Judges 6 explained: A Frightened Farmer Is Called

Raiders strip the land (vv. 1-6)

The book presents this as a repeating cycle: Israel turns to other gods, and trouble follows, here seven years of raids. Herders from the east poured in at harvest time with camels and flocks, ate or took everything, and drove people into caves to survive.

A prophet's reminder (vv. 7-10)

When the people cry for help, the first answer is an unnamed prophet who reminds them that the LORD freed them from slavery in Egypt. He names the root problem as their worship of the local gods of the land.

A hidden farmer is called (vv. 11-16)

Grain was normally threshed on open, windy ground, but Gideon does it in a winepress, a sunken pit, to hide it, so being greeted as a brave fighter sounds almost ironic. He bluntly asks where God has been, and the only answer he gets is a mission and a promise that God will be with him.

Fire from the rock (vv. 17-24)

Gideon asks for proof and brings a meal, which bursts into flame at the touch of the visitor's staff before the visitor vanishes. People then believed that seeing a divine messenger face to face meant death, so he is told he will live, and he names his altar with a Hebrew phrase meaning the LORD is peace.

Tearing down Baal's altar (vv. 25-32)

Baal was a Canaanite storm and fertility god, and an Asherah pole was a wooden post honoring a goddess; Gideon's own father kept both for the town. Gideon wrecks them at night out of fear, and when the town demands his death, his father argues that a real god can defend himself, which earns Gideon the name Jerub-Baal, meaning roughly let Baal fight him.

Gathering troops, testing God (vv. 33-40)

As the raiders mass in the Jezreel Valley, God's Spirit comes on Gideon and he calls several tribes to fight. Still unsure, he asks for a sign with a wool fleece, first wet on dry ground and then dry on wet ground, and both requests are granted.

Key verse: Judges 6:14

Where Christians differ

Christians differ over whether Gideon's repeated requests for signs show honest faith that God patiently honors, or a lack of trust that the story quietly holds up as a weakness.

Something to think about

Gideon asks why, if God is with his people, so much has gone wrong for them; when you have asked a question like that about your own life or the world, what kind of answer, if any, would have felt honest to you?