The Calling Of Gideon Part 2

When I first looked at Judges 6:7-24 it seemed like these verses formed two independent topics. Judges 6:7-10 shows the importance of the Word of God which corrects, reproves, and trains us in righteousness. Judges 6:11-24 seems to abruptly change the topic to God raising up Gideon as a judge. However, the more I considered these texts it seemed to me that Judges 6:7-10 should be seen in two ways. First, it is a passage that conveys the importance of God’s Word to instruct us in repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This is the topic we will consider today. Secondly, it is a passage that shows us the importance of the covenant that Israel had with the LORD. This will be our focus next week. 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.”

At the end of Judges 5 we were told that Israel had experienced God’s blessing for forty years. However, in Judges 6:1 we were told that Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. Because of this God disciplined Israel and they quickly becomes miserable because of the oppression of the Midianites. (Judges 6:2-5) Despite this suffering and misery Israel did not call out to the LORD for seven long years. That is 2,555 days!

There is a show that is called ‘Alone’ where the contestants are each dropped off in the middle of nowhere and they have to fend for themselves. Some of these contestants ‘tap out’ from the game because they miss their family, or their starving, or the weather is bad, or they cannot make a fire, or they have no water to drink, or they are scared of predators, or they get sick or there was some accident, etc. In all of the time that this show has aired the longest any person has ever remained in the game has been 100 days. Exhortation: We are a lot like Israel in that we can be so slow to repent and cry out to the LORD for help? This is even true when our suffering is intended to bring us to that very response as it is for Israel in the Book of Judges!

In Judges 6:6a we read, “And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD.” As we have seen previously in the Book of Judges, when Israel does this God always responds in some way. We should take note of this because we tend to think that God will not respond to our call, especially when we have sinned as Israel has done here.

Interestingly, when Israel cries out to God He does not immediately raise up a judge to deliver them. This is surprising because by this time in Israel’s history they have seen God raise up many judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and Barak. Because of this Israel might have expected that God would do this again. However, the first thing that God does is to send a prophet to speak to them. We read in Judges 6:6b, “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.”

I wonder, do you experience the tension in a text like this? God’s response here is like getting socks for your Christmas present. Socks are practical but they are not what you really wanted to get for Christmas. Similarly, Israel is miserable and they want to wake up in the morning and be able to celebrate.

When you read verse 6 you see that Israel’s attention is primarily on the Midianites and their misery and not upon the need to listen to God’s Word and respond to it. They want help, they want relief, they want peace. However, they do not know, as Gideon will soon discover, that true peace comes from turning to God and receiving His grace and mercy. (23)

Question: When we are miserable and you want relief from our circumstances do you turn to God and to His Word? When you are suffering do you receive the Word of God or do you question God as Gideon begins to do in Judges 6:13?

There are a couple reasons why God’s response should not surprise us. First, we just saw in Judges 4-5 that the Word of the LORD played a vital role in preparing the hearts of Israel for their deliverance. Secondly, we know that Israel is in this situation because of their sin. (6:1) What Israel is experiencing is the result of a spiritual problem so they need to respond accordingly. (6:8-10)

However, as you read through this text you are left scratching your head and asking yourself if Israel is truly repenting. You get the impression that Israel is miserable and this is why they cry out to the LORD. Consider Judges 6:6 which says, “And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD.” There is no mention of sin and repentance here. Consider Judges 6:7, “When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites…”. There is nothing in these words that inclines us to believe that Israel understands their sin and their need for repentance. Because of this God sends a prophet to instruct them.

There is another example in the Scriptures where we see God responding in the same way that He does here. We see this in Psalm 32. Psalm 32 begins with these words, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (1-2)

As I worked on memorizing this I appreciated the significance of those last seven words of verse 2, “...in whose spirit there is no deceit.” I wonder how many people speak of having received the blessing of forgiveness while they continue to conceal, excuse, deny, and cover up their sin? In out text it is clear that Israel is miserable and they want their circumstances to change, but it is not so clear that they have come to see the evil of their sin and their need to repent.

In Psalm 32 David admits that at one time he tried to conceal his sin from the LORD. During that time he was being deceitful and so he was not experiencing the blessedness that is spoken of in verses 1&2. Instead, while David concealed his sin the LORD disciplined him. We read of this in Psalm 32:3-4 where David speaks of four things that he experienced during that time, “...my bones wasted away...I groaned all day long...Your hand was continually heavy upon me...my strength was dried up.” In a similar way, God is doing these same things to Israel in Judges 6.

David came to understand that all of these things happened because he was being disciplined. David says in verse 4, “For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me…”. Sin brings upon us great misery and suffering but God’s discipline brings a misery from God that is intended to cause a person to repent, be restored, and be blessed.

However, despite this harsh discipline that David was experiencing he did not repent. For months the LORD used this discipline upon David, but eventually he had to send the prophet Nathan to confront David about his sin. When Nathan did this David repented. He speaks of this in Psalm 32:5, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

In a similar way, in Judges 6 Israel has sinned and done what was evil in the sight of the LORD. (6:1) Therefore, the LORD disciplines His people. Like David they groan under the burden of their misery. And like David, along with this discipline they need the LORD to send a prophet to speak to them if they are going to repent and be restored. This is why the LORD sends a prophet to Israel.

When David responded well to the words of the prophet in Psalm 32 the LORD showed him great mercy, grace, and kindness. Therefore David says in Psalm 32:6-7, “Let everyone who is godly offer a prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.”

In Judges 6 it appears that Israel is in this same process that David was going through in Psalm 32. For seven years God has been disciplining His people because of their sin.(6:1-2) When the people cry out to the LORD He sends a prophet to them so that they will repent like David and receive grace, mercy, and kindness. Therefore the prophet has a simple message: “God is faithful, You are not, You have not obeyed His Word!”

In Judges 6:8-10 the LORD raises up a prophet and sends him to His people.This prophet has a divinely inspired and powerful message to speak to Israel. This prophet was given a divine call and he had a great burden that compelled him to speak to everyone the same message. As he did this he looked Israel in the eyes and boldly delivered the Word of the LORD, saying, “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.’” The prophet did not flinch, he did not shrink back, or compromise as he said to Israel, “...you have not obeyed my voice.” (10)

Interestingly, as you read this story you find so little evidence that the Word of God has been received and responded to by the majority of the people. (Gideon questions God, Gideon’s dad and the people are still worshiping Baal and Ashteroth, the people want to kill Gideon, The people want to make Gideon king, the LORD knows that Israel’s heart quickly will become prideful, Gideon will make an ephod that will make the people stumble.)

• At worst this shows us the continuing decline of Israel into full blown apostasy.

• At best this shows us that sanctification is a process that takes time and intentionality.

Would you agree with me that Judges 6:7-10 is an important message that God’s people should respond rightly to? Yes, but this makes it so much more surprising, even shocking, that we are not told how the people responded. Contrast this passage with what we read in Judges 2 when God confronted Israel’s sin and faithlessness. In Judges 2:4 after the LORD spoke to them, “...the people lifted up their voices and wept.” Then we read that, ‘they called the name of that place Bochim (which means weepers). And they sacrificed there to the LORD.’

We do not know if Israel repented. We don’t know if there was a revival. We do not know if they wept over their sin and the consequences of it. We do not know if they worshiped the LORD and forsook the other gods. We don’t know if Israel rejected the prophet and his divinely inspired message. Application: Doesn’t this symbolize the nature of many professing Christians lives? They are neither hot or cold. Therefore one day all such people will be spewed from the mouth of God. (Revelation 3:16)

I had hoped that we could assume that there was a great revival in Israel and that this is why God raises up a judge to deliver His people. (3:11) However, when you read Judges 6-8 there is so little evidence that something dramatic happened in the hearts of God’s people. One thing we can conclude with certainty is that the LORD honors His Word above all other things and we are to respond in faith and repentance when He delivers it. (Psalm 138)

In verses 7-10 we see the importance of God’s Word but we are not told how the people respond to it. In verse 11 God comes to Gideon and calls him out of idolatry and makes him Israel’s next judge. All of this is accomplished by God and not by anything that can be attributed to Gideon. By this we get a glimpse of just how much the Word of God and the work of the Spirit has to overcome to transform Gideon. Gideon has no reason to boast, brag, or exalt himself. No, by his own admission he is the least of all people.

One application that I see in this story is that this is a picture of the world when Jesus came into it. It is a picture of each of us and what has to happen for us to be saved and sanctified. Jesus came into a dark and suffering world full of misery because of sin. He came because He was sent by God according to His sovereign plan. Jesus did not come because the people were prepared for Him. He did not come because they were ready and willing to receive Him. No, He came to His own and they did not know Him. He came into this world that He created and sustains and they did not recognize Him, welcome Him, or believe upon Him. (John 1:9-18) God had to overcome these things to save sinners. He deserves all our worship and all the glory. Let him who boasts, boast in the LORD.