Judges 6. Midian oppresses Israel. 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. In the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian, the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains, and the caves and the strongholds. For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites, and the people of the east, would come up against them. They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey, for they would come up with their livestock and their tents, and they would come up like locusts and number. Both they and their camels could not be counted, so that they laid waste to the land as they came in, and Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord. When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel, and he said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land, and I said to you, I am the Lord your God, you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice. The Call of Gideon Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the Terabinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiyah's right, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press to hide it from the Midianites, 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, 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, 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? 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. And the Lord said to him, But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man. And he said to him, If now I have found favor in your eyes, and show me a sign that it is you who speak with me, 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 until you return. So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terribent and presented them. 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. 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. A fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 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 Abiyah's rites. That night the Lord said to him, Take your father's bowl and the second bowl, seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it, and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bowl and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down. So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him, but because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town, to do it by day he did it by night. Gideon destroys the altar of Baal. When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold the altar of Baal was broken down and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bowl was offered on the altar that had been built, and they said to one another, Who has done this thing? And after they had searched and inquired they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, has done this thing. Then the men of the town said to Joash, Bring out your son that he may die for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it. But Joash said to all who stood against him, Will you contend for Baal or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a God let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down, therefore on that day Gideon was called to Ru Baal. That is to say, let Baal contend against him because he broke down his altar. Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came together and they crossed the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel. And the spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon and he sounded the trumpet and the obvious rites were called out to follow him and he sent messengers throughout Al-Munassah and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Afthali and they went up to meet them. The sign of the fleece. Then Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand as you have said, Behold I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand as you have said. And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, Let not your anger burn against me, let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only and on all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night and it was dry on the fleece only and on all the ground there was dew. Judges chapter 7 verses 1 through 8. Gideon's 300 men. Then Jerubael that is Gideon and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod and the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Mora in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Lest Israel boast over me saying, My own hand has saved me. Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead. Then 22,000 of the people returned and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, The people are still too many. Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there and any one of whom I say to you, This one shall go with you shall go with you. And any one of whom I say to you, This one shall not go with you shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water and the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink and the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths was 300 men. But all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, With the 300 men who lapped, I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand. And let all the others go every man to his home. So the people took provisions in their hands and their trumpets and he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. John chapter 5 verses 16 through 30. And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My Father is working until now and I am working. Jesus is equal with God. This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was even calling God his own Father making himself equal with God. The authority of the Son. So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives them life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son. That all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him, who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. Truly truly I say to you an hour is coming and is now here. When the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. Witnesses to Jesus. I can do nothing on my own as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. Psalm chapter 76. Who can stand before you? In Judah God is known, his name is great in Israel, his abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Sela. Glorious are you more majestic than the mountains full of prey. The stout-hearted were stripped of their spoil, they sank into sleep. All the men of war were unable to use their hands. At your abuque, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned. But you, you are to be feared. Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused? From the heavens you utter judgment, the earth feared and was still. When God arose to establish judgment to save all the humble of the earth. Sela. Surely the wrath of man shall praise you. The remnant of wrath you will put on like a bell. Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them. Let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared. Who cuts off the spirit of princes who is to be feared by the kings of the earth.
