Judges 6 – 9. Israel’s fifth cycle under the Judges begins with Israel’s retrograde path into sin, Midian’s oppression, and Israel’s cry to the Lord. In Judges 6, God first speaks to Israel through a prophet, revealing the cause of the difficulty. Then God raises up Gideon, calling him personally, correcting him even in worship, and leading him to remove idolatry in his own father’s house before being used delivering anyone else. Judges 7 records Gideon’s victory over Midian, where God first reduces the army to three hundred men so the deliverance clearly shows His power rather than Israel’s strength. Judges 8 describes the aftermath: internal tensions, Gideon’s pursuit of the Midianite kings, and later his failure in making an ephod that becomes a snare. Judges 9 follows with Abimelech, Gideon’s sad legacy, whose violent rise and fall shows how tolerated evil in one generation brings full ruin in the next.

 

Midian. The Midianites trace back to Abraham through Keturah (Gen. 25:1-4) as a people who moved eastward (Gen. 25:6) and grew into a nomadic, merchant-warrior nation. Their early dealings with Israel were mixed. Moses found refuge among them (Ex. 2:15-21) and married into a Midianite family through Jethro, the priest of Midian (Ex. 3:1; 18:1-27). However, the prevailing view of Midian from Scripture is one of hostility. Midian joined Moab in the seduction at Baal-peor (Num. 25:6, 14-18; 31:1-16), and God commanded Israel to resist their corrupting influence. Later, in the days of Gideon, Midian’s oppression became severe: they swarmed the land like locusts and impoverished Israel (Judg. 6:1-6), stealing their sustenance and robbing God’s people of their food. The Midianites stand in Scripture as a picture of forces that rob the believer of spiritual food. God raised up Gideon to overthrow them, a man who was going to get food no matter what: threshing wheat behind the winepress. Gidean defeated the Midianites, but it was really the “sword of the Lord”, as the victory was accomplished in such a way that all the glory belonged to God. The kings Zebah and Zalmunna were judged afterwards (Judg. 8:18-21).

 

– Cycle #5: Oppressed by Midian – Delivered by Gideon	Judges 6 – 9
– Gideon Raised up by God	Judges 6
– Gideon’s Victory Over Midian	Judges 7
– Aftermath of the Battle with Midian	Judges 8
– Abimelech: Gideon’s Sad Legacy	Judges 9

 

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Judges 6. This chapter introduces us to Gideon, the fifth judge of Israel, whom the Lord raised up to deliver Israel from the Midianites. In vv.1-6, we see how Israel had sunk into severe oppression under Midian, reduced to hiding in dens and starving in their own land. God answered their cry first by sending a prophet who rebuked their unfaithfulness (vv.7-10), and then by calling Gideon (vv.11-24). The Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon in his hidden threshing-place, assuring him of God’s presence and preparing him privately before he could serve publicly. In vv.25-32, Gideon had to confront idolatry in his father’s house by tearing down the altar to Baal. Then in vv.7-10, when the Midianites gathered together with other enemies, God graciously strengthened Gideon’s faltering faith through the twofold sign of the fleece, confirming that the coming deliverance would rest wholly on the Lord.
 

 

 

vv.7-10 Israel cries out; God sends a Prophet. When Israel cried to the Lord, He did not immediately deliver them but first sent a prophet to awaken their conscience. The Lord is deeply interested in the change He is creating in is: more so that easing our circumstances. The prophet’s message was gracious yet searching. He reminded Israel of all the Lord had done in redeeming, delivering, and settling them in the land, and yet they had “not hearkened to my voice”. This was the cause of their troubles. Had they walked in obedience, they would have had nothing to fear. Before restoration could come, they needed to feel the seriousness of their departure. God’s purpose is not simply to remove the difficulty but to reach the root of the sin that caused it. He leaves them under the weight of their responsibility before God.

 

 

vv.11-12 The Angel of the Lord Appears to Gideon. The angel of Jehovah, which was a pre-incarnate form of the Son of God, came an sat under the terebinth tree on Joash’s property in Ophrah. The found Gideon working in secret faithfulness, quietly threshing wheat in the winepress so the Midianites would not steal it. He was working to to provide food for himself and others. Gideon had not abandoned his father’s farm and fled to the caves as others had. He was one who valued his inheritance and would not surrender it to the enemy. He was threshing, getting rid of the chaff (that which is not Christ). In that hidden place the Angel of the Lord appeared, calling him by a name he never would have taken for himself: “Thou mighty man of valour.” God saw not his fears but the spiritual courage in Gideon. Do we realize how God views our labor? Gideon represents one determined to gather food for his soul. We see in this the first great principle of service: power for deliverance begins with private communion and quiet faithfulness before God, long before any public work is seen.

 

v.13 Gideon Questions God. Gideon’s reply shows his spiritual exercise. He was honestly perplexed about the situation. When the Angel of Jehovah called him a “mighty man of valour,” Gideon seems to have immediately associates God’s presence with Israel as a whole: “If Jehovah be with us…”. This identification with the people of God, even in their failure, is one of the first marks of a true servant. He does not stand apart to criticize but includes himself in the whole, even in the spiritual ruin. If Israel’s affliction came from the Jehovah because of their sin, didn’t He now have power to deliver them? His question was not unbelief, but a desire to understand the ways of God: “Why then is all this befallen us?” He remembers the past, God bringing Israel out of Egypt with miracles. Where are the miracles now? Gideon mourned the contrast with the present. It is the instinct of faith to measure current weakness by the standard of God’s original purpose. Gideon’s heart had not yet fully grasped the grace that was acting toward him. The Lord was about to show him that His mercy rises far above His people’s unfaithfulness.
 

 

vv.14-16 The Lord Commissions Gideon, Promises His Presence. The Lord answers Gideon not with an explanation, but with a commission: “Go in this thy might.” Gideon’s “might” is not his natural strength, but the spiritual exercise he had just expressed: his sorrow for Israel and his confidence that their affliction must be the Lord’s doing. God counts that spiritual care as strength and makes it the basis of service. “Have not I sent thee?” God alone supplies the needed power. Gideon feels utterly weak, and replies with the statement of his status: his family the poorest in Manasseh, and himself the least in his father’s house. He did not think highly of himself. But this is exactly the material God uses: those who know they have no strength of their own. The victory depends wholly on the Lord, not on human lineage or ability. God’s call, “Have not I sent thee?” shifts the entire weight of the mission from human resources to God’s authority. Gideon’s sense of inadequacy, “Wherewith shall I save Israel?”, is essential for service. The Lord’s answer, “Surely I will be with thee”, teaches us that deliverance is secured through the continued presence of the One who sends us. The promise that he will smite Midian “as one man” assured him that the countless enemy was, in God’s eyes, no more than a single foe! A major lesson in the life of Gideon is that numbers do not mean anything!

 

vv.17-18 Gideon Asks For a Sign and Prepares an Offering. Gideon, still trembling under the weight of the Lord’s call, asks for a sign to confirm that the One speaking with him truly is the Lord. This shows weakness of faith in Gideon, yet the Lord graciously condescends to his request because He would strengthen the faith He was about to use. God patiently meets Gideon where he was. Gideon wanted to bring a “present,” revealing that he desired to honor the Lord, though he had not yet fully judged self. He still thinks he can offer something to God for acceptance. He did not yet understand that God will only accept what is of divine origin. However, Gideon’s instinct to worship before service is correct. : all ministry must spring from communion. The Lord assures Gideon that He would wait for the offering. 
 

 

vv.19-21 The Offering Consumed, The Angel Departs. Gideon returns with his offering: the flesh, the unleavened cakes, and the broth. He presents it before the Angel of Jehovah. His offering contains what is acceptable (the flesh and cakes) and what is not (the broth). The Angel separates the acceptable from the unacceptable. God receives only what speaks of Christ; the flesh and cakes laid upon the rock are accepted, the former representing Christ in His atoning death and the latter representing Christ in His perfect humanity. However, the broth was an element of Gideon’s own devising, and it is poured out. The Angel touched the offering with the end of His staff, and fire rising from the rock consumed it. The servant of God must be willing to receive correction, even in worship. God accepts what aligns with His revealed mind, and rejects what does not. God does not correct us to discourage us, but to shape His servants into those who will act according to His mind rather than our own. However, God did provide the unmistakable sign Gideon asked for. 

 

 

vv.22-24 Gideon’s Fear and Reassurance; He Builds an Altar. When Gideon witnessed the fire, he realized he had stood before the Angel of Jehovah. He was overwhelmed with the sense of his own nothingness and of God’s holiness. It is a normal response to the revelation of God, consistent with the response of other Old Testament saints. This fear is not unhealthy; it is the necessary breaking of self-confidence. But the Lord immediately speaks peace to Gideon. In type, this peace flows from the very sacrifice just consumed: a type of judgment borne by Christ. The result of the work of Christ is peace with God: “Peace be unto thee; fear not; thou shalt not die.” We cannot serve God effectively is we do not have peace with God as to the question of our sins (Rom. 5:1). Gideon built an altar there, and called it “Jehovah-Shalom”, meaning Jehovah is Peace. This speaks of the transition in the soul from inward fear to settled peace with God. Surrounded by enemies, Gideon learned that God Himself is peace.

 

 

vv.25-26 Gideon to Destroy Baal’s and Build the Lord’s Altar. The first public task the Lord gave Gideon was to confront idolatry in his father’s house. A servant cannot act abroad while tolerating dishonor to God in his own sphere. Before Gideon could deliver Israel, the altar of Baal and the Asherah must fall in his father’s house. God will not use a man who has not overthrown his private idols. Our own family is often the hardest battlefield, because natural ties make it painful to deal with evil. Yet this step is indispensable; God cannot give wider usefulness to the man who will not be faithful at home. In the place of these idols, an altar to Jehovah must be set up, and the wood of the Asherah would be used to offer a burnt-offering! This shows that the worship of idols and the Lord are mutually exclusive. You have to destroy one to truly have the other. Although the command was difficult, Gideon obeyed fully. He did not rationalize or delay. We see in this the truth that separation must be twofold.

Separation is always looked at as to something and from something. We are to be separate unto the Lord first (Num. 6:2), and then from the world and defilement (Num. 6:3). The order is important. We can fall into a legal frame of mind if we forget that separation is first positive, then negative. In fact, the negative aspect will follow almost automatically when the heart is right. However, God still does speak extensively about the negative side of separation because our consciences need to be exercised.

 

 

v.27 Gideon Obeys at Night. Gideon carried out the Lord’s command, but he did so by night, “because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city.” There are two sides to this, the fear and the obedience. Although Gideon lacked boldness, the essential thing is that the work was done. God did not require him to act by day; He required obedience. Gideon obeyed fully: he tore down the altar, cut down the grove, and built a new altar. Faith is not the absence of fear but acting on God’s Word despite fear. Gideon is still marked by weakness: fear of Midian (v.11), fear of God (v.23), and fear of his father’s house (v.27). This was a very hard thing to do. Pulling down Baal’s altar in one’s own home is often harder than confronting the world. He passed the real test: faithfulness in the private circle. We must be willing to take a stand against what is wrong even among our own brethren, though we may be misunderstood or opposed. 

 

 

vv.28-32 Gideon Attacked by the Men of the City, Defended by Joash. When the men of the city discovered the altar of Baal destroyed and the Asherah cut down, they demanded Gideon’s death. His faithfulness exposed pricked their guilty conscience. Gideon’s first opposition came from within Israel itself. His testimony immediately drew the hatred of the very people who should have welcomed revival. Yet God uses this opposition to make Gideon publicly known as Jerubbaal, meaning “Let Baal plead”, which was a witness to the impotence of the idol Gideon destroyed. The moral effect of Gideon’s faithful stand was that his father was won; “if Baal is a god, let him defend himself”. This was a striking transformation in Gideon’s father. It shows that faith in action often has the effect of awakening the dormant consciences of others. It is nice to see that Gideon does not defend himself. He leaves his reputation in God’s hands, and God vindicates him through others.

 

 

vv.33-35 Midian Gathers Again; Gideon Raised Up. The next enemy to emerge is Midian, confederated with Amalek and the children of the East. They assembled in overwhelming numbers. It is just like Satan to intensify his opposition precisely when a servant takes his first faithful steps. After Gideon’s private obedience, the enemies surged against him, but also “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him”. This was the true secret of power. “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him” (Isa. 59:19). Gideon’s first public act was to sound the trumpet, drawing the tribes together. If we are going to be effective servants today, we must remember that there is one body, and endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). Gideon’s own extended family, Abiezer, who previously wanted him executed, now gathered after him. Often patient consistency in wins over former critics. Gideon also sent messengers to Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, bringing others to meet him.

 

vv.36-38 Gideon’s First Test; God Confirms His Promise. Even with everything that had come before, including a direct sign (the offering consumed), Gideon still struggled with hesitation. He asks the Lord for a specific sign: that dew would fall only on the fleece while the surrounding ground remained dry. His faith wavered, but God patiently stooped to meet him. This was part of Gideon’s spiritual training. Gideon had already received the Lord’s word and the Lord’s presence, but he still wanted confirmation. Gideon was actually drawing back, but God graciously gave reassurance where his faith was feeble. Dew in Scripture speaks of God’s favor and blessing. Dew is water in its purest form: distilled. Rain can be polluted by the atmosphere. Are we like this fleece, eager to receive the blessing of God, when then to be wrung out (a bowl full of water), in tireless service so that others may be refreshed?