Judges 6 Study Notes

6:1-6 The second main section of the story of the judges, covering the fourth through the sixth major judges (Gideon, Jephthah, Samson), is introduced with a repetition of the rebellion formula from 3:7. The result was predictable: the Lord handed them over to an oppressor. The Midianites were semi-nomads who lived in the Sinai Peninsula and western Arabia. They allied themselves with the Amalekites and the eastern peoples (Qedemites) into a loose confederation. These raiders from the east swept across the country seasonally, plundering it like a great swarm of locusts. Although they entered the land from the east, they traveled as far as Gaza on the western coast, leaving nothing behind them. The Israelites were reduced to an animal-like existence in caves, without any livestock of their own.

6:7-10 As in chap. 4, when Israel cried out to the Lord, he sent them a prophet, who used the standard messenger formula, This is what the Lord God of Israel says, to identify himself, and then delivered his message. Israel had been disobedient. Calling on the Lord presupposed a relationship with him as the one who brought them out of Egypt; they could not live on the faith of their fathers if they did not listen to their fathers’ God.

6:11-12 The prophetic speech ends abruptly. It is followed neither by repentance nor judgment but, surprisingly, by the provision of another deliverer. The angel of the Lord—the Lord’s personal representative who spoke with his full authority—appeared to Gideon at Ophrah, a town probably located in the Jezreel Valley. Gideon’s name means “the one who hacks or cuts down,” a fitting name for the man whose first task in the Lord’s service would be to cut down Baal’s altar. Other aspects of Gideon’s demeanor are less promising. In view of the threat of the Midianites, he was threshing wheat in a winepress, a shallow depression in the rock, a safer location than the more exposed threshing floor. Gideon’s natural reserve will emerge again as the narrative unfolds, and it is in sharp contrast to the title given to Gideon by the angel— valiant warrior.

6:13-16 Gideon’s response challenged both aspects of the angel’s greeting. First, he cast doubt on the Lord’s presence with Israel. The angel of the Lord did not appear to hear Gideon’s objection. Instead, he commissioned him to be the mighty warrior that God had named him. This provoked Gideon to challenge this aspect of the angel’s greeting as well. Gideon claimed that he was doubly unsuited for this task. Yet the rest of the story casts doubt on Gideon’s assertions: His father was a substantial landowner in the city, with the resources to build and maintain an altar to Baal, and Gideon was able to call on ten servants to assist him in pulling down the altar. These were hardly the signs of a man whose family was of no importance. All of Gideon’s protestations were useless beside the single fact that the Lord would be with him.

6:17-21 Even with this reassurance, Gideon was not satisfied. The increasing downgrade in the quality of the judges is evident. Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar obeyed the Lord’s call without dissent. Barak placed one stipulation on going—that Deborah would go with him. Gideon was an even more reluctant hero, not content with the assurance that the Lord himself would go with him. In addition, he demanded a sign. He prepared an offering the size of which indicates that this was not just human hospitality but an offering to God. When Gideon brought the elements back, the angel of God graciously condescended to perform the requested sign.

6:22-24 Realizing the true identity of his visitor, Gideon became convinced he was doomed to die (Ex 33:20). Again, the Lord spoke to reassure him. This time the Lord’s message seems to have been heeded by Gideon, who built an altar to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace (Hb Yahweh Shalom). This altar erected by Gideon in Ophrah at the beginning of his service contrasts sharply with the ephod idol that he set up there toward the end of his life (8:27).

6:25-27 Before Gideon could take on the Midianites, he first had to confront the idolatry within his own family by tearing down his father’s altar of Baal and the Asherah pole beside it. An Asherah pole was a stylized tree that represented the fertility goddess Asherah, Baal’s consort. It was a frequent feature of Canaanite cult installations. Gideon was to reclaim the area for the Lord by building a new altar to God there, on which he was to offer his father’s . . . bull. The wood of the Asherah pole would provide fuel for the fire, as if to underline the foolishness of worshiping a piece of wood (Is 44:19). Gideon did this at once, though it is clear that his earlier timidity had not disappeared. He gathered ten of his father’s servants to help him, illustrating a trust in numbers rather than trust in the Lord. He also committed this action at night rather than in broad daylight because he was . . . afraid, so no one would know who was responsible.

6:28-32 The response of the men of the city to Gideon’s actions reveals clearly where their loyalties lay. They wanted the sentence of death that ought to have been imposed on idolaters (Dt 13:6-10) carried out on Gideon instead. What is surprising is that Gideon’s father, Joash, who owned this altar to Baal, defended his son. Did Baal need the men of the city to save him? Normally, a man expected his god to save him, not vice versa. From this intervention, Gideon acquired another name, Jerubbaal, which means “let Baal contend.” Gideon’s continued existence was living proof of Baal’s inability to defend his own honor.

6:33-35 Gideon’s initial success was soon followed by a greater challenge. Israel’s oppressors crossed over the Jordan River for another seasonal pillaging expedition. The Spirit of the Lord enveloped (lit “put on”) Gideon, empowering him for action to deliver the Lord’s people. Remarkably, the men who first had wanted to kill him (v. 30) responded to his call. He also called his whole tribe (Manasseh) plus their northern neighbors, who also responded.

6:36-40 The gathering of the tribes should have been sufficient evidence of God’s presence with Gideon, but he wanted a sign that God would do what he had promised. He doubted that God would deliver Israel by his strength, even though that was what God had promised. As a result, Gideon put God to the test. In the first test, God did as Gideon asked, but it was not enough; Gideon may have thought that it could have been a fluke. So Gideon, showing his timidity, demanded a second test. Displaying great patience, the Lord graciously gave him a confirmatory sign.