Israel’s early history in the Promised Land keeps falling into old ways of infidelity to the Lord.  The period of the judges occurs between the death of Joshua and the time of the prophet Samuel and the kings.  Though it seems like a void in leadership, what God was truly trying to teach the people is that He was, is, and always will be the truest leader in their lives and they are to follow Him.  That did not quite work as Israel continued to stray from the Lord.  Due to the transient state of the people in leadership, a pattern of failure in fidelity is seen in this book. A loving God sends a leader to rescue them.  The book does depict a brutal period of Israel, but it is important as we read through this book not to focus on why God would allow such violence, but rather how God guided His people through the dangers of the world.  A judge in the Scriptural sense does not apply the same way as we would view a judge in a courtroom today.  A judge was the person God sends to His people to deliver them from their sinfulness, which led them to be oppressed by another people.  Sometimes this deliverance had to occur between the disputing tribes of Israel as they presided over the matters resulting in the title of judge.  Each judge will foreshadow the fulfilment of the judges:  Christ.

              During this time period of Israel’s history, there were 12 judges.  Each judge is important in their own right, but the one I would like to focus on today is Gideon.  His leadership as a judge can be found in Chapters 6-8.  His time begins with the people being under the oppression of the Midianites, who have a close connection to Israel through Abraham (his second wife was Midianite) and Moses (his wife was Midianite).  In this setting, Gideon was called to lead God’s people back to Himself.

              God calls Gideon to be a judge through one of His angels, but the calling is quite a fascinating event.  The angel calls Gideon into service, but initially Gideon hesitates with sarcasm.  Many who are called in Scriptures hesitate with feelings of doubt and wonder.  We doubt not the Lord, but ourselves when He comes to us.  We doubt because we are unsure if we are worthy, if we can truly accomplish a difficult task, if we have the skills to fulfill, or simply we prefer to do something else.  Gideon’s doubt and arrogance comes from the fact that the people are oppressed, and God has allowed it to happen.  To Gideon, this means that God does not take care of His people.  It is important for us to focus on the words of the Lord through the angel at those moments:  “but I will be with you” (Judges 6:16).  God does not call us to a mission or purpose then leave us to our own devices.  He remains with us throughout our lives, guiding us in the calling whether we believe Him or not.  Gideon is upset with the Lord for letting all these bad things happen to him and his people.  We do this from time to time thinking the Lord does not care or even does not love us.  Though we do not always understand the Lord’s ways, it is important to see that He is always there and always cares even if what happens gets us to question that reality.

              Gideon does something rather odd after this vote of confidence.  He tells the angel to wait for him as he goes into the house to gather things for his mission and journey.  First of all, what gall Gideon has for asking an angel of the Lord to wait for him.  We know from the Gospel of Luke that Gabriel struck Zechariah mute for even questioning him.  This is not because we should fear an angel, but imagine being called by God through his angel-messenger coming to bring us this grand calling, and our reaction is, “Can you wait?”  It would be similar if someone important came to our house to meet with us and we left them at the door to take care of chores until we are ready. 

              Second, Gideon goes into the house to get supplies for his journey.  He gets cakes, flour, meat, etc. to have to travel.  This is understandable, because if we know we have a long journey ahead, we want to be prepared.  The angel seems to disagree and asks Gideon to place all the food on a rock, and the angel sets a flame on all the food Gideon has and vanishes! (Judges 6:21).  What is going on with that!?  Why was Gideon’s food for the journey destroyed?  This points at Gideon’s doubt that the Lord will take care of him.  His sarcasm towards the angel has already indicated that he doubts that the Lord takes care of His people by allowing terrible things to happen to them.  Gideon’s supplies indicates that he will take care of himself.  The Lord has to break down this barrier before Gideon can lead his people.  God has to remove any attachment Gideon has with need to control his own life if the Lord has any chance to work through him.  Gideon has to believe again that the Lord cares about his people and will guide his journey as a judge.  Sometimes we need that as well.  Sometimes things happen in our lives because God simply wants us to focus on Him.  God wants us to see Him there in our lives, and sometimes jarring things are needed for God to accomplish this goal. 

              Upon this realization, Gideon is now ready to lead Israel as a judge.  He destroys the altars of Baal, he unites the tribes of Israel to fight and conquer the Midianites and Amalekites.  In the end of the battles, “the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon” (Judges 8:28).  Unfortunately, as soon as Gideon died, Israel began to worship Baal and forgot about what the Lord did for them – renewing the cycle of sin and that of God needing to punish, then deliver.  Though the people struggle with living out the faith and fidelity to God, Gideon teaches us an important lesson in our lives.  Life is hard and filled with moments when we doubt the Lord’s presence and whether he cares about His people.  The Lord is always there and always cares about his people; but sometimes our eyes are veiled and that prevents us from seeing this.  Gideon ignored Israel’s idol worship and only saw the suffering of the people and blamed God.  We see suffering, evil, and pain and wonder where God is.  God is always there, and He seeks to lift the veil from our eyes so that we can see His presence.