The Hall of Faith: Gideon

EXPOSITORY ARTICLE | Jeff Smith | Manassas, Virginia

This is the eighth article in the Hall of Faith series and considers Gideon, the fifth judge of Israel. Thus far the series has considered twelve of those mentioned in Hebrews chapter eleven. Gideon is the first in the list of faithful that the author didn’t take the time to describe in detail (Hebrews 11:32). That list includes five judges, King David, and all the prophets. Truly it would take many words to highlight all their individual acts of faith. The Hebrew writer only gave Gideon an “honorable mention.” Let us dive into the heroic acts of this valiant warrior, as the angel of the Lord referred to him (Judges 6:12).

Overview

I’m new to the whole artificial intelligence (AI) thing and fascinated by what I’ve seen so far. I asked Claude.ai to summarize Gideon in 100 words. I’m sharing his summary with you by way of introducing Gideon (and perhaps Claude).

The Reluctant Judge: Gideon

Gideon was a hesitant yet courageous judge of Israel who played a pivotal role in delivering the Israelites from Midianite oppression. Initially doubtful of his calling, he sought divine confirmation through the famous “fleece test,” where he asked God to make a fleece wet while the ground remained dry, and vice versa. God later instructed Gideon to reduce his army from 32,000 to just 300 men to demonstrate divine intervention. In a dramatic nighttime battle, Gideon’s small force routed the Midianite army by creating confusion with trumpets and torches, showcasing God’s power through an unlikely military leader.[1]

The Book of Judges devotes three chapters to Gideon (Judges 6-8); 100 verses. Fewer verses than some judges, more than most. We are going to focus on Gideon’s calling and major victory which are found in chapters 6 and 7.

Gideon’s Times

Gideon’s era is introduced by describing the ongoing Midianite oppression (Judges 6:1-10). As swarms of locusts devastated Egypt during the eighth plague (Exodus 10:13-15), so marauding swarms of Midianites and Amalekites had devasted Israel for 7 years (Judges 6:3-5). Deeming themselves incapable of resistance, Israelites and took to living in caves (Judges 6:2,5). Israel’s morale was abysmal (vs. 6), and, in their despair, they cried to the Lord for deliverance (vs. 6). Jehovah assured Israel that He was more than capable of delivering them, reminding them that He had brought them out of Egypt in the first place (vs. 8). He also reminded Israel that their disobedience was the cause of their suffering (vs. 10). They had brought this upon themselves.

After reassuring them that He could deliver them, God got to work delivering them. And the first order of their deliverance was enlisting a deliverer; Gideon. And what a complex enlistment it was.

Gideon’s Call

Gideon was hiding from the Midianites. The normal place to beat out harvested wheat was the threshing floor. But that was the first place the Midianites who wanted grain would look. The last place to beat out grain was a wine press. Gideon beat out his grain in a wine press to avoid being robbed.

Gideon’s recruiter was none other than the angel of the Lord (vs.11). The one who had visited Hagar in her time of trial (Genesis 16:9), interceded to save Isaac (Genesis 22:11), rebuked Israel for not completely ridding Canaan of the squatters (Judges 2:1), confronted Balaam as he rode to help Balak (Numbers 22:24), and later announced the births of Samson (Judges 13:3ff) and of our Lord and Savior (Luke 2:9).

Exactly what Gideon had done to merit the title of “valiant warrior”, which the angel used to greet him, we do not know (Judges 6:12). How amazing it would have been for Gideon to learn that the Lord was with him (vs. 12). Gideon used this open channel to express his frustration with the Midianite oppression. He asked why God was allowing it to continue (vs. 13). Next came revelation of Gideon’s goal; “save Israel from the hand of Midian” (vs. 14). Since the entire Nation was incapable of resistance, Gideon couldn’t imagine how he could deliver singlehandedly. He considered himself the least person in the least house of the least clan in the least tribe (vs. 15). The angel answered that God would be with him and that great hoard of Midianites and Amalekites would seem like a single man when Gideon struck them. He assured Gideon that his would be an easy victory (vs. 16).

Gideon’s First Sign

At this point Gideon asked for the first of what would be numerous signs that God that was actually the author and enabler in these tasks (vs. 17).

Asking God for a sign is a tricky business. You never know how the request will be received. When Satan asked for signs while tempting Jesus, Jesus flat-out refused (Matthew 4:4-7). When the scribes and Pharisees asked for a sign from Jesus, he labelled them an adulterous generation and denied them any personal sign, saying that the only sign they would get is the same one everyone else would get; his resurrection (Matthew 12:38-40). When Zacharias asked for a sign, he was given one, but not a nice one (Luke 1:18-20); he was made mute until John was both born and named. God had little patience for Zacharias’ request. The high priest should have known better than to doubt the angel of the Lord who appeared to him in the most holy place.  But God was very patient with Gideon.

Gideon’s first sign was nothing short of spectacular. The angel granted Gideon‘s request for him to wait while a sacrifice was brought (Judges 6:18). When Gideon returned with his offerings the angel told him how to present them on a rock (vs. 20). Then came the pyrotechnics. With a touch of the angel’s staff fire sprang from the rock, the offerings were consumed, and the angel vanished (vs. 21). Gideon then knew that both the message and messenger were of God. He reckoned that he had seen the Lord face to face (vs. 22), and was moved to build an altar to the Lord (vs. 24).

Gideon’s First Task

Gideon’s first act of war was directed against pagan images, not people. Working at night with ten helpers, he used his father’s oxen to pull down his father’s altar to Baal then cut down the Asherah beside it (vs. 25-26). He used the wood from the Asherah as fuel and offered his father’s oxen on top of it (vs. 26-27).

When the people of the town discovered the wreckage in the morning, they sought to find the perpetrator (vs. 28-29). When Gideon was identified, they sought to kill him (vs. 30). At this dangerous juncture Gideon’s father arose in Gideon’s defense with a simple and effective argument (vs. 31). He asked the men why they would defend Baal. If Baal were truly a god, shouldn’t he be able to defend himself? He also promised that whoever contended for Baal would be put to death by morning (vs. 31). Gideon earned a new name through this: Jerubbaal, which means “Let Baal contend against him” (vs. 32).

Gideon’s first act of defiance provoked the Midianites and Amalekites to bring their armies against Israel (vs. 33), which seems to be the result the Lord desired. The invaders encamped in the valley of Jezreel, planning to advance on Israel shortly (vs. 33).

The Spirit of the Lord

At this point Gideon, without asking, was empowered for his next task. The Spirit of the Lord “clothed” Gideon (vs. 34). This is an interesting way to describe the Spirit’s presence was also employed in Luke 24:49 where Jesus instructed the apostles to stay in Jerusalem until they were “clothed with power from on high.” Same descriptions. With this help Gideon called for his own army to form to face the invaders (Judges 6:35).

More Signs

Even clothed with the Spirit, Gideon needed more reassurance. He asked God for two unique signs; dew on and dew off. Each involved a sheepskin and condensation. Gideon first requested that in the morning the fleece would be wet but the ground around it would be dry. God made that happen (vs. 36-38). Not content with that amazing manipulation of humidity and temperature, Gideon asked for the opposite the next morning. God made that happen, as well (vs. 39-40). Gideon was reassured.

Whittling the Army

32,000 men assembled to face the invaders. A substantial number, but less than a quarter of the number amassed against Israel. If I were leading, I would want every man I could get to go up against an army of 135,000. But God said that 32,000 soldiers were too many. If Israel won with 32,000 soldiers, they might have concluded that they had defeated the enemy on their own. So, God told Gideon to whittle his army down. The determining factor for the first cut was each soldier’s attitude. Gideon was to dismiss all who were afraid to fight. That resulted in 22,000 returning home, leaving Gideon with 10,000 (7:1-3).

God told Gideon he still had too many soldiers; more needed to go back home (vs. 4). This time the determining factor was manners. That is, how each soldier drank water. If a soldier bent his face to the water and lapped it up like a dog, he was excused. Those who brought the water up to their mouth with a hand could stay. By this criteria Gideon was left with 300 men (vs. 5-8). With just 300 soldiers, each man would need to kill 450 of the enemy. They were severely outnumbered.

One More Sign

This last sign was God’s idea. He commanded Gideon to go by stealth into the enemy camp and eaves-drop on enemy soldiers’ conversations, which Gideon did (vs. 9-14). One enemy was explaining a dream he had dreamed which described Gideon’s sword destroying their camp. Gideon took this to be confirmation that Israel would be victorious. Gideon’s response was to not only be encouraged, but to worship Jehovah. He then called his 300 men to battle and assured them God would give them victory (vs. 15).

The Battle

Gideon divided his force of 300 into 3 companies. That is not an unusual tactic. What was unusual, highly unusual, was the weapons. Each man was issued a trumpet, and jar, and a torch (vs. 16). Have you ever heard of an army armed with those weapons? None of those is considered an offensive weapon. They are nothing like swords, spears, or arrows. A rock would be more help in striking down a foe. Yet those were the implements the 300 were issued. Thus ”armed”, the plan was to 1) surround the enemy camp, 2) blow the trumpets, 3) smash the jar containing the torch, then 4) shout “For the Lord and for Gideon” (vs. 18). And so they did. The scriptures tell us that they actually shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon” (vs. 20), which is ironic since none of them were issued a sword.

What ensued in the camp of the Midianite/Amalekite armies was complete chaos. Imagine being awakened in the night to find you were completely surrounded by an immense army. I say “immense” because a typical army would have one trumpeter for how many regular soldiers? I don’t know the exact ratio. 1 trumpeter for every 100 men. Every 200? In the dark of night, just rudely awakened, their fuzzy calculation must have gone something like, if the surrounding army has that many trumpets, there must be an enormous army out there. Of course they couldn’t see the Israelites, it being night. So they had no way to know that the surrounding army consisted of only trumpeters. Not a sword among them. What ensued was panic. And the Israelites did not initially need to strike any of the enemy; the enemy turned upon each other. The typical options in such situations are fight or flight. They did one, the other, or both. Midianite killed Midianite. Amalekite killed Amalekite. Midianite killed Amalekite. The Israelites watched from above then pursued the fleeing hoard in a kind of mopping-up operation (vs. 22-24). In the melee 120,000 of the Midianite/Amalekite army were killed, leaving only 15,000 of the original force (8:10). An amazing victory.

Gideon’s Faith

Having reviewed the basic facts of Gideon’s call and victory, let us see if we can determine what act of faith qualified Gideon for inclusion in the Book of Hebrew’s list of Hall of Faith.

Imagine how much faith it would take to step up and lead men to perform a violent, guerilla action when you knew it would ignite a firestorm. Gideon had the word of God spurring him to action. But he must have known that destroying his father’s idols would make everyone mad, as it did. Destroying the images of Baal very nearly cost him his life. If not for his father’s defense, it probably would have. Knowing the probable negative consequences for himself, Gideon trusted God and obeyed.

Imagine how much faith it would take to send 99% percent of your army home before going into battle. He started with 32,000 men and sent 31,700 home. That is the exact opposite of what common sense and good military strategy would require.

Imagine going into battle armed with only a trumpet, a torch, and a jar. Not one good offensive weapon. And imagine trying to convince 300 men that this strategy would work. How do you get men to trust a plan that is totally unproven? Never before employed in the history of the world.

Gideon had many reasons to distrust God and refuse to obey. But trust and obey he did, thereby receiving a place among the heroes of the faith.

Application

So what? What is our take-away from Gideon’s most unusual calling and victory? Certainly we will never find ourselves in the same situation as he.

Here are three take-aways that may help us as we live our more usual lives.

1. Trust God’s plan. Gideon was called to do great things employing very few resources and following dubious plan. A plan and resources that most would deem inappropriate and ineffective. Yet by obeying God’s plan and using the resources He specified, Gideon succeeded. Do you ever find yourself called to do much with little? We are called to follow God’s plan to go into all the world and make disciples of every creature. What resources do we have? The Bible. Prayers of our brethren. Resources to go. A few helpers who will go with us. And God’s help behind the scenes. If we recall how Gideon won his great victory with few soldiers and unusual helps, we may find courage to rise up and take the gospel to the world, winning souls for Him.
2. Seek reassurance when you need it. It is not wrong to need encouragement. In fact, it is quite natural to need to be reassured. If we ever find ourselves feeling doubtful or discouraged, remember Gideon. He repeatedly asked God for reassurance and got it. When we need it, we need only to ask God for encouragement as Gideon did. The worst thing we can do when we feel the need for reassurance is to either ignore the feeling or belittle ourselves for needing it, then do nothing to find it. Most often our reassurance will come from God’s word or God’s people. When in doubt, seek help from either or both. Ask, and it shall be given.
3. Finally, become a valiant warrior. The Bible doesn’t say so, but I think that when the angel of the Lord called Gideon a valiant warrior he looked over each shoulder, in turn, then pointed to his chest and said, “Who? Me?”. I don’t think Gideon considered himself a valiant warrior. Would a valiant warrior be threshing grain in a wine vat? Likewise, we probably don’t see ourselves as valiant warriors. But we can be, and we are called to be. Remember, it is not in ourselves that we find the strength or knowledge to become such. It is God in us, the hope of glory. It is being clothed in the Spirit. It is when we have our feet on the ground and our nose in the book that His strength becomes our strength, and we are empowered for our mission as Gideon was for his.

Gideon teaches us to trust and obey God’s plan, to seek reassurance when we need it, and he inspires us to rise up and become valiant warriors in God’s service.

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[1] Claude (AI assistant by Anthropic), personal communication, 12/5/2024

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January 2025 | GROW magazine