similarities between the calling of Moses and the calling of Gideon. These similarities remind us of Deuteronomy 18:18 where Israel was told, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you (Moses) from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”

Because of Dueteronomy 18 Israel was expecting that God would one day raise up someone like Moses. When we see these similarities between the calling of Moses and Gideon Israel might think that he was going to be a good candidate to fulfill this verse. (They do try to make him king in 8:22)

• When God comes to Moses and Gideon it is because the LORD has heard the cry of His people and He is responding. (Ex. 2:23-24; Ex. 3:7-10; Judges 6:1)

• When Moses is called by God he to is hiding in the land of Midian from Egypt. (Ex.3:1) When Gideon is called he is hiding from the Midianites. (6:11)

• When speaks to Moses it is in the flame of fire in the midst of a bush. (3:2) When God speaks to Gideon there is the fire that consumed the offering upon the rock. (6:21)

• When Moses and Gideon discovered who they were talking to they both were afraid and knew they would/should die in the presence of God. (Ex. 3:6; 6:22)

• Moses did not think he was qualified for this calling. (3:11) Gideon did not think that He was qualified for the calling given to him. (6:15) In both cases their lack of confidence in themselves magnifies that it is because the LORD is with them that they will be successful. (3:12; 6:16)

• There is a staff mentioned in both of these stories. (Exodus 4:2; 6:22)

• Both men seek signs from the LORD. (Ex. 4:1-5; 6:36-40)

In these ways, Gideon is like a new Moses who is being raised up to deliver Israel from their enemies. And yet, despite all of these similarities between Moses and Gideon it becomes clear in Judges 6-8 that Gideon is not the Promised One who would fulfill Deuteronomy 18:18. Gideon was Israel’s deliverer from the Midianites, but he was not the sin delivering Savior. I say this because,

• When we are first introduced to Gideon he is hiding from Israel’s enemies. (6:11)

  • Contrast: Jesus in John 18:20 and 1 Timothy 6:13.

• Gideon does not understand sin and repentance when we first meet up with Him. He even blames the LORD for Israel’s miserable situation. (6:13)

  • Contrast: Jesus was the lamb of God who saves from sins and preached repentance. (John 1:29; Mt. 4:17)

• Gideon often lacks faith in what God is calling him to do for Him. (6:15)

  • Contrast: Jesus came to do the will of the Father- John 6:38 

• Like Samuel, Gideon did not initially recognize who was talking to him. (6:22)

  • Contrast: Jesus knew God and grew in His favor from the beginning. (Luke 2:52)

• Gideon afraid of the Midianites,his family, and the townspeople. (6:27)

  • Contrast: Jesus preached against being fearful and unbelieving. (Matthew 8:26)

• As you read Judges 6-8 it becomes more clear that Gideon is not the one who was promised to be sent. (8:27; 8:30-31)

Because Gideon was a sinner, after the angel of the LORD called him, he offered up to the LORD an offering. We see in Judges 6:21 that When Gideon brought it the LORD said, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock and pour the broth over them.” Then we read, “Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened cakes.” (21)

As a sinner, Gideon deserved to be consumed by the fire of God’s wrath and anger. He was not; instead, the LORD accepted the sacrifice that was offered to Him as a replacement. Gideon had just been called by God to deliver Israel from their enemies, but he would not secure their deliverance by offering himself up on their behalf. No, Gideon will deliver Israel from Midian but Jesus Christ is the only one who can save His people from their sins.

Astonishingly, the one who would one day come to offer up Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of His people, Jesus Christ, is present in our text. He is the One who has been talking to Gideon. In that moment, Jesus was there accepting Gideon’s sacrifice by knowing that one day He would offer Himself up as that one acceptable sacrifice that could bring sinners peace before God.

As Jesus stood there with Gideon and touched His staff to the offering He watched as the flames consumed that offering. He knew that one day He would be the offering which would be given on behalf of His people. He knew that one day He would go to the cross and be offered as a substitute for the sins of His people. One day, He who knew no sin would become sin, and in His flesh He would receive all of God’s wrath and anger on our behalf. Having died and then being raised again for the justification of all those who will look to Him He now gives them His peace.

The altar that Gideon built there that day was called, “The LORD is peace”. Gideon knew that peace is from the LORD alone. It was not the altar itself that brought peace but the LORD who is our peace. These words draw our attention to a person who alone provides us with the grace of peace- Jesus Christ.

There are two appropriate responses to these things. First, when we hear what Jesus has done for us we are to humble ourselves, repent, and believe upon Jesus Christ as our only Savior and LORD. Secondly, those who have done this continually remember what Jesus has done and celebrate it and proclaim it. This is one of the reasons why we so blessed to celebrate communion this morning. Each time we celebrate the LORD’s Table we are reminded of just how central our faith must focus upon Jesus Christ and the New Covenant that He established. We are faithless; the LORD remains faithful. We sin, but there is a New Covenant which gives greater promises and blessing than all that has come before.