Chapter 6

Israel rebels again and this time God lets Midian overcome them for seven years.  Midian is so oppressive that during their time in power, many in Israel begin to live in dens and caves.  Midian is "overpowering".  The Midianite strategy was to descend on Israel when the crops were edible, and they would come like locust in number.  They would eat everything in sight, leaving no seed.  They also would eat all the livestock.  This goes on for seven years.  No telling how many died of starvation, how many children died hungry.

6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD. [Jdg 6:6 ESV]

Israel was doing all the work, and reaping no reward.  They cried out to God for help.  In answer, God sends a prophet.  He is not named.  The prophet's message is that God brought them out of Egypt, gave them the land, and commanded that they not worship other gods.  But they have not obeyed him.  So they cry out, and God sends a prophet to declare their sin, to explain that these are covenant consequences.  But He does not send help...because they do not repent of their ways.  Despite their sincere wish for God's deliverance, they are unwilling to do anything for Him.

Good FB post.  Can't live like the devil and be blessed.

2021 - 7 When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD on account of the Midianites, 8 the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. [Jdg 6:7-8 ESV]  I doubt this is the very first mention of a prophet in Israel, but it is certainly one of the earliest.

Gideon is called up as judge.  An angel appears to him and tells him he is to set Israel free of the Midianites.  This angel is a theophany - the Lord Himself, as the language in the rest of their conversation indicates.  To me, Gideon seems a little whiny and doubty about the whole thing, even after seeing fire consume the food he had prepared.  Guess the angel wasn't hungry. 

God orders Gideon to take his father's bull and pull down his father's altar to Baal.  Then cut down the Asherah next to it.  Then he's to build a new altar using new stones.  Last, he's to sacrifice his father's second bull, burning it with the wood of the Asherah that he cut down.  Pretty "in your face" stuff here.  Gideon was afraid to do so in the light of day though, so he did it at night.

The local men want Gideon brought out so they can kill him.  But his Dad says to let Baal fight for himself if he is really a god.  So apparently, nothing else really happens.

Beginning in vs 33, the Midianites and Amalekites come out to make war in the Valley of Jezreel (this place is also called Megiddo.  The one where Armageddon will be fought.)  This is their habit.  It must have been near harvest time, confirmed by Gideon winnowing wheat in the wine press.  Gideon sends out the call for men to follow him, and many do.  Note that the tribes he calls were northern tribes - Asher, Naphtali, and so on.  In Deborah's song, it was these northern tribes also that pushed off the oppressor.  Many men of Israel come out to join the fight against them, under Gideon.

Gideon is still not convinced about all this, so he does the fleece test.  Twice.