Midian Oppresses Israel
Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, Neh 9:26-29Jdg 2:19-20Deu 28:15-68Jdg 2:11Jdg 2:13-14Num 25:15-18Num 31:1-3Lev 26:14-46 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 1Sa 13:6Heb 11:381Sa 14:11Lev 26:17Deu 28:47-48Rev 6:15
Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them, Jdg 3:13Jdg 6:33Jdg 7:121Ki 4:30Gen 29:1Isa 65:21-22Jdg 8:10Job 1:3 encamping against them as far as Gaza and destroying the produce of the land. They left Israel with no sustenance, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys. Lev 26:16Deu 28:51Mic 6:15Deu 28:33Jer 49:9-10Deu 28:30-31Gen 10:19Gen 13:10 For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it. Jdg 7:12Jdg 8:10Isa 60:6Isa 13:20Jer 46:23Jer 49:29Jer 49:321Sa 30:17
Israel was greatly impoverished by Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD. Jdg 3:9Jer 5:17Psa 106:43-44Psa 50:15Jdg 3:15Hos 5:15Isa 26:16Mal 1:4
Now when the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, He sent them a prophet, who told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Ezk 20:5-32Psa 136:10-16Isa 63:9-14Jdg 2:1-3Neh 9:9-12 I delivered you out of the hands of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. Psa 44:2-3 And I said to you: ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not fear 1the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.’ But you did not obey Me.” Jer 10:22Ki 17:35-39Jer 9:13Exo 20:2-3Jdg 2:2Jer 3:13Jer 3:25Jer 42:21
The Call of Gideon
Then the angel 2of the LORD came and sat down under the oak 3in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. Jos 17:2Heb 11:32Jdg 13:3Jdg 8:2Gen 16:7Isa 63:9Gen 48:16Jdg 13:18-20 And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” Jos 1:5Luk 1:28Jdg 2:18Jos 1:9Jdg 13:3Exo 3:12Luk 1:11Act 18:9-10
“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.” Psa 77:7-92Ch 15:2Isa 59:1-2Psa 44:1Deu 30:17-18Deu 31:17Gen 25:22Isa 41:17
The LORD 4turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?” Jos 1:5-9Heb 11:341Sa 12:11Jdg 4:61Ch 14:9-10Heb 11:32
“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” Exo 3:111Sa 9:21Exo 4:10Jer 1:6Eph 3:81Co 15:91Sa 18:23Jer 50:45
“Surely I will be with you,” the LORD replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.” Jos 1:5Act 11:21Exo 3:12Mrk 16:20Isa 41:10Isa 41:14-16Mat 28:20Jdg 6:12
Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me. Psa 86:17Exo 33:13Isa 7:11Exo 33:16Gen 15:8-17Isa 38:7-8Jdg 6:36-40Exo 4:1-9 Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.” Gen 18:5Gen 18:3Jdg 13:15Gen 19:3
And the LORD said, “I will stay until you return.”
So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. 5 He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak. Gen 18:6-8Lev 2:4Jdg 13:15-19
And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 1Ki 18:33-34Jdg 13:19
Then the angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. Lev 9:241Ki 18:382Ch 7:11Ch 21:26Jdg 13:20
When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he said, “Oh no, Lord GOD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” Gen 32:30Exo 33:20Deu 5:26Jhn 1:18Deu 5:24Deu 5:5Gen 16:13Isa 6:5-8
But the LORD said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid, for you will not die.” Dan 10:19Gen 43:23Jhn 14:27Jhn 20:26Gen 32:30Jhn 20:19Psa 85:8Rom 1:7
So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. 6 To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Gen 22:14Exo 17:15Ezk 48:35Jdg 8:32Jer 33:16Gen 33:20Jdg 21:4Jer 23:6
Gideon Destroys Baal’s Altar
On that very night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Exo 34:132Co 6:15-17Jdg 3:7Act 5:29Mat 10:371Ki 18:21Mat 6:24Act 4:19 Then build a proper altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold. And with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down, take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering.” 1Co 14:331Co 14:402Sa 24:18
So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he did it by night rather than in the daytime. 1Th 2:4Jhn 2:5Deu 4:1Gal 1:16Jhn 15:14Jhn 3:2Mat 16:24Psa 112:5
When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar. “Who did this?” they said to one another.
And after they had investigated thoroughly, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has torn down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” Act 26:9Jhn 16:2Php 3:6Jer 26:11Jer 50:38
But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Are you contending for Baal? Are you trying to save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself with the one who has torn down his altar.” 1Co 8:4Eph 5:11Jer 10:11Jer 10:51Ki 18:271Ki 18:291Ki 18:40Deu 13:5-18
So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, 7 that is to say, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he had torn down Baal’s altar. 1Sa 12:112Sa 11:21Jdg 7:1Hos 9:10Jer 11:13
The Sign of the Fleece
Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. Jos 17:16Jdg 6:3Isa 8:9-10Psa 27:2-3Rom 8:35-391Ch 5:191Ki 18:451Ki 21:1
So the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, who blew the ram’s horn and rallied the Abiezrites behind him. 2Ch 24:201Ch 12:18Jdg 3:10Jdg 3:27Rom 13:14Psa 51:111Co 12:8-111Sa 11:6 Calling them to arms, Gideon sent messengers throughout Manasseh, as well as Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so that they came up to meet him. 2Ch 30:6-12Jdg 4:6
Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said, Jdg 6:14Mat 16:12Ki 20:9Psa 103:13-14Exo 4:1-9Jdg 6:17-20 then behold, I will place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” Hos 14:5Mat 15:24Mat 10:5-6Psa 72:6Deu 32:2Hos 6:3-4Psa 147:19-20
And that is what happened. When Gideon arose the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. Isa 35:7
Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time let it be dry, and the ground covered with dew.” Gen 18:32Isa 50:2Psa 107:33-35Mat 21:43Act 13:46Isa 35:6-7Isa 43:19-20Mat 8:12
And that night God did so. Only the fleece was dry, and dew covered the ground.