Jezemeg

While the nation of Israel was leading a nomadic lifestyle during their desert exile after leaving Egypt, the bread they baked was flat...there was no time to add the yeast and allow it to rise. It wasn't until they entered the Promised Land and assumed the life of farmers and shepherds that once again there was time to allow bread to rise. In those days, bread was not baked in tins, but shaped into rounds to be baked in the clay ovens of the time. God allowed Gideon to overhear the Midianites account of his dream of the barley loaf rolling down the hill and destroying the Midianites tents to further assure him of God's providence, that God would defeat the Midianites even though Gideon's army was so small in number. By this stage it seems Gideon was more assured of God's capability, but again, he was thankful that God arranged for him to overhear the Midianite's recounting of his dream, it once more assured him of the Midianite's defeat.

When a man laps water from a river with his tongue (as dogs and animals do) it renders him susceptible to attack at that precise stage. It is necessary for him to put any weapons down, and requires him to have to both rise and gather his weapons to him should there be a surprise attack. If a man lifts the water from the river to his lips by way of his hand, then he has his weapon still at his side and is more able to respond should there be a surprise attack from the enemy. The fact that they kneel to drink in this way also decreases the response time they need to rise and engage in battle if need be. While it could be said that those who did not prostrate themselves and leave themselves exposed to attack whilst drinking were less experienced than those who knelt and 'lapped' the water, the nation of Israel could still not claim that the strength of their army was what gave them victory. Of course the final choice were the more experienced of the soldiers, but the odds were still firmly stacked against the Israelites, God would be glorified as a result of the victory, confirming once more to the Israelites that were now residing in the Promised Land that God was truly with them.

We often believe that God should justify and explain Himself to us, His creation, whereas God does not do this. He requires that we trust Him, not with blind obedience, otherwise there would be a danger that we would follow false teachers and even Satan, but testing to verify that it is indeed from God. Once we have established that it is God who we are in touch with, and who is handing down directions, then we can be assured that God will be with us at all times, even when we don't understand just how the work He calls us to is possible. God always confirms His calling through others or through the Bible...but He includes the one He calls as well. Therefore if we receive a message from someone (for example) that God told them we are to do such and such a thing, but God has not communicated with us, we can be fairly certain that it is not God's agenda we are following, but that of someone else. This assurance from God gives us time to ascertain just exactly where an instruction is coming from. As I've already said in answer to a previous questions, it is possible for something to sound 'holy' but for it to be far from that. God is not restricted as we are by time, He moves above time, so He would rather we not act impulsively but wait for assurance of His calling, so that we don't run the risk of appearing to be 'religious kooks'. The task assigned by God is designed to bring glory to God, not the individual...

God is fully aware of the human tendency to claim that it was their skill rather than God's providence that resulted in success. That is why He instructed Gideon to reduce the numbers of men who'd amassed to do battle with the Midianites. To have an army that large, even though it was still much smaller than the enemy's meant that the Israelites could and most likely would claim in their folklore that it was the superior skills of their soldiers that defeated the Midianites...dismissing God's enabling altogether. Ten thousand men was still too great a number as far as God was concerned, because it was conceivable, God fully knew, for the Israelites to still claim it was their fighting skill and courage that gave the victory, again dismissing God altogether. Israel would continue to worship themselves and other gods rather than the one true God, as their forefathers learnt to do during their desert experience. The army had to be such a small number of men for God to ensure that the Israelites would truly recognise that it was only because God stood with them that they defeated the Midianites. God showed His omnipresence time and time again during the forty years wandering in the desert, but now that the Israelites had lost their nomadic life and become farmers, they began to distance themselves from the tradition that had been passed down, and God needed them to realise that He alone was worthy of their worship, the gods of the surrounding nations were nothing. Gideon would have naturally been reticent to reduce his army, but at the same time God's providence had already been proven to him...I think he may have experienced a moment of unease, but then decided to lean on God, instead of expecting an explanation from Him. God had proven His ability to do what Gideon asked of him, and so Gideon saw no good reason why he should doubt God now, even though shrinking the army to a mere 300 or so men did seem to be impossible odds against an enemy army that was so large.

In Gideon's time, the Israelites had left their nomadic lifestyle of wandering in the desert, and had settled in Midianite territory for long enough for the elders who knew of the desert experience and who had witnessed God's miracles to have died out. I believe that Gideon laid out the fleece twice to test that God was truly capable of doing what was claimed of Him. I don't regard this as an act of belief or unbelief, just one of testing that what had been passed down traditionally was in fact genuine. Yes, Gideon was 'testing' God, but he was not doing it for any personal gain or to try to prove himself superior, he was merely ascertaining that the stories he had heard throughout his life were accurate. In the New Testament Jesus Himself cautions us to always test what we hear is supposedly from God...not to try to 'catch God out in a lie' which would be impossible, but to ensure that what we have been told is genuine, is not leading us to rebel against God instead of work for Him. Many 'good works' appear to be so, but God neither backs nor has instigated them; this is why it is essential that we test that it is really God who we are communicating with, and not one of Satan's demons, or Satan himself. We must be careful that we do not demand a sign in order to glorify or benefit ourselves, it is not necessary to do God's work that we should understand all the 'why's' or even expect that there should be monetary support. God can supply all our needs without the need to increase our personal wealth, we need only to have faith in that supply, and be assured of God's providence.

God inspires Gideon to blow the shofar and summon troops to fight the Midianites. Gideon had much in common with the other judges that God selected, none were 'natural' leaders, none had strength of character, but all were able to turn and learn to depend entirely on God when they were called by Him into service. Until Gideon was called by God, he was willing to allow his fellow countrymen to engage in practices that he knew to be against God's wishes, he didn't consider that he had any right to prevent them, indeed he may even have joined others in blaming God for the predicament that Israel now found itself. But after God assured Gideon of His total support, Gideon transferred all his faith to God and leaned totally on Him without question.

Gideon's father Joash, up until this point, has been a leader who didn't want to 'make waves', he'd go along with the majority and so it was easier to allow the rest of his tribe to worship Baal than it was to contest them. Joash would have perceived Gideon as somewhat of a weakling too, if he thought otherwise then Gideon would not have gained his perception of himself. Gideon's actions spurred Joash into finally doing what was right in the eyes of God. As Joash openly defended Gideon when the rest of the tribe saw what he'd done, it would have encouraged Gideon and further strengthened his resolve to rely on God. Joash is now a follower of Yahweh because he applauded the destruction of Baal's altar and the consecration of God's altar that was erected on the remains.

God's command for Gideon to destroy Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah poles was so that it would build Gideon's confidence as well as symbolically replace Israel's dependence on Baal as any god at all, and replace it with God's altar...signifying again that God is now in control of the Israelites. Gideon does this at night because as yet he hasn't full confidence in God's ability or willingness to protect him. No this isn't a sign of weakness of faith with Gideon, to do what he did even at night took courage that Gideon didn't know he possessed. God is not worried when we do something, He just requires we do it.

God saw Gideon as a Mighty Warrior, whereas Gideon saw himself as a weakling and insignificant, born into one of the smaller tribes, certainly not leadership material. God saw what Gideon could become by relying on God. Self-righteousness and pride can prevent us from reaching the potential God sees in us because we begin to rely solely on our own thinking and ability and freeze God out...God will allow us to do this but He certainly won't be there supporting us in our personal crusade. An appropriate prayer to protect us from this influx of pride might be Dear Lord, Thank You for Your many blessings and for selecting me to serve You in the way You choose. Please protect my heart from believing I can do anything without You by my side, and allow me to discern quickly when I stray so that I can return to You fully. Amen

Gideon blamed God for the problems were having with the Midianites stealing and ruining their harvests, he didn't equate the Israelites flagrant worshipping of Baal and moving away from God as having anything to do with God abandonning them. His assessment wasn't accurate because God made it clear before they entered the Promised Land that He would be with the Israelites provided they continued to worship Him and Him alone. We often blame God rather than our own action or inaction because its easier for us to hold someone else responsible rather than accept responsibility ourselves. How often do we seek someone to blame when tragedy strikes...even atheists hold God responsible when tsunamis etc strike. There is a great danger that we move further and further from God by doing this and our 'hurt feelings' keep us from realising the true cause of why God seems so distant. To prevent this we need to take responsibility for our own decisions, realise that God has given us the gift of free will, it is not He that has turned His back, but us. We need to prayerfully repent of our actions and be diligent to make sure the trespass is not repeated.

God had warned the Israelites before they entered the promised land, not to do what the other inhabitants of the land did, but after only one generation, the Israelites had disregarded God's warnings and began to worship both God and the god Baal, who the Midians worshipped. They thus ignored the commandment that they should have no other God but our Father. They were obviously impressed by the success of the Midianites and wrongly assumed that it was because of the power of their god Baal, not because of their disobedience to God. Much the same thing happens now where people strive to be 'politically correct' and claim that all religions are the same, that all gods are the same. They hold their personal wealth, and 'success' as their own achievement, giving no honour or recognition to God's intervention. They build huge cathedrals etc supposedly to give glory to God, but in reality they bask in the applause given by others for their cleverness, their generosity and never credit what they have to God's Grace.

In this verse David is not glorifying himself by expressing his humility, I'm sure we've all fallen into the trap of bragging about our 'humility' by virtually waving placards declaring how unworthy we are...this is not the type of humility God requires; He is instead requiring us to acknowledge that without God in our lives we could achieve nothing, yet despite our own inability, God would have us in His presence, He seeks a relationship with us. Our faith is exhibited by our trust that God will not abandon us, no matter what we do...it is we humans who turn from God, because we cannot tolerate our own fallibility before God. Nor does He condemn us when we fall short of our own expectations, such is His love for us. When we are too focussed on 'humility' we are in danger of worshipping our inability, it is self worship and can only lead to separation from God. To not acknowledge our own faults as the reason why we require God to lift us once more from the pit that we've made for ourselves, is to claim that we don't need to change our behaviour, we can continue in our transgressions. This thinking stems from a misinterpretation of repentance...I hear it often from those who've just participated in confession...'it's okay now, I'm right with God' at the same time grabbing the keys to go to the casino, or beginning to drink until they reach the stage of abusing their loved ones from their drunkenness. This is not repenting...this is displaying an intent to continue sinning, in the mistaken belief that you don't have to strive to do what is right, that it is okay to remain doing wrong...because God will hear our offhand 'sorry' and forgive us. Repentance should be a turning away from what is wrong, acknowledging where our fault is and striving not to repeat it...not continuing to live in our sinful ways