Midian has stripped Israel bare for seven years — the people are living in caves — and God’s answer arrives as an angel sitting under an oak, greeting a frightened man beating out wheat in a winepress: the LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. Gideon does not feel like either. He argues, asks for proof, and when told to tear down his own father’s altar of Baal, he does it — by night, because he is afraid. Then he asks God to prove it once more with a fleece. Twice.
A study in Judges 6 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
Why Then Is All This Befallen Us?
“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of…? but now the LORD hath forsaken us.”
Judges 6:12-13
Before the angel, God sends a prophet to name the problem plainly: ye have not obeyed my voice (6:10). Then comes the greeting — “thou mighty man of valour” — to a man hiding grain in a winepress so Midian will not take it. Gideon’s reply is honest and a little bitter: if God is with us, where are the old miracles? It is the right question asked from the wrong end. God had not forsaken Israel; Israel had forsaken God, and the silence Gideon feels is the consequence of that, not the cause of it.
Go In This Thy Might: Have Not I Sent Thee?
“Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee.”
Judges 6:14-16
“This thy might” is not much — Gideon lists his disqualifications: poor clan, least in the house. God does not correct the assessment; He overrides it with a promise. The commission never rested on Gideon’s strength but on the sender’s: have not I sent thee… surely I will be with thee. It is the same answer Moses got at the bush (Exodus 3:11-12), almost word for word.
“The leader whom God chose to overthrow the Midianites occupied no prominent position in Israel… He thought himself the least in his father’s house. But God saw in him a man of courage and integrity. He was distrustful of himself and willing to follow the guidance of the Lord.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 553
Throw Down The Altar Of Baal
“Throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it… and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.”
Judges 6:25, 27
The first assignment is at home: the family’s own Baal altar has to go before Gideon fights anyone. He obeys — and he obeys afraid, under cover of dark. Scripture reports the fear without excusing or condemning it; obedience done nervously is still obedience. When the town wants him dead by morning, his father Joash answers with the argument that undoes idolatry in one line: “if he be a god, let him plead for himself.” A god who cannot defend his own altar is no god.
Let Me Prove But This Once With The Fleece
“And Gideon said unto God… let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night.”
Judges 6:39-40
The fleece is often taught as a method for finding God’s will. It is really a picture of God’s patience with a man who already has His will — a clear promise, repeated, and a sign of fire from a rock (6:21) — and still asks twice more. Gideon even senses he is pushing it: “let not thine anger be hot against me.” God is not angry. He stoops again. But the fleece is a concession to weak faith, not a model for strong faith to copy.
