New duties. Who, me?

Isaiah 6:8 offers a beautiful example of one who is listening and receptive to God's instructions and who is ready to step up to new duties, even as he or she feels completely inadequate. It reads:

Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?" I said, "Here I am. Send me." (NLT)

One of the judges appointed to protect the Israelites from enemies such as the Midianites, Amalekites and Amorites was the agricultural man, Gideon. He was minding his own business, quietly keeping out of harm's way as he was working at threshing wheat -- in the winepress no less* -- when an angel message startled him into work that would be much more ground-breaking and way out in the open.

So here he was under a big old oak tree when he finds himself addressed as “a mighty man of valour” and assured that “the Lord is with thee” (Judges 6:12). Gosh, he thinks, but “if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us…” (ibid 6:13).

He has his doubts. Do we?

There follows a lovely conversation – a to-ing and fro-ing:

God: “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” (v. 14)

Gideon: “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold my family is poor …. and I am the least in my father’s house.” (v. 15)

God: “Surely I will be with thee…” (v. 16)

Gideon: “If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.” (v. 17)

What followed was more introspection as Gideon seeks additional proof that the message indeed came from God.

At one point, he gets the idea to pull down the Baal altar and the adjacent big pole (KJV inexplicably translated it as “grove”) erected by his dad years before. It’s like a shrine to Baal, “king of the gods” (Britannica web site) of the Canaanites. This incurs the wrath of the Baal-worshippers (vv. 29 and 30), but Gideon’s dad himself stands up for his son. He suggests that Baal should be his own defender. It seems at this point that all opposition scampered off (v. 33)!

Gideon faced up to the seeming forces of evil that stood in his way. Do we? Or does personal sense (“Someone else should be doing this work; I’m the problem here; I’m no good at this”) try to trick us into giving up?

Soon, he was asking for help. And they responded to that call. They came from the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali (v. 35). Are we humble enough to ask for help?

He was at a crossroad** in his life. He needed reassurance as to the direction he was to take. Here the story of the woollen fleece “wet with dew”*** is both charming and inspirational. Gideon, who was also called Jerubbaal because of his work in throwing down the altar of Baal, really did get the message that God was directing his path.

Chapter 6 was the preparation. Chapter 7 is the work carried out by Gideon and his army.

The work of gathering a suitable work-force lay before him. Twenty-two thousand who had applied for the job were let go. They were afraid (Chapter 7 verse 3). A further ten thousand, however, remained: ready to work. Too many. It might appear that mere physical numbers would be credited with their future success.

There would be a test of character. All might be willing, but which of them would forsake a deep, refreshing drink of water. Those who got down on the knees, put their faces right in the water, and were oblivious to what was going on around them, were sent home. Those who merely quickly scooped up a handful of water – there were just 300 of them – were chosen as the select group of warriors needed for the work.

The opposition was overwhelming and intimidating. They were “like grasshoppers (The Message by Eugene Peterson says locusts) for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side” (Judges 7: 12).

But Gideon apparently stayed calm. He hatched an inspired plan. They were each given food (v. 8), a trumpet (probably the horn of an animal), a lamp, and a pitcher (an earthenware pot which would temporarily hide the torchlight) (Judges 7: 16). They split into three groups. They were on watch until Gideon gave the word to blow the trumpets, break the pitchers, and shout: “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon” (see vv. 18-20).

Utter confusion broke out in the camp of the opposition. Gideon had won the day for his people and his shining example remains for us today.

Gideon is mentioned by the author of Hebrews when recounting the blessings of faith. See Hebrews 11: 32:

           And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak… Who through faith … out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”

Julie Swannell

*One commentator suggests that for Gideon to be threshing wheat in the winepress, there must have been no grapes to press i.e. that enemy had destroyed the whole crop of grapes.

** See “On the job hunt – with God” by Bethany Davenport Protzmann, from the June 2010 issue of The Christian Science Journal. Bethany quotes John Greenleaf Whittier, who mentions dew in these words from hymn 49:

Drop Thy still dews of quietness, / Till all our strivings cease; / Take from us now the strain and stress, / And let our ordered lives confess / The beauty of Thy peace.

At a crossroads herself, Bethany writes: “I felt the freedom to release my attachment to a paycheck and find a job to fulfill my emotional, financial, and spiritual needs.”

*** I am reminded of Samuel Longfellow’s words from hymn 218-220 and 542:

               O Life that maketh all things new, / The blooming earth the thoughts of men; / Our pilgrim feet, wet with Thy dew, / In gladness hither turn again.