Judges 6:1-27

6:1-6 | The Midianites were half-brothers of the Hebrews, the children of Abraham and Keturah, his second wife (Gen. 25:2-4). Amid their oppression, the Israelites fled to the mountains for refuge. The evil of the people during this time can be summed up in three words: infidelity, idolatry, and intermarriage.

6:5 | A camel can travel three or four days with a heavy load on its back, covering about 300 miles without food and water. The Midianites and others would invade Israel on their camels and gather up everything they could before leaving, thus devastating the people and the land.

6:7-10 | God sent an unidentified prophet to urge the people to turn back to Yahweh and end their oppression. Up to this time, all the Israelites did was cry out for relief. God wanted something more than a cry; He wanted a confession (Hosea 5:15). The Israelites’ problem was not their enemies but their disobedient hearts. Repentance precedes deliverance (Joel 2:12-17).

6:1-7:22 | The Gideon cycle shows Israel’s growing apostasy and the inability of her best leaders to gain real deliverance. In addition, for the first time, a judge contributed to Israel’s spiritual decline (8:24-27).

6:11-12 | Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress, a pit in the ground where he would be less visible and less vulnerable to Midianite attack. The angelic appearance, which was Jesus Himself, means that Gideon heard the word of the Lord directly from the mouth of the Lord: The LORD is with you. In addressing him as you mighty man of valor, the Lord saw Gideon as he would become, not as he was (Heb. 11:32).

6:13 | The statement O my Lord is an expression of respect, similar to “sir” (John 4:11; 1 Pet. 3:6). Gideon expressed uncertainty in his response (if the LORD is with us), asking what many people ask during times of struggle. Gideon truly believed the LORD has forsaken us.

6:14-16 | God promised that Gideon would be victorious, not because Gideon was mighty but because Surely, I will be with you (Ex. 3:12; Josh. 1:9). The Christian’s confidence should rest in God’s presence and power, not in personal abilities or resources (2 Cor. 1:8-9; 13:9-10; Heb. 13:5).

6:17-35 | Before he could represent God in the public square, Gidon needed to know Him in a personal way. Too often, people who aspire to leadership pass over this first requirement – and then collapse under the public scrutiny. God’s warriors must be with Him in worship before they can be with Him in warfare.

6:17-21 | Gideon’s request for this first sign, and his extravagant offering at a time when the nation was starving, reveals his desire for the Lord’s acceptance, assurance, and allegiance. The fire that consumed the offering encouraged this young leader that he was not heading into battle by himself.

6:22-24 | Seeing the Lord face to face filled Gideon with a sense of his own unworthiness (Gen. 16:13; Ex. 3:6). Only a realization of utter inadequacy and insufficiency can ever prepare mere humans to be God’s warriors. When Gideon confessed his weakness, God promised – and delivered – His strength and peace.

6:25-27 | Before striking down the Midianites, Gideon had to strike down the cause of the Midianite oppression: Israel’s idol worship. Gideon’s own father had an alter of Baal with a fertility pole (wooden image) next to it, indications of the degraded spiritual condition of Israel. Since the village worshiped at this pagan shrine, it was a political and social center as well as a religious one. Gideon was to use materials from the instruments of idolatry – his father’s young bull and the wood from the Asherah pole – to make a sacrifice to God.