Judges 6:11-24
The Call of Gideon
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah[b] of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
The call of Gideon, like all stories in the Book of Judges, follows a Hebrew chiasm formula as the basis for its structural outline. The outline, as shown below, gives a simplistic order of events that Hebrew readers could easily understand and remember. But as we mentioned before, what is more than equally important is having to identify the turning point of the story. The commentator who penned this outline below sees Gideon’s humility, when speaking with the angel of the Lord, as the turning point. This signifies that the story’s purpose should also focus on humidity as being preeminent.
In our story in Judges 6:1-10, we have already seen that the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Midianites. They were fierce and persecuted the Israelites severely. They would raid the land causing havoc and destruction. After seven years, the Israelites cried to the Lord. First, the Lord sent them a prophet who proclaimed the Word of God and asked the Israelites, why they disobeyed the Lord who chose them and brought them out of Egypt? Secondly, as we see in today’s passage, the Lord visits and calls Gideon, the son of Joash the Abiezrite, from the tribe of Manassa. In this passage of Gideon’s call, the angel of the Lord comes to visit Gideon face-to-face and pronounces that the Lord is with him. But Gideon asks in verse 6:13, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” It is interesting to note that Gideon changes the angel’s personal greeting, “the Lord is with you, o man of valor,” to ask how the Lord could be with “us”, the Israelites. After all, Gideon was threshing out the wheat at his father’s winepress, as he was hiding from the Midianites. As seen in Gideon’s response, he is not self-seeking and proud in heart. For what could a person say when one comes and tells you that you are a man of valor? Gideon focuses on the plight of his countrymen; not on himself. The angel tells Gideon in verse 6:14, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” This is the great commissioning of Gideon. Verse 6:15 shows Gideon’s sincere humility, when he said, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” After this, Gideon wished for a sign, which the angel of the did: the angel accepted the food that Gideon prepared as an offering, a sacrifice to the Lord. To this, Gideon recognizes that he has seen the angel of the Lord face-to-face. The angel assures Gideon that he will not die and departs.
As we have seen from the turning point in this story’s outline, the focus or main point is Gideon’s humility. To place this in perspective to God’s call on Gideon’s life, God uses men and women with noble character, especially those who are humble. First Peter 5:5-6 says, ‘“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.’ God does not contend with proud people in their service to Him. For example, we all know the story of Moses and how God, through His providence, saved Moses’ life. He was raised as the son of Pharoah’s daughter, yet, he ran to hide for forty years in the land of Midian for killing a man who was beating an Israelite. Hebrews 11:24-27 says,
“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”
God called and used Moses when he was 80 years old to deliver the Israelites from slavery by the mighty miracles that God did through Moses and his brother Aaron. Yet, Scripture says in Numbers 12:3, “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” Therefore, we see that humility is not a weakness, but a mighty character that God desires.
In our society, many think humility is a weakness because the word suggests that one is “low”. But, the lowliness in humility is not being low in self-esteem but accepting the value of others. This places one with humility as a person of strength because they are not controlled by arrogance, pride, and greed, They recognize their self-worth, and do not need to boast before others. Our great example is our Lord Jesus Christ. When he was betrayed and brought before Pilot to be condemned, He was accused by many false allegations. But as Scripture says in Matthew 26:63, “But Jesus remained silent.” Jesus, when he was reviled, did not revile and fight back against those who condemned Him with lies. In application, we also need to have the character of humility to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not serve out of arrogance or pride. But, with all humility, we serve in love. Esteeming others over ourselves, because we are assured and confident of our love in Christ. Our self-worth comes from God because God valued us so much that He sent His one and only Son to take on our sins. Christ died for us! By grace, we are saved! When Moses interceded with God on behalf of the Israelites, Moses said to God in Exodus 33:15-16, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” In the same way, we also must go only in the strength of the Lord our God.
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My Lord Jesus Christ, create in me a humble spirit. Let not pride interfere in my service for You. Consecrate me, O Lord, for Your service and for Your will. I confess, that I see my need for You. Take all pride and arrogance out of my life, and may I service You wholeheartedly, in love and devotion. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen!
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I Stand Amazed in the Presence, by Charles H. Gabriel, 1856-1932
