God Calls Gideon

Israel again did what was evil in the Lord's sight, so for seven years Midian overpowered them. People hid in mountain dens, caves, and strongholds. Whenever Israel sowed seed, Midian, Amalek, and people from the east came up, camped in the land, and ruined its produce and livestock. Israel became very poor and cried out to the Lord. Then a prophet reminded them that the Lord had rescued them from Egypt, but they had not listened to his voice.

The angel of the Lord came to Ophrah, where Gideon was beating out wheat in a wine press to hide it from Midian. The angel called him a mighty man of valour. Gideon asked why such trouble had happened if the Lord was with Israel, and where the mighty works their fathers had spoken of had gone. The Lord sent Gideon to save Israel from Midian.

Gideon answered that his family was the poorest in Manasseh and he was the least in his father's house. But the Lord said he would be with him.

Gideon asked for a sign that it was truly the Lord speaking with him. He prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes, brought the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and set them before the angel under the oak. The angel told him to place the meat and cakes on a rock and pour out the broth.

When the angel touched them with his staff, fire rose from the rock and consumed them, and the angel vanished. Gideon was afraid, but the Lord told him, Peace be to you. Do not be afraid. Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord.

That same night, the Lord told Gideon to tear down his father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it. He was to build an altar to the Lord on the stronghold in an orderly way, and offer the second bull as a burnt offering with the wood from the Asherah.

Gideon obeyed with ten servants, but because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, he did it by night. In the morning the town wanted Gideon to die, but Joash answered that if Baal was really a god, Baal could contend for himself. From that day Gideon was also called Jerub-Baal.

Then Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east gathered and camped in the valley of Jezreel. The Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet. Men from Abiezer, Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali gathered to meet him. Still Gideon asked God for another sign. He set a fleece on the threshing floor and asked that dew fall only on the fleece while the ground stayed dry. It happened.

Then he asked once more that the fleece be dry while dew lay on the ground, and God did that too. What do you notice about Gideon's fear and God's patience in this story?