The book of Judges is a fascinating book, perhaps one of
the most fascinating in the entire Old Testament. As one of my professors is
fond of saying (or at least something to this effect), it presents the “Wild
West” portion of Israel’s history. You see, it presents Israel during its
formative stages, when it was just beginning to carve out a nitch for itself in
the immediate aftermath of the Late Bronze Age Collapse—the period of ancient
history that left the Levant with a massive power vacuum in light of Egypt’s forced
retreat. Israel, the Philistines, the Midianites, and others were jockeying for
position, and the book of Judges recounts this struggle, offering entertaining,
enriching, and graphic accounts along the way.
Gideon is one the heroes recounted in Judges, and just
like so many of them…boy was he rough around the edges. For the moment, let’s
consider his calling to be a judge. Here are some notable observations.
·
When we first meet Gideon,
he is at the bottom of a winepress threshing wheat. Now think about this for a
second. Threshing wheat involves tossing harvested wheat into the air so that
the chaff, or “bad stuff,” can be blow away by the wind. So, to do this
properly, one naturally needs to be in a place where the wind is blowing, often
at the top of a hill where wind flow is relatively constant. At the bottom of a
winepress, there will not be much wind. So, is Gideon just incompetent? No, the
text tells us that he is worried about Israel’s brutal oppressors, the
Midianites. He is threshing wheat at the bottom of a wine-press because he is
attempting to escape the Midianites (cf. 6:11). Apparently, every moment of the
day presented another opportunity for a raid…Gideon and Israel were constantly
looking over their shoulders.
·
This constant fear had
harbored a sense of cynicism in Gideon that manifested itself in doubt and an
inability to perceive the Lord’s relevance for him. The text tells us that the
Angel of the Lord came to visit Gideon with the expressed purposing of calling
him to be a judge, one who would save Israel from the Midianites (cf. 6:14).
However, on two occasions, Gideon responds to his visitor and his message with
a very cynical “Please my lord!” (בִּי אֲדֹנִי). Furthermore, Gideon is of
the opinion that the Lord’s feats of old (i.e. the Exodus memories) were just
memories…essentially a dead past. Gideon’s present circumstances had consumed
and overwhelmed his worldview and confidence in the future.
·
Still apparently not fully understanding who his visitor really was, Gideon
asks for a test. And boy is this kind of bizarre. First, he asks the visitor to
stay, and he obliges. Then, goes home and prepares a feast. What is
interesting is that the grammar leaves open the possibility that the feast was
massive. There was meat, and soup, but did Gideon also use 22 liters of flower
to make the bread? The grammar leaves open the possibility. If this was the
case, was the test one of determining the man’s stomach size? I don’t know for
sure, but what is for sure is that when the Angel of Lord responds by
incinerating the feast and then disappears, Gideon freaks out…because he finally
realizes who exactly he had been dealing with!
·
At this point (v. 22),
Gideon responds with yet another interjection, but this one is of a very
different tone. “Oh my Lord!” (אֲהָהּ אֲדֹנִי) He then proceeds to announce
his shock that he saw the Angel of the Lord face to face and yet escaped death.
Calming his fears though, the Lord pronounces peace and declares that there is
no reason to fear for he will not die (cf. 6:23).
In many ways, the call
narrative progresses around these three interjections, and therefore asks the
reader to ponder Gideon’s change in attitude, at least the start of it
(Remember, in chapter 7 Gideon will ask for more signs). What began to knock
down his cynicism? What caused him to curb his cynical doubting and be open to
the reality that God could, in fact, use him as a savior? The answer suggested
by the text was a personal encounter with God. It took one dramatic encounter
for Gideon’s cynicism to erode.
It is absolutely
critical that our fears, doubts, and frustrations in any circumstance do not
mature to conceive an attitude of cynicism that openly doubts, perhaps even
mocks, the desired actions and perceived effectiveness of God Almighty. Nevertheless,
if one has gotten to that point, know that it does not have to be the final
word. The reality is that God’s celebrated actions are not mere memories
restricted to the past with no relevance for our present or future. All it
takes in one encounter to realize this anew. Consequently, this is one of the
reasons why Christian communities meet regularly, fellowship, and testify. It
is for the people, at least in part, who find themselves at the bottom of a
winepress futilely attempting to thresh wheat.
