JUDGES 6-7

The Structure of the Book of Judges

I. Introduction (1:1-3:6)

A. Political Situation (1:1-2:5)

B. Religious Perspective (2:6-3:6)

II. Israel under the Judges (3:7-16:31)

                    A. Ehud Cycle (3:7-31)

B. Deborah and Barak Cycle (ch. 4-5)

                                                               C. Gideon Cycle (ch. 6-8)

                                                               C'. Abimelech Cycle (ch. 9)

B'. Jephthah Cycle (10:1-12:15)

                    A'. Samson Cycle (13:1-16:31)

I'. Conclusion (17:6-21:25)

B. Religious Perspective (ch. 17-18)

A. Political Situation (ch. 19-21)

Notice the place of the story in the overall book: in the center paired up with the story of his son Abimelech. This is appropriate because Gideon is the epitome of a judge (although he has very human failings) while his son Abimelech is not counted as a judge at all by most Bible scholars, and he could even be called an Anti-Judge.

The second point to note is that the stories of the twelve judges are prefaced and followed by descriptions of Israel's political situation and the lack of faith that brought them into their predicaments. Could the United States learn from this lesson today? There may be a rough correlation between a nation's fate and its faith, but it is going too far if we (1) assume that the United States uniquely takes the place of Israel today as God's chosen people or conversely (2) try to correlate a specific disaster with a specific sin of the nation (in which case we would be exactly like Job's friends). God's purposes are usually not that easy to comprehend.

The Gideon Cycle is a four-part structure demonstrating in miniature the downward progress of the 

nation Israel.

1. Gideon takes a stand against idolatry (6:1-32)

2. Gideon battles Israel’s enemies (6:33-7:25)

                                    2'. Gideon battles fellow Israelites (8:1-21)

1'. Gideon lapses into idolatry (8:22-32)

At end of story, Gideon fashions an idol and sets it up in his home town of Ophrah just like the pagan 

idols he destroyed earlier. Fortunately, we will cover only the first half of Gideon's career today.

The motif of the first half is “fear”: first Gideon's and then the Midianites'.

An interesting literary pattern involving usages of two Hebrew synonyms for the key word “deliverer” 

acts to unite the Gideon stories. A plot of these occurrences with the persons they refer to is shown 

below:

    natsal (God)--6:9

yasha (Gideon)--6:14

yasha (Gideon with God's help)--6:15

yasha (people)--6:31

                                                        yasha (God through Gideon)--6:36

                                                        yasha (God through Gideon)--6:37

yasha (people)--7:2

yasha (God with the people's help)--7:7

yasha (Gideon)--8:22

    natsal (God)--8:34

The points of emphasis (the ends and middle of this chiasm) make it clear that God is the real deliverer. 

Even in 6:15 and 8:22, the context shows that God is the true deliverer.

Judges 6:1-6 sets the stage for the action. The nomadic Midianites were raiding the Israelite settlements every time a harvest came in. Similar raids by Bedouins into Palestine continued into the nineteenth century AD.

6:5 Camels are mentioned several times in this passage, in contrast to the earlier books of the Bible, 

which almost exclusively mention donkeys. Archeologists have demonstrated the historical accuracy of 

such a picture whereby camels were only commonly introduced for such use about 1200 BC. 

 

Judges 6:7-10 reads almost the same as 2:1-2. It shows that the people had learned nothing since that 

earlier time period.

6:8 Dale Ralph Davis makes the point that “Like Israel, we may want to escape from our circumstances 

while God wants us to interpret our circumstances.”

6:10 One expects that the sermon will continue, as elsewhere in the prophets, with “therefore” and 

God's judgment. Instead, God in his grace, sends an angel with a message of salvation.

Judges 6:11-12 This first appearance of Gideon demonstrates his lack of courage. He hides on low ground instead of a usual winnowing spot. “Mighty warrior” sounds sarcastic, especially considering what we will find out about Gideon later. Other explanation? Perhaps this is the first of several ways in which God will build up Gideon's confidence and work with him patiently. Also God presents Gideon with a future vision. One writer has compared this to Christ naming the impulsive and unpredictable Simon, Peter (the rock).

Judges 6:13-14 Gideon's first response is to put all the blame on God instead of examining Israel's shortcomings (Consider the title of C.S. Lewis' book God in the Dock).

Is it the LORD or the Angel of the LORD? Throughout the chapter he alternates between being separate from God and the same as God. Explanation? Perhaps the pre-incarnate Jesus. “Gideon is in a three-way conversation without realizing it.”

“Go in the strength you have.” What does that mean?

Judges 6:15-17 “Clan” or “family” may in fact be military terms for a contingent or company. Why would God choose someone obviously not equipped to do the job? Was this an example of true humility on Gideon's part or fear? How can you distinguish between the two?

6:16 “I will be with you” is actually a quote from Exodus 3:12 as God's response to another reluctant deliverer, Moses. This identical pattern of five steps appears again and again in the Bible (from Moses to Mary) when God commissions a person for a task: appearance of God or an angel, fearful attitude, divine message, objection, and finally God gives a sign to answer the objection.

Judges 6:19-21 The amount of flour is almost one bushel – a large amount, especially considering the scarcity of grain at that time. Eugene Boling says, “Gideon never does anything in proper proportion.”

Judges 6:22-23 Dale Davis notes that we Christians do not appreciate Gideon's terror in the face of God. “We think intimacy with God is an inalienable right rather than an indescribable gift. There is nothing amazing about grace as long as there is nothing fearful about holiness.” Comment?

Judges 6:25-27 Now God seeks a sign from Gideon. Gideon starts with a small step – cleaning up his own house – before tackling the Midianites. One way to look at it is that God gave him a small task before the larger one in order to build up his confidence, or was entrusting him with much after he had proved faithful in the little (to use Jesus' language).

Look at the inconsistency of carrying out a mission to conquer Midianites while allowing a pagan shrine to remain in his own house. I have known several full-time missionaries or pastors who had great ministries but neglected their own home life. This is not a new phenomenon: Years ago, Charles Dickens satirized such people in one of his novels.

Appropriately, his name Gideon means “hacker.” Can a name be an inspiration? My mother told me several times as I was growing up that David meant “beloved of God.”

Dale Davis: “Evidently obedience was essential but heroism optional.”

There is a great difficulty in going against the religion of your family. Any stories to share? But subsequent actions by his father showed that he had really nothing to worry about.

Judges 6:30-32 There is the story of John Knox (the leader of the Reformation in Scotland) as a galley slave. He was commanded to bow down to a wooden statue of Mary. Instead he threw it in the water and said, “Let our Lady now save herself. She is light enough; let her learn to swim.” Leon Morris: “If this advice had been followed by the devotees of the world's religions, not excepting many who claim[ed] to be Christians, the world would have been spared a great deal of torture, bloodshed and untold misery.” Unfortunately, it is not only the radical Islamists who resort to violence or threats of violence to “defend” God.

Judges 6:36-40 Casting a fleece still occurs today. Any examples to share? Problems with this practice: (1) It usually doesn't follow the biblical pattern (not a true miracle), (2) assumes that Gideon's actions are to be emulated rather than condemned, (3) ignores the negative NT passages concerning those who demand signs of God (Matthew 12:38, Matthew 16:4, John 4:48 and I Corinthians 1:22-23), and (4) usually tries to force God's hand.

But what about the use of the Urim and Thummim? In that case, apparently “no answer” was a possibility, as King Saul found out. Another example might be the casting of lots in Acts to find a replacement for Judas. However, they first narrowed down the list of candidates using sound spiritual criteria until only two acceptable ones were left and then prayed for further guidance.

The constant desire for a sign is really a lack of faith. We live by faith, not sight. We look for signs today in several ways. Examples: C.S.Lewis felt that his faith was at its shakiest when he was engaging in apologetics because he started to feel that everything depended on the strength of the logic of his own arguments. I have a Christian friend who is constantly engaged in following up on the latest spectacular proofs of Christianity: several years ago it was the Shroud of Turin. More lately he has gotten excited about investigating the accuracy of the dates of some prophetic calculations. Meanwhile, he has stopped attending church.

Judges 7:2-3 The first step is in accordance with Deuteronomy 20:8, and it clearly revealed the lack of faith of the majority of the people. “You cannot be too small for God to use, but you can be too big.” What does that mean? God frequently cuts down on our resources (through sickness, financial distress, or other difficulties) in order that we may depend entirely upon Him. One example that I witnessed in the non-spiritual realm took place during my oral exam where my committee purposely took me from a place of self-assurance to admission of my weaknesses before they then helped build me up again.

Judges 7:4-7 This is the second step of winnowing the troops. Several explanations have been proposed and unfortunately the Hebrew text is a bit confused at this point. The first problem is that we don't know if Gideon was supposed to remove the least capable soldiers or the most capable ones. Some argue that those who lapped were more likely to be taken unawares by the enemy, while other commentators say that those who cupped the water in their hands were the most fearful because they wanted to drink up as quickly as possible. Most likely it was just an arbitrary method of reducing the size of the army.

Judges 7:13-14 Israelites were farmers: thus the cake of barley which was food for the poorer people. Some even feel it should be translated stale or moldy bread. On the other hand, the Midianites were nomads, thus the tent.

Judges 7:15 God sends encouragement to Gideon, this time through the comments of others. Can anyone share an examples of how He has sent encouragement to us, perhaps through fellow Christians.

The ensuing battle is actually more of a non-battle. Gideon calls on the Ephraimites to do the mop-up operation to pursue the fleeing troops and kill the enemy captains.

Judges 7:25 Oreb and Zeeb are also referenced later in Psalm 83:11.

Judges 8:1-3 It is interesting that the Ephraimites were upset that they hadn't been called to help earlier. This doesn't happen very often in church. But the Ephraimites were not free from blame here; they demonstrated jealousy among those doing God's work as to who will get the glory. Same as the Corinthian squabbles.

Gideon is now as considerate of the Ephraimites' feelings as God had been with his own. So he does as Paul did later to the Corinthians; he talks about the important role everyone has in accomplishing God's work. All gifts are vital to the church, not just the more visible or flashy ones.

This is a good lesson for leaders to make everyone feel important in accomplishing the task. Gideon's father avoided bloodshed at the start of the story through humor, and now Gideon himself is using diplomacy to head off a conflict. This is an example in which Gideon's “weakness” pays off.