Judges, Chapter 6 - Doubt to Destiny | Prophets of Israel Daily

[music] >> Shalom friends, welcome to the Prophets of Israel daily. This is the book of Judges [music] chapter 6. This series is brought to you by the Land of Israel Network and if you're enjoying this series and you want to continue learning with us and you want to catch up, you can catch all of the chapters of the Prophets of Israel series at the landofisrael.com. All right, so chapter 6. Israel for the first time experiences a new kind of war. It's a new kind of challenge. And what happens when the enemy doesn't just defeat you? It drains you slowly, exhausting you. And this chapter, it's not the story of like a single battle. It's the story of Israel just collapsing under the pressure and the nation has to survive. The leader who's chosen is a man who doesn't believe he's a leader and he doesn't believe he's being called to save a nation. He's so normal. He's so relatable. And in chapter 6, we're introduced to that leader, this legendary judge called Gideon, Gideon. And so, the chapter opens with the line that we know too well. First one, "Then the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for 7 years." And again, it's the same pattern. Israel falls, an enemy comes, but this time, the oppression looks different. Midian didn't conquer Israel like a traditional army. They didn't occupy cities. They didn't establish rule or demand taxes or tributes. They systematically wait and they plunder. Verses 3 and 4, "So it was, whenever Israel had planted, Midianites would come up, also Amalekites and people from east would come up against them. They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey." It was economic warfare. Together with psychological warfare, the Midianites, they're not taxing the people. Israel works the land, plants, builds, prepares, and then every year, everything is taken from them. The enemy doesn't kill off the Israelites. It enslaves them. Israel does all of the work and then the enemies come and plunder it, leaving them with nothing. Verse 6, "So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord." This chapter introduces a new war against Israel. It's a new kind of oppression. It's exhaustion. And imagine like no matter how hard you try, you can't get ahead. Everything you build gets taken away. And so, what does Israel do? They hide. Verse 2, "The children of Israel made for themselves tunnels in the caves and the strongholds which are in the mountains." So, picture that. Here's the nation of Israel, God's chosen people. We crossed the Jordan. We saw the walls of Jericho fall. We defeated kingdoms across the land and now we're literally living in caves. And then they cry out. But then, something really interesting happens. Before God sends the savior, he sends a prophet to make sure that Israel gets a clear message. Verses 9 and 10, "I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also, I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you will dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice." In other words, to make sure Israel will internalize the message eternally, a prophet comes and gives the divine perspective. All of Israel's war are spiritual wars and before redemption can come, there needs to be a reckoning. Before salvation comes, Israel has to face the truth. Israel is destined to walk a path of righteousness. And if Israel strays from the path, we will be corrected and brought right back on the straight and narrow. Like the law of gravity, Israel will be drawn right back to Hashem. And so, the story then takes a turn and we meet a man who will change everything. Gideon, Gideon. And how do we find him? We find him just trying to survive, to make ends meet and he's hiding away. Verses 11 and 12, "Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, 'The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.'" He's hiding, threshing wheat in a winepress, which makes no sense. You thresh wheat in an open area where you can separate it, where the winds can come. But Gideon is doing it in secret. Why is he in secret? Because he's afraid. The enemies of Israel have complete dominance over them and they plunder and steal everything they produce. And so, this is the man who's about to save Israel. This is the hero. It's just That's how the Bible's framing him. It's not really Gideon looking like such a mighty man of valor. He's hiding. He's barely surviving, trying to get some wheat. He's just holding on, doing the best that he can in this broken reality. And then Gideon responds in a way that feels very real. And I think all the leaders of Israel, Gideon is the one that's the most relatable character to our generation. He's filled with doubts and questions and confusion. He's not this spiritual powerhouse of faith. He's not a prophet. He starts off just a hard working man trying to make sense of the world that makes no sense. And this is what he says in verse 13, "If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about?" I mean, that's one of the most honest questions from a leader in the Bible. Where is God? If we're the chosen people, if we're protected, then why are we living like this? And the angel doesn't really answer him. He just gives him guidance. Lech bechochacha zeh vehohshata et Yisrael. Verse 14, "Go in this might of yours and you shall save Israel." And you have to ask a question like, "What's the might here?" And Gideon doesn't look very powerful. He looks frustrated. He sounds confused. He just looks like someone carrying a lot of questions. But when you go back to what he said, you realize something really beautiful. He's responding with passion about God abandoning Israel. It's like, "Where are all of his miracles?" Gideon's in pain. He's struggling with the reality that he's living with. And he knows the stories. He's heard about the miracles and he's saying, "Where is God's providence now?" And I think that's exactly the might that God sees in him, a heart that refuses to accept a broken reality. It's like a kind of pain, that kind of passion that can become fuel. And so, God channels that emotion into his purpose. Go with this might. Take that frustration. Take that longing for something better and turn it into action. And really, the prophet is teaching us here that people who change reality are the ones who are bothered by it most. And so, I don't know, Gideon's not having it. He doesn't think he's the leader. Verse 15, "Oh my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest and I am the least in my father's house." He's saying, "Listen, I'm just not the one. I'm the wrong person. I don't have the strength. I don't have the status. I don't have the ability." And God answers him with one line. "And the Lord said to him, 'Surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.'" That's it. No plan. There's no strategy. Just emunah. Just faith. "Surely I will be with you." You know, and I love that God doesn't try to convince Gideon that he's impressive. He doesn't say, "Actually, you're stronger than you think." He's not like a self-help guru. You know, or "You're more capable than you realize." He doesn't argue with Gideon's self-assessment at all. He just says, "I'll be with you." Because the entire premise is different. This was never about Gideon's qualifications. It was never about his tribe or his status or his confidence level. Those things are simply they're just simply beside the point. And I think that's one of the most liberating ideas in all of Tanakh, that Hashem doesn't call the equip. He equips the called. I love that. He doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called. And most of us are sitting on the sidelines of our own calling, waiting to feel ready. At least I feel that way sometimes. I'm sort of just waiting, waiting until the doubt clears, waiting until we feel strong enough or prepared enough or or worthy enough. But Gideon teaches us that readiness was never the requirement. Willingness is. And and that's the whole story. And you know, Gideon is still unsure. He's still waiting. You know, it's been years of oppression against enemies far greater in strength than Israel and Gideon hasn't seen the hand of God in his own life. He doesn't see it on a national level and he's just not ready to toss the dice and hope for the best. I mean, logically for Gideon, being who he is, coming from where he comes from, it would be outrageous to try to lead the nation into battle against this. It's like impossible. And so, he asks for a divine sign. He asks for something supernatural. He's being asked to do something supernatural. He hasn't seen anything supernatural in his life and so, it comes to this person who seemingly an angel of God, but Gideon doesn't know for sure. And he says, "You know, I don't want to just hope. I don't want to just believe. I want to know." So, Gideon prepares an offering and the angel touches his staff on the offering and fire comes from the rock and consumes it. And now he knows, well, this is real. And so that night Gideon gets his first mission. He has to destroy the idols in his father's house and he's tasked with destroying the altar of Baal and the wooden idol next to the altar. And before he saves the nation, he has to fix his own home. And isn't that a lesson for all of us? So many young people looking to change the system and change the world and the prophets say the mission first and foremost is to fix yourself, fix your house. And that's a lifetime of work and it's also a prerequisite if you really want to go and change the world. And so the true battle against Midian it's not against Midian, it's against idolatry. It's a spiritual war and all of Israel's war are spiritual in their essence. And so Gideon goes, follows the mission, but he's still afraid. Verse 27, he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, so he did it by night. He's still scared. He's not fully confident, but he steps forward. Courage isn't acting without fear, courage is acting in the face of fear. And Gideon's first act is a real display of courage. And the next morning the town wakes up, the altar of Baal is destroyed, the townspeople are furious and they want Gideon dead. But then Gideon's father steps forward and the story twists and he challenges the people saying, "If Baal is so powerful, you don't need to fight for Baal, let Baal wage his own wars, let the Baal stand up for himself." Verse 31, "If he is a god, let him plead for himself because his altar has been torn down." And in that moment Gideon's father just reveals the obvious truth. The idol has no power of its own and if it did it would defend itself. It's like this undeniable truth of reality is exposed, the idol has no power at all and Gideon survives. He's actually given a new name, Jerubbaal, the one who went up against the Baal. And after Gideon then cleans up his home, finally, the story of our hero begins on a national level. Verse 34, "But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and he blew the shofar." And for the first time, Gideon now steps into national leadership. He gathers men from Abiezer, from the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali and he prepares them for battle. But even now, after the spirit of the Lord, he's inspired, he asks for just another sign to make sure God is truly with him. And this time he chooses a fleece. He places wool on the ground and asks, "Let the fleece be wet and the ground around it be dry." And the sign happens. And he still feels like he needs some more confidence. He asks for another sign and this time he asks for the opposite. He wants the fleece to stay dry and the ground around to be wet. And he just wants to see is God really involved in the intimate little details of life? Is he really paying attention? And God responds both times. So on the surface it looks like doubt, but something deeper is happening. Gideon isn't rushing, he's not pretending, he's growing into the role. We're watching a man who started off with doubts and questions slowly grow into a man of faith and a living example of emunah who is going to lead Israel to victory. Yeah, and I think we have to be careful not to read the whole episode about with the fleece as weakness because what Gideon is actually doing here is something very honest. He's being real, he's authentic, he's not pretending, he's not performing a a confidence he doesn't have. He is in an ongoing real wrestling conversation with Hashem. Israel to wrestle with Hashem, he's an Israelite in the purest sense of the word. And Hashem meets him there every single time. And that's really what strikes me because Gideon doesn't transform in one dramatic moment, there's no single scene where fear evaporates and the hero emerges fully formed. It's a process, one step forward, one sign, one small act of courage and then another. Destroying the altar at night, gathering the troops, the first fleece, then the second and I think that's actually the most important thing this chapter models for us because most of us are not going to have a lightning bolt moment where everything becomes clear and we charge forward without hesitation. Most of us grow into our calling the way Gideon did, slowly and imperfectly, still asking questions, still needing reassurance and still moving forward anyways. You know, and that's what the story of chapter six is all about. It's the story of an unlikely person slowly becoming a leader. And Gideon becomes one of the greatest heroes of Israel, but he starts off hiding in a wine press. And his story speaks so beautifully to us today because most people, they don't feel like they've been born into greatness. Everyone has questions about how the future will unfold. Everyone is confused by the reality around us. And the message here is that faith is something that can grow. Faith is something that needs to be nurtured. Gideon comes to faith not through books and not through theology, but through living an open relationship, asking for guidance and looking for Hashem's providence in his life. And that's what sets him up as such a great leader. And so that's chapter six, my friends. We'll see you tomorrow for chapter [music] seven as we go deeper into the great stories of Gideon, the leader of Israel. Shalom.