Gideon and Midian - Part 1 The Angel

Gideon and Midian Judges 6

"The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years."

Context, the Israelites had recently moved into the promised land. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the desert for forty years, but because of his sin (hitting a rock to get water) he didn't get to see the promised land. Next Joshua took over, led the people into the promised land, and the walls came tumbling down. After that, there were a series of leaders over the people called judges, who were leaders/governors that God would call. God was the official head of the people, but when they needed some direction, he would ask someone to step up and lead, in this case Gideon.



"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".


Oftentimes in the old testament we see funny names and our eyes glaze over. I can't even pronounce it, how am I supposed to understand it? Thankfully we live in the age of google, so figuring out that a terebinth (a big shade tree) and a tesseract (a wrinkle in time) are not related whatsoever is fairly easy.


Also, it is very helpful to put things into modern day terms. The terebinth, a huge tree, in addition to being a nice place for angels to hang out, was also a landmark. "You know where the Wal Mart is on 280? We live about three miles past that". "Oh Gideon's house, just turn right past the big tree and follow the road and you'll see it!"

Joash, Gideon's dad, was an Abiezer, meaning he was from the most important family of his tribe. But times were tough for everyone, and the Midianites were swarming like hungry locusts, so Gideon was down in the wine-cellar threshing wheat in secret.* see Arunah's threshing floor.


"And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, 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.” 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?”"

What a bizarre greeting! "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor!". Gideon had to think the God's messenger had lost his mind. What have I ever done to display might or valor? I'm just hiding in the wine press, trying to make bread while the Midianites ruin the land. Valor schmalor.

Angel Parachuting from Heaven by Amberlee

Gideon said what most of Israel must have thought (and what a lot of us probably think today!). If God is for us, why are we stuck in this awful place? If God loves me, why does my life stink? I've heard that God did awesome things in the past, but I've never seen a single one. Where is God today?

If God has a modus operandi, this is it. Making beauty from ashes, making somebody out of nobody. "He despises the proud, but gives grace to the humble" Proverbs 3:34 It starts with creation, where God speaks and nothing instantly turns into a magnificent universe. Bang! Then God takes a handful of dirt, breathes life into it, and the first human is born (sans belly-button, but nevertheless amazing). The Gungor song is so true: "You make beautiful things out of dust. You make beautiful things out of us".  

Even with Jesus, he comes into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, not as a conquering king, but as a suffering servant. God's own son "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" Philippians 2:6-8.  Jesus, the king of the universe, became a nobody; a human, a foot-washer, a servant, and ultimately a dead man. But God makes something out of nothing, and he makes life out of death. Jesus gets up out of his tomb, and promises that if we believe, God will not only give us eternal life, but that eternal life starts here and now, today, and that something beautiful can and will be made out of the dust in our lives.

And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian.". The big question is who is Gideon speaking to? An angel, which literally is a messenger from God? Or is he literally speaking to God himself? The answer is most likely yes! Even if he is speaking with a messenger, he is having a conversation with the LORD (aka Yahweh). The angel, if he is not God himself, is God's mouthpiece and carries God's authority and supernatural superpowers.

"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.” And the Lord said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

Gideon wants an instruction manual. . .Angel, if you're serious, then give me some logistical direction here!  Gideon is the little brother, his tribe has suffered greatly, and he doesn't see how victory could be logistically possible. But God promises to be with Gideon. "If God is for us, who can stand against us?" Romans 8:31  

Gideon accepts the angel's answer, but says he wants a sign. He runs home, cooks a goat and makes some flour cakes for the angel. And when he comes back with this lunch, a bizarre thing happens:

"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. 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."

Amberlee

Bam! The beef stew is burning, the angel disappears, and Gideon believes, and is scared to death.

"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.” But the Lord said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 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."

To be a sinful man in the presence of God is terrifying. Gideon screams Alas! for he thinks this is the end of him. I'm pretty sure there might be a better translation for what he screams, like maybe HolyBurningBeefRockBatman! Or just AAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA! But God quickly calms him down and Gideon builds an altar called "The Lord is Peace.".

In the Old Testament, when people encountered God face to face, they usually built a monument to commemorate the place and gave it a cool name like "The Lord is Peace"
After God gave Abraham the ram to sacrifice instead of his son Isaac, he built an altar called "the Lord will provide". Jacob wrestled all night with a strange man, and when daylight came, he realized he had been wrestling with God! He built an named the place Peniel, which means, "I have seen the face of God and lived".

Remembering is important. For some reason, humans are prone to forget. Adam and Eve lasted about six minutes before forgetting God's command. We fly flags and build monuments to celebrate our nation's heritage, lest we forget where we came from. We wear wedding rings to remind us that we are bound to our spouse.

Check out deuteronomy 6:
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house. . .". Orthodox Jews literally do this today, and we Christians should well do the same to make sure God's teaching is "written on the tablet of our heart."

So Gideon built his altar to remember his encounter with God, but his journey is just beginning!  We'll see more amazing things over the next few weeks. 

Takeaway thought, what are some literal, practical ways we can we remember what God has done for us?

*Here's today's story made entirely of legos: http://www.bricktestament.com/judges/gideon_demands_a_sign/jg06_11.html