Judges 6.
AGAIN, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. How quickly they forgot the lessons learned in affliction! Only forty years had elapsed since the Canaanites were vanquished, their cruel oppression ended, and now the Israelites must, because of their sinful ways, be put into Satan’s hands again. More severe was this visitation than the last, so that the people forsook their lands and their homes for dens in the mountains, and caves and strongholds by reason of the Midianites.
We last read of the Midianites in Numbers 22 to 25 and 31, as those who brought Balaam the false prophet to curse Israel, afterward leading the people into sin, and upon whom heavy punishment fell because of this. Now they are a strong nation again, and with them in oppressing God’s people are the Amalekites, ancient enemies, and the children of the east, probably the Assyrians and Babylonians. As the former oppressors seem to have come from the north, these were from the south and east. “Till thou come unto Gaza” (verse 4) seems to show that the whole land was ruined, as Gaza was the furthest south of the cities along the Mediterranean Sea.
When all was well with them, the children of Israel forgot God; now when great evils are befallen them, and they are in dire distress, they cry to Him. Nor does He at once deliver them. He first sends a prophet to them to tell them the cause of their troubles. It is the same word as in chapter 2:2: “Ye have not obeyed My voice.”
This is the cause of the unhappiness of Christians in our day, —neglect of the Word of God. O, that its pages were constantly and devoutly searched by every child of His!
An angel of the Lord went to Gideon the son of Joash, of the tribe of Manasseh, in whom was faith, though it was weak. Clearly Gideon had been deeply moved by the state of things in Israel before the angel visited him, and he thought of God rather than making up his mind to endure the slavery of the Midianites. Thus the angel could say, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor,” to which Gideon responds, “If the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?” He would not consider himself, but all Israel —God’s people; this is an important principle of faith. God, he owns, had delivered the nation into the hands of the Midianites. Now Gideon is to go at the command of the Lord Himself in the strength he had received from Him, in connection with his exercise of heart.
Gideon feels his own unimportance (verse 15) but is told, “Surely I will be with thee.” Sweet and powerful encouragement! Realizing, that he has been in the presence of the angel of God, he needs the message of peace now given him. The altar’s name, Jehovah-shalom, means “Jehovah is peace.”
Public service now begins, by reestablishing; in his own family and in his own city of Ophrah the relationship between God and His people (verses 25-32). Baal must be put away lest the deliverance about to be wrought should be ascribed to the false god. Obedience is first required, and then power for action is supplied; this is God’s order. Now the enemy is mustered in full strength, and the Spirit of the Lord comes on Gideon. He gathers a following from the four most northerly tribes, and God graciously grants him a sign to strengthen his weak, but real and sincere faith.
ML 11/08/1925