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JUDG ES 7
page 223
out and presented them to the angel, who was
under the great tree.
20 The angel of God said to him, “Place the
meat and the unleavened bread on this rock,
and pour the broth over it.” And Gideon did
as he was told. 21 Then the angel of the Lord
touched the meat and bread with the tip of the
staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the
rock and consumed all he had brought. And
the angel of the Lord disappeared.
22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel
of the Lord, he cried out, “Oh, Sovereign Lord,
I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the Lord
face to face!”
23 “It is all right,” the Lord replied. “Do not be
afraid. You will not die.” 24 And Gideon built an
altar to the Lord there and named it YahwehShalom (which means “the Lord is peace”). The
altar remains in Ophrah in the land of the clan
of Abiezer to this day.
25 That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take
the second bull from your father’s herd, the one
that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s
altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole
standing beside it. 26 Then build an altar to the
Lord your God here on this hilltop sanctuary,
laying the stones carefully. Sacrifice the bull as
a burnt offering on the altar, using as fuel the
wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did
as the Lord had commanded. But he did it at
night because he was afraid of the other members of his father’s household and the people
of the town.
28 Early the next morning, as the people of the
town began to stir, someone discovered that the
altar of Baal had been broken down and that the
Asherah pole beside it had been cut down. In
their place a new altar had been built, and on it
were the remains of the bull that had been sacrificed. 29 The people said to each other, “Who did
this?” And after asking around and making a
careful search, they learned that it was Gideon,
the son of Joash.
30 “Bring out your son,” the men of the town
demanded of Joash. “He must die for destroying the altar of Baal and for cutting down the
Asherah pole.”
31 But Joash shouted to the mob that confronted him, “Why are you defending Baal? Will
you argue his case? Whoever pleads his case
will be put to death by morning! If Baal truly is
a god, let him defend himself and destroy the
one who broke down his altar!” 32 From then
on Gideon was called Jerub-baal, which means
“Let Baal defend himself,” because he broke
down Baal’s altar.
Gideon Asks for a Sign
33 Soon afterward the armies of Midian, Amalek,
and the people of the east formed an alliance
against Israel and crossed the Jordan, camping in the valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of
the Lord clothed Gideon with power. He blew
a ram’s horn as a call to arms, and the men of
the clan of Abiezer came to him. 35 He also sent
messengers throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, summoning their warriors,
and all of them responded.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly
going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, 37 prove it to me in this way. I will put a
wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight.
If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning
but the ground is dry, then I will know that
you are going to help me rescue Israel as you
promised.” 38 And that is just what happened.
When Gideon got up early the next morning,
he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole
bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be
angry with me, but let me make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test.
This time let the fleece remain dry while the
ground around it is wet with dew.” 40 So that
night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was
dry in the morning, but the ground was covered
with dew.
Gideon Defeats the Midianites
So Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon) and his
army got up early and went as far as the
spring of Harod. The armies of Midian were
camped north of them in the valley near the
hill of Moreh. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You
have too many warriors with you. If I let all
of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will
boast to me that they saved themselves by
their own strength. 3 Therefore, tell the people,
7
• Decisions
JU DG E S 6:39
Gideon not only put out a fleece, but he
did it twice, showing his lack of trust in
the process itself. Although God sometimes honors “putting out fleeces” as he
did in the case of Gideon, this method
for making decisions is certainly not the
best. By looking for specific signs, we
are placing limitations upon God; we
are asking God to fit our expectations.
The results of such experiments are
usually inconclusive and thus fail to
make us any more confident about our
choices. Don’t let a “fleece” become
a substitute for the wisdom of God
that comes through Bible study and
prayer.