Judges 5 and 6

Read Judges 5 and 6 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions for today’s chapters are:

Jud 5:1-31 {p} The song of Deborah
Jud 6:1-6 {p} Midianites create famine in Israel to destroy Israel
Jud 6:7-10 {p} “I delivered you from Egypt, but you have not obeyed My voice;”
Jud 6:11-19 {p} The Angel of YHVH gives Gideon a new identity of a mighty man of valor
Jud 6:20-24 {s} Gideon realizes YHVH’s identity, that YHVH is peace
Jud 6:25-32 {s} Gideon tears down the altar to Baal and the Asherah pole beside it
Jud 6:33-40 {p} The Spirit of YHVH clothed Gideon /The sign of the fleece

If the children of Israel knew that it was YHVH who delivers them, why did they go back to idols? They served YHVH for the lifetime of the judge whom He had raised up. When Othniel was judge, the land had rest for forty years. When Ehud was judge, the land had rest for eighty years. When Deborah was judge, the land had rest for forty years. In other words, the generation that knew YHVH, served YHVH. But when that generation passed away (it takes about forty years for a generation to pass away, Num 14:32-33) the new generation who did not know YHVH, did not serve YHVH. So the trouble which came upon Israel was trouble they themselves opened the door for, the Teaching Tool of Learning from the Narrative reveals. When they repented and served YHVH, “the land had rest.”

(Bunny trail: their oppressors were a coalition of Midianites and Amalekites. The Midianites were the ones who, in league with Moab, sought to curse Israel with Balaam, and then with idolatry at Peor. The Amalekites are those of whom YHVH said, “YHVH will have war with Amalek from generation to generation,” (Exo 17:16) for they are the type of unrighteous seed—see What is due Amalek. This narrative of Gideon is true History, but that Prophesies how to be victorious in our spiritual warfare over the Midianites and Amalekites of our own generation.)

The problem facing the nation, then, is summed up in Jud 6:7-10 {p}. That the Midianites were waging a warfare of famine against Israel in order to destroy them as a people, was only a symptom of a deeper problem: Israel has not obeyed the voice of YHVH. But remember, it is the generation who knows YHVH, who serves Him. Israel’s problem is even deeper than disobedience—it is not knowing, not being in relationship with.

It is so amazing, how God solves this problem. In Jud 6:11-19 {p}, He, as the Angel of YHVH (a pre-incarnate appearance of Messiah Yeshua, for He receives sacrifices and worship, which regular angels never do) finds a single man, the least of his family (He does that a lot) and gives him a new identity. He finds him hiding in a wine vat threshing the wheat, for Gideon is too afraid of the Midianites to thresh it on the threshing floor, and He hails him as a mighty man of valor. God flipped the negative identity Gideon had of himself, before He gave him the mission. I believe we all have God-given identities, that describe who we really are as God created us to be. Our mission, our purpose in life, flows from our identity. If you want to find your purpose, find your identity! We find our identity by asking God to reveal it to us. And He will!

In the next paragraph, Jud 6:20-24 {s}, Gideon realizes who YHVH is. He has a revelation of YHVH’s identity! Gideon is distressed for he fears YHVH, not in the positive sense of reverencing Him, but in the negative sense of being in terror. YHVH-is-Peace tells him to fear not. What, then, is happening? Gideon has a personal encounter with YHVH God. From that encounter he receives a new identity. He is beginning to realize who he is, and who YHVH is. He is moving from a state of not knowing Him, to knowing Him. In order to solve the problem of the nation’s idolatry and oppression, YHVH begins by transforming the heart of one man.

In Jud 6:25-32 {s}, YHVH instructs Gideon to tear down his father’s altar to Baal. Gideon does so at night, for fear of his father’s household. (Fearful is Gideon’s old identity. Mighty man of valor is his new identity.) Out of the transformation of one man, comes the transformation of the household. Gideon’s father, whose altar it was, does not even mourn its passing, as the men of the city do, but he rebukes both them and Baal! “Let Baal defend his own altars, if he is a god!”

Then in Jud 6:33-40 {p}, his father’s clan, Abiezer, followed him when he blew the trumpet to gather Israel together against Midian. From the transformation of the household, followed the transformation of the community. My English Bible says the Spirit of YHVH came upon Gideon, but the Hebrew Bible says the Spirit of YHVH clothed him. Gideon asks a last confirmation from YHVH, before he leads Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali out to battle against the Midianites, and YHVH gives it.

Therefore I think the Strong Theme from Jud 6:20-40 {s+s+p} is that turning from idolatry comes from knowing YHVH, and that transformation flows from an individual, to his household, to his community, to the nation, like ripples in a pond. Is there trouble in the land? Seek YHVH while He may be found—that is where the answer lies! ♥