What do Star Wars, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, and Terminator 2 all have in common? They are are what’s known as hero journey stories. See in literature and film, some of the most iconic stories that are told are about a hero going on a journey to become something greater than they were at the beginning. From the movies and books I just mentioned to video games like Super Mario Brothers, all tell stories of the hero’s journey.
We as a society love to see people who seem like they have nothing to give, become the greatest hero who saves the day. From a lowly baby from another planet in Superman, Aladdin and his Genie, to d’Artagnan in the Three Musketeers. Hero Stories are some of the best stories ever told, because someone who appears weak or unimportant at the beginning of the story, becomes great in the end. It’s whiny Luke Skywalker, the backwoods moister farmer, who is really a powerful Jedi. It’s Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit which is the least of all the races of Middle Earth, defeating a Dragon with his wits. It’s the unemotional robot killing machine who becomes a father figure to the boy he was originally sent to kill, and ends up giving his life for the boy. Stories about a hero’s journey are compelling for so many people because we live in a world where so many feel like they’re at the bottom of the food chain, but could be destined for more.
And it’s a hero’s journey that brings us back to our study in the book of Judges where we’ll be picking it back up in Judges, chapter 6, verse 25, and as we open back up to Judges 6:25, let’s look back at the big themes that we’ve covered so far.
So far we’ve seen three big themes in the book of Judges.
The first theme is how Judges is a condensed version of the overall theme of Scripture, which is: even when humanity is unfaithful, God is always faithful.
This leads into the second theme, which is: God desires to be in right relationship with his creation, this is done through obedient acts by humans. In the case of Israel it’s keeping the covenant they agreed to in the book of Deuteronomy, for people today, it’s acceptance of Jesus as Savior, putting his words in practice.
The final theme we’ve seen is that when we are disobedient, our sin doesn’t just effect us, but also the relationships and the society around us.
With these three themes in mind, we jump back into Gideon’s story, where we pick it back up in Judges, 6:25. Let’s read it together.
“25 That night the Lord said to him, ‘Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 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 bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.’ 27 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.
“28 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 bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29 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.’ 30 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.’ 31 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.’ 32 Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.
“33 Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.
“36 Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.’ 38 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. 39 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.’ 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
“1 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
“2 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.” 3 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.
“4 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 anyone of whom I say to you, “This one shall go with you,” shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, “This one shall not go with you,” shall not go.’ 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.’ 6 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. 7 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.’ 8 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.
“9 That same night the Lord said to him, ‘Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. 10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. 11 And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.’ Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. 13 When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, ‘Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.' 14 And his comrade answered, ‘This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’
“15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.’
“16 And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. 17 And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”
Now, what we just read, was a snippet of Gideon’s hero’s journey. From when we first met Gideon last week, he hasn’t changed much. He’s still in that initial fear, both from the Midianites and from his encounter with God. But this doesn’t stop God from sending Gideon out to fulfill his calling. Yet, God works within the limitations of Gideon’s fear. Remember last week when God showed up, he addressed Gideon as, “…mighty man of valor (v.12).” And that’s one of God’s goals in Gideon’s life, to bring him into being a mighty man of valor.
So God doesn’t send him to the Midianites right away. No, instead, God sends this newly christened judge to his own people in his own town. This judgment by God on Gideon’s town is consistent with God dealing with his people’s sin, before dealing with outside nations. We actually see this even in God’s Church when Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:17, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” And what’s that sin that God is dealing with in Gideon’s town? It’s Israel worshiping other gods. So Gideon is tasked with breaking down the alter of Baal and the Asherah pole. Yet Gideon, though obediently completes his task, does so by choosing to follow God’s command at night when no one is around.
He does this at night because fear still weighs on Gideon.
But in the aftermath we are confronted with a theological reality. When the men of the town come looking for Gideon, his father makes a very important point. He tells the men that Baal should be the one who deals with Gideon, if indeed Baal is a god. See the Israelites had both a monotheistic and polytheistic worldview called Monolatry (Mo-no-laa-tree). Basically the idea is that Israel, like a lot of Near Easter religions, believed that their god was the best god, which some in the modern world claim to be a type of monotheism, but they also believed that other deities existed. So you worshiped which ever god was the strongest, or required the least from you with the maximum return. In other words, deities were like the stocks of their time. When a deity was the best, you worshiped him, but when he was defeated, you sold out to another one.
So when the men show up to get Gideon for breaking down the alters, Joash speaks biblical truth, by challenging this idea that the other gods, who are believed to be out there, are actually real.
Later on in Israel’s history, God would make the definitive statement in Isaiah 43:10, “‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.’” This let’s us know that other modern Monolatry religions, such as Hinduism, Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses are also false, because, just like the people of Gideon’s day, who believe in multiple gods, there is only one God and no others.
This challenging of the reality of other deities is then contrasted with what happens in verse 34, where states, “…the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon…” The contrast is that where Baal does nothing against Gideon, proving he doesn’t exist, Yahweh, the God of Israel, clothes Gideon as a sign that he is God’s man. This is really interesting because if you remember back to the good judges section of the book, there was a lot of ambiguity within the Hebrew. Who saved the people in Othniel’s time? God or Othniel, well it was ambiguous, relaying the idea it was both.
In Gideon’s case, who is clothed with whom? The ESV takes the position that it’s Gideon who is clothed by the Spirit. But in the NIV they take the approach that the Spirit is clothed by Gideon, in a similar way that the Christian is in dwelled by the Spirit. But the ambiguity is there to help us see that what is about to happen blurs the line between God saving and his use of humans in that saving work.
But in the very next action of Gideon, we see that the lines are not so blurred that God overrides a human’s choice. We see this in Gideon’s fear and mistrust rising up again to where he tests God to again make sure that the Lord is sending him. The first time was back in Gideon’s first meeting with God, where he hade God wait around so that a meal could be prepared. This time, it’s a double test with the fleece. Once with the fleece being wet and the ground being dry and then the reverse of the fleece being dry and the ground being wet.
Yet, this shouldn't’ have happened. See back in Deuteronomy 6:16, God told the Israelites not to test him. In fact Jesus used that verse in his temptation by Satan. But it’s fitting that Gideon tests God in spite of what Deuteronomy 6 says, because the surrounding verses in Deuteronomy are actually being played out in Gideon’s and Israel’s story. Listen to Deuteronomy 6, starting in verse 13, “It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.”
Doesn’t that sound like what has happened in the book of Judges. Don’t worship other gods, do not test, be obedient and the Lord with give your enemies into your hand, yet the opposite happens in each of these cases. Israel does worship other gods, they do test God, they are not obedient, and their enemies conquer them. It’s a fitting thing for Gideon to test God, because it contrasts with what God had already said.
But here’s another point in the book of Judges that shows us that God has humor. See Gideon has two major problems, he is mistrusting God and he is afraid. Both these things keep popping up and so what does God do? He stretches Gideon.
Gideon calls for the men of Israel to come out and fight against the Midianites, and 32,000 show up. To put that into perspective, that’s three times as many men that showed up to help Barak defeat 900 iron chariots.
But God tells Gideon, “no, that’s too many, you’re not going to think you did this by your own strength, so we need to get rid of some of these guys.” And what’s ironic about this, is this is exactly what Gideon thought he wanted. When Gideon met God, he wanted the miracles of the Exodus today. So God is going to stretch Gideon with a miracle.
God proceeds to take almost 95% of Gideon’s men away. He goes from three times as many as Barak to 3% of Barak’s forces. In other words, God is putting Gideon into a position where his mistrust and his fear need to be checked at the door.
And what’s Gideon’s response? Well, by reading between the lines, it’s fear. How do we know that? In verses 9-10 of chapter 7, God tells Gideon to go take the Midianties camp with the 300 men, but if Gideon is fearful, then he should sneak into the enemy’s camp. And that’s exactly what Gideon does, he goes into his enemy’s camp, and by doing so, we know that he still has fear.
But it’s there in the enemy’s camp that he overhears two men talking. One man shares a dream and the other interprets it as God giving Gideon the victory over the Midianties.
And it’s hear that we see the biggest change in Gideon that we have ever seen. In this moment Gideon becomes the man of valor that God spoke to him at their first meeting. We’re told this in verse 15 of chapter 7, “15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.’”
Did you hear that? Gideon heard the interpretation and he worshiped. He really hasn’t done this up to this point. Sure he built an alter to God, but that almost seemed ritualistic and religious in nature. The alter came more from an appeasement mindset than a worship experience. But in this moment, when he hears the dream and it’s interpretation, Gideon worships the Lord in a spontaneous way.
And then? Well Gideon gets Israel together and he leads the 300 into battle and he tells them that their rallying cry is, “For the Lord and for Gideon.” Why is it this? Because the lines of who saved Israel have been blurred once again.
In the end, when we reach chapter 8, verse 21, we see all that God accomplishes through Gideon. God moved him from a man of mistrust and fear, to the prophetic man of valor, who no longer hides in caves.
And here’s what God wants us to walk away today with, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” That comes from Paul’s opening words to in the letter to the Philippians, chapter 1, verse 6. When God calls us, his work will be finished in our lives. God saw the completed work of Gideon and so he called him a man of valor. God looks at every believer in Jesus through the lens of Jesus’ blood, as a completed perfect sin free person and he is working to bring us into that reality.
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are put on a path in an action called justification, in this greater thing called salvation, that will be accomplished. This path is called the sanctification, which is the cleansing process of bringing us to the person God saved us to be and how he sees us as in eternity. Each of us are on different points as we walk this path, and so we see each other dealing with different issues while God brings us along.
In Gideon’s process he tested God and so God brought him to a point where he had no choice but to trust. That can happen to us too. God can bring us to the precipitous where we have to jump, but that usually happens because, like Gideon, we drag our feet and test God.
The way to avoid or to minimize those gigantic leaps, is to be obedient. To put into practice what God has already said. And those huge leaps for those who are not living in obedience become everyday potholes that we navigate by obedient living through the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Gideon is a tale, to let us know that when we follow God, we should just do what he says. Then no matter if we have 32,000 or 300 with us, we know that God will accomplish his purposes either way.
So my challenge for you this week, is to re-read chapters 6:25-7:18, but also to read on from verse 19 of chapter 7 all the way to chapter 8 verse 21. That way you’ll not only see what leads up to the victory, but also the victory itself.
Then, in addition to that, I want to challenge you to make Philippians 1:6 your prayer everyday this week when you wake up. Saying something along the lines of, “Lord, you began a good work in me when I trusted in Jesus as my Savior, so I know today you’ll be working on completing that work. Make me be obedient to the Holy Spirt’s work in my life.”
And let each of us be graceful to our brothers and sisters as they have God’s work in their lives carried out. So that together we might be built up by our Savior, to be presented to him in eternity. Amen.
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