Gideon | Teach Us the Bible (2024)

Just as we learned in last week's lesson, the Israelites fell into their familiar pattern after Deborah ruled Israel. They forgot everything the Lord had done for them and began to do evil. As a result, God allowed the Midianites to begin to take over Israel. The Midianites also descended from Abraham (Midian was Isaac's half-brother), but they were known for worshipping many false gods and for being nomadic traders. Joseph's brothers sold him to the Midianites who carried him down to Egypt and sold him. Moses spent his 40 year exile in Midian after killing the Egyptian.

The Israelites then cried out to God when they were in trouble, and God sent a prophet that reminded them that their trouble was because of their rebellion against him. So God raised up Gideon to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites.

God Chooses Gideon

The Lord appeared as an angel to Gideon as he was threshing wheat in a winepress. Why was he threshing wheat in a winepress? To hide it from the Midianites. They had become so oppressive to the Israelites that they had to live in caves and hide their food from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord told Gideon that he would use him to defeat the Midianites. Gideon wasn't quite sure how that was going to happen since Gideon's family was the weakest of his tribe, and Gideon was the weakest of his family (God seems to get a kick out of using weak people and things to defeat the strong). But God assured him that he would be with Gideon. Gideon brought an offering of a young goat to God. God showed Gideon his power by touching the meat with a wooden staff and immediately burning it up with fire that appeared. So Gideon knew that he was chosen by God.

Gideon Tears Down Baal's Altar

Gideon's first assignment was to tear down an altar to a false god (named Baal) and replace it with an altar to the real God. So Gideon did it, but the people weren't happy and were afraid of what Baal might do to them as a result of what Gideon did. Gideon's father talked some sense into them, though, and convinced them that if Baal was a real God, he could defend himself. And nothing happened to Gideon...

Gideon Asks God for a Sign

So the Midianites began to join forces with other tribes to the east of Israel, and things weren't looking good for the Israelites. It was time for Gideon to go into action. Before he did, though, he wanted to make sure one last time that he was hearing God correctly, and that God would in fact deliver the Israelites from the Midianites. So Gideon asked God to give him a sign. He put a piece of wool fleece on the threshing floor and left it there overnight. He asked God to make it wet and the ground around it in the morning - and sure enough, that's what happened. Just to be sure, Gideon asked God again for a sign, and this time asked for the opposite. He laid the fleece in the threshing floor and this time asked God to make the ground wet and the fleece dry - and that's what happened.

Gideon and His Small Army Defeat the Midianites

So Gideon was ready for battle and called upon everyone to fight. 32,000 men joined in to take on the Midianites and their allies, who had 135,000! But God told Gideon that he had too many men. Too many men? How can you have too many men in a battle, especially when you are already outnumbered 4-1? Well, God wanted to be sure that the Israelites knew that it was He who delivered them, not by their own strength. So, first God told Gideon to just tell the men that if they were afraid, they could go home without shame. So 22,000 of them just left there on the spot. But God told him that he still needed to winnow the forces down. God told Gideon to lead his men to drink, and if his men lapped the water like a dog, they stay. And if they got down on their knees and drank water out of cupped hands, they had to leave. So that left Gideon with only 300 men...

Gideon learned that God had made the Midianites very afraid of the Israelites, so he used that against them. He had the 300 men bring torches and clay jars and surround the Midianite camp. All at once, they broke the jars and shouted "For the Lord and for Gideon!" and then blew 300 trumpets. The Midianites were so surprised and afraid, they began to turn and fight each other! They fled, and God won the battle for the Israelites.

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