Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 22 Jan 2012
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Do you ever run across questions that just make you wonder, that cause you to pause in thought. I ran across a few such questions the other day:
8) If a bee is allergic to pollen does it get hives?
Along those lines, this portion of scripture that we are looking at today, Judges 6:36-40, especially in light of Luke 1:11-20, has always posed a challenging question of that nature for me.
1) If laughter is the best medicine, why do some people they 'die laughing'?
2) Why do people say "heads up" when you should really duck?
3) How do you tell when you run out of invisible ink?
2) Why do people say "heads up" when you should really duck?
3) How do you tell when you run out of invisible ink?
4) Why do doctors leave the room when you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.
5) Why is it that when we "skate on thin ice", we can "get in hot water"?
6) Why is the Lone Ranger called 'Lone' if he always has Tonto with him?
7) If a child refuses to sleep during naptime, are they guilty of resisting a rest?
Along those lines, this portion of scripture that we are looking at today, Judges 6:36-40, especially in light of Luke 1:11-20, has always posed a challenging question of that nature for me.
First: There is an important scripture in the Bible, right back in the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy 6:16 that reads, “Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.” To refresh our memories, Massah was one of many examples in the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land where the people were whining and crying to God actively doubting and questioning Him – “Is the LORD among us or not?” – they asked (Exodus 17:7). It was at this point where God gives them water from a stone. Looking back on this experience, God, through Moses warns the people: Exodus 17:2: “Why do you put the LORD to the test?” Deuteronomy 6:16: “Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah” (Exodus 17:7; cf. Exodus 17:3, Deuteronomy 9:32, 33:8).
Forward to our text today (Judges 6:36-40) and we see Gideon doing exactly this – testing God. The passage we are looking at today is the same as Gideon tossing a coin in the air and saying, “Alright God: heads, I’ll do what you say; tails, I won’t.” And then after God meets this test, contrary to all Biblical wisdom, Gideon says, “Okay God, best two out of three!”[1] Judges 6:36-40:
Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised - look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
This is just like Gideon tossing a coin in the air and saying, “Heads, God you are telling me to do this and I will do it.” The coin then lands heads up and Gideon says, “Okay God, best two out of three”
Forward now to the Gospels: When the devil is tempting Jesus in the desert trying to convince the Lord to jump off building and show the world his power, “because if you really are God’s son”, the satan says, “God will protect you.” Then the devil quotes Deuteronomy to say that Jesus can trust God to protect him and then, Matthew 4:7, Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Luke 4: 9-12 recounts the story this way:
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
But back to our text today Gideon does just this and sets up this test for the Lord:
Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
In effect Gideon might as well have been tossing a coin in the air and saying, “Heads, God you are telling me to do this.” The coin then lands heads up so Gideon says, “Okay God, best two out of three.” So how come Gideon is allowed to put the Lord our God to the test?
Now forward again to the Gospels, this time to Luke 1:5-20:
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. [But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.
Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.]
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. [He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God.] And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.”
Zechariah asks how he can be sure of this and is dumbstruck because of this but back in our text today, we have Gideon’s coin toss:
Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said…”
Then Gideon said to God, “…This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
“Heads, God you are telling me to do this.” The coin then lands heads up so Gideon says, “Okay God, best two out of three.” So how come Gideon is allowed to put the Lord our God to the test? Are you getting the pattern? In the Old Testament, the Gospels and the New Testament, God is pretty clear that He doesn’t want you to put Him to the test; He wants you to trust Him; so why does God grant this grace to Gideon and not rebuke him at all for his blatant questioning and testing through requesting palour tricks of sorts from God? But in other incidents in the Biblical record why does God, for example, strike Zechariah mute for asking a question of Him; how this is possible?
There is more - Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Back to our text today…
Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said …”
Then Gideon said to God, “… This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
“Heads, God you are telling me to do this.” The coin then lands heads up so Gideon says, “Okay God, best two out of three.”
James 1:5-7: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord…”
And also our Lord Jesus himself says on two occasions that it is “a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign” (Matthew 12:28, 16:1-4).
So, tell me: as this is the case, why does Gideon get off the hook with ‘fleecing’ God here? Gideon who doubts here, not only escapes punishment from God but God even answers his sign, in a very rare way. Gideon says God do this for me and God does it.
This is not, of course, the only time that people receive signs from God. Do you remember what happens when Moses and Abraham each receive a sign from God?[2] Neither of them request the specific stunts that Gideon does vis a vis the fleece (but cf. Genesis 28:18-22). Moses – when God is speaking to him from the burning bush – gets his sign. Does anyone remember what the sign is that God gives Moses? God says that AFTER Moses has finished doing what God tells him to do, then Moses will worship God on the very mountain upon which he is standing now. Moses will get his sign that God is telling him to do something AFTER Moses does it (Exodus 3:11,12).
Abraham even more, Abraham’s sign from God: God says that AFTER you are dead you will get your sign; your descendents will be slaves in a foreign land for 400 years. God says He will give Moses, a great man of faith, his sign from God only after he does what he is told to do. Abraham – a man through whose seed the LORD has chosen to save the whole world - Genesis 12:3 (cf. John 3:16) - Abraham never sees his sign. Abraham’s sign only comes after he is dead, Genesis 15:17-21.[3]
But why is Gideon so different? Why can Gideon ask in effect of God, “Best two out of three” and God so amicably agrees? Of Gideon, Hebrews 11:32-34 says: “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.”
Gideon questions God. Gideon doubts God.[4] We’ve read many passages here in the Pentateuch, the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Gospels where God instructs us not to doubt the LORD. Again, James tells us that when we ask of the Lord, we must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should NOT think he will receive ANYTHING from the Lord (James 1:7). And Matthew tells us that our Lord Jesus himself says that “a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign” (Matthew 12:28, 16:1-4). And even though Jesus himself refuses to test God in the desert, God freely consents to the test of moistening a fleece for Gideon. Why does the angel of the Lord strike the priest Zechariah mute when he asks how he can be sure of what an angel of the Lord is telling Him but God simply graciously jumps through the hoops that Gideon has lined up for him? Has anyone else ever wondered about this?
What makes Gideon so much different from Abraham, Moses, Jesus, the Apostle Paul, James, Zechariah and the even whole generation that walked the earth at the time of our Lord?
I’m going to tell you my best guess to solve this predicament. I think the reason that the Lord submits to Gideon’s tests but does not do the same thing for Abraham, Moses, or Zechariah is specified right at the beginning of the story with Zechariah. Luke 1:6 records of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, “Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.” Abraham was a man who was a friend of God. Moses was the prophet who God used to lead the Israelites out of slavery. These people were upright. Gideon?
Gideon, I don’t think was quite there yet. Remember that just like we are all saved by Grace; God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow; so Gideon and the ancient Israelites are all saved by God’s Grace as well. God by Grace called all of the aforementioned people here. The big difference and the reason that I think Gideon is granted the leeway to put God to the test in the time of the judges is that the people are so steeped in sin that there are not a lot of holy people through whom the Lord would save them. Even Samson, who in this book God uses as a deliver, is not so good at living up to his covenant responsibilities but God still saves His people through him. Gideon, very far from being upright, has altars to Baal right on his property. I guess technically it isn’t really his property because he is still living at home with mom and dad. Remember from the earlier part of Scripture that we read today, Judges 6:25-40, He – after speaking with God- maybe like a teenager today, sneaks out at night with his friends and has a party of sorts where he vandalizes the community’s altar to Baal – which happens to be on his property. When the people find out about this, Gideon still does not come out and claim he heard a voice from God; he instead hides firmly behind his parents’ apron strings. Gideon was not a holy man who grew up in a ‘good pre-Christian household’. He possibly, like his own father, even worshipped God and Baal at his dad’s shrine on his dad’s property.[5] This is not the last time by the way that Gideon and his family will struggle with promoting the worship of false gods (Judges 8:22-28). This struggle with God, Israel and his own family stretch even beyond Gideon’s lifetime and ultimately result in the death of dozens and dozens of his own children and grandchildren (Judges 9).
So why does God jump through the hoops with the fleece games that Gideon sets up for Him whereas he does not do the same for Moses or Zechariah or others whom we have mentioned today? I think it is precisely because as Luke 1:6 records of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth that “both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.”[6]
From those who are given more, more is expected. God loves us all. When we are baby Christians, when we do not know the Lord very well, when we are new to the faith, God doesn’t expect us to know as much as those who have grown up loving and relying on Him. So here God is patient with Gideon, a man who is seemly new to the idea of worshipping the Lord ONLY. God has patience with him, like a toddler, and He helps him along (cf. Genesis 28:18-22, Exodus 4:1-9).[7]
Zechariah was upright. Zechariah was holy, set apart for the Lord. God expects that those of us who have been serving Him for a while will act the part (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:2; cf. also John 9:41, John 19:11, Romans 14). It is like the difference between our one year-old daughter and our 9 and 10 year-olds. Heather, our baby is allowed to wonder back and forth across the sanctuary here as we are leading the meeting without upsetting us at all. If our older girls were to do that, it would be an entirely different story. Any of us who have been Christians for a while, if we look back on our lives hopefully we will see a lot of growth in our relationship with God. When we are young in the faith, when we are baby Christians, I don’t think it is uncommon for us to lay our fleece on the ground, toss a coin in the air, wonder back and forth across the sanctuary, or ask God for a sign. That is us eagerly seeking a God that we are just beginning to get to know. But as we grow up in that faith, we should actually have a more mature relationship with the Lord (cf. John 9:41, John 19:11, Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 3:2).[8]
We should know him better. For those of us who are married, it is the difference between when you are dating or when you are first married versus when you have been married one, two, three, four, five decades or even more. One suspects that you know your spouse today much better than you did on that day when you first laid eyes on her or him. This is what, in my opinion, it is like with God and it is like with Gideon. Gideon is like a baby believer in a culture and a country that has by-and-large turned its back on God. As he and his society grow up more will be expected from him but in today’s pericope God’s grace abounds as God, like a loving father with his baby Gideon, God happily condescends to play the fleece game with the baby Gideon.[9]
So today in our own lives, if we have been walking with the Lord for a while and if it is time to grow up and stop playing baby games, I encourage us to – just like the myriad of scriptures we read today extol - to do just that and put the childish tests behind us and grow up in the Lord. But for those of us here today who are at the beginning of our relationship with the Lord, I encourage us to, like a little baby enjoy the fleece games of our infancy in Christ, for the time is coming soon and very soon, when we too will be strong in the faith, just like the big kids, and then what a day of rejoicing that will be (cf. TSA docs 8-10).
Let us pray.
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[1] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Judges/Exposition of Judges/II. The Rule of the Judges (2:6-16:31)/F. The Victory of Gideon Over the Midianites (6:1-8:32)/6. The fleece (6:36-40), Book Version: 4.0.2
[2] Cf. Dennis T. Olsen, The Book of Judges (NIB II; Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 803-804
[3] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Praise The Lord For Covenants: Old Testament wisdom for our world today. Vancouver, BC: Credo Press, 2010. (c) The Salvation Army, 61-74.
[4] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Judges/Exposition of Judges/II. The Rule of the Judges (2:6-16:31)/F. The Victory of Gideon Over the Midianites (6:1-8:32)/6. The fleece (6:36-40), Book Version: 4.0.2
[5] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Judges/Exposition of Judges/II. The Rule of the Judges (2:6-16:31)/F. The Victory of Gideon Over the Midianites (6:1-8:32)/4. The altar of Baal destroyed and Gideon's life imperiled (6:25-32), Book Version: 4.0.2
[6] Cf. Dennis T. Olsen, The Book of Judges (NIB II; Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 803-804: Here examples are given of other times that those weak in the faith are granted signs that those strong in the faith should know better than to ask.
[7] Cf. 'Is it acceptable to "lay out a fleece" before God in prayer?' in got Questions?org. Available on-line: http://www.gotquestions.org/prayer-fleece.html
[8] Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1988 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 3), S. 87
[9] Arthur E. Cundall and Morris, Leon: Judges and Ruth: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1968 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 7), S. 108 Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1988 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 3), S. 87
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