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Perhaps Joshua, more than any other, impresses the need for the man or woman called
of God to be strong, courageous, conscious of the Lord's abiding presence, and to be a
`man of the book'.
No.5.
Gideon.
pp. 113 - 119
The immediate background to the call of Gideon is recounted for us in Judges 6: 1-10.
"The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord", and as a result the Midianites
became their overlords for seven years. The Israelites worked, and the Midianites
benefited. The latter were as `grasshoppers', or better, `locusts', indeed they were worse
than locusts, for not only did they destroy `the increase of the earth', they left `neither
sheep, nor ox, nor ass'. "They entered into the land to destroy it." Nothing can be more
disheartening than to labour successfully, and then at the last moment be deprived of the
reward. Great impoverishment was the outcome for Israel, and the people were finally
driven to `cry unto the Lord'. But there is no hint of repentance, as is made clear in
verses 8-10:
"The Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the
house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the
hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their
land; and I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites in
whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice" (Judges 6: 8-10).
Neither does the prophet make any mention of deliverance.
The sequel demonstrates the patience and longsuffering of God; for although there is
still no hint of repentance on the part of the nation as a whole, in mercy He acts:
"And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that
pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat . . . . . and the
angel of the Lord appeared unto him" (Judges 6: 11 and 12).
It was the angel of the Lord: the angel of Jehovah, the covenant God who came to
Gideon. Although deliverance was to be effected through Gideon, it was not on the
grounds of national repentance, but on the grounds of God's faithfulness to His covenant.
This is perhaps emphasized in the greeting the angel gave: "Jehovah is with thee, thou
mighty man of valour". It was a personal message to Gideon: thee, thou. Yet like
others, such as Moses and Daniel, Gideon associates himself with his people, and in his
reply says "if the Lord be with us". He included himself in the corporate responsibility of
the nation.
Gideon was addressed as a `mighty man of valour'. The word for `mighty man' is
`gibbor': a man of physical strength. This point is underlined by the use of the word