Judges 6:4 - Prayer Tents

Gideon, Israel’s Fifth Judge

6Later on, the Israelites practiced what the Lord considered to be evil, so the Lord handed them over to the domination of Midian for seven years.H1121H3478H6213H7451H5869H3068H3068H5414H3027H4080H7651H81412Midian's control predominated throughout Israel, and because of Midian the Israelites went out to find temporary hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and fortified places.H3027H4080H5810H3478H6440H4080H1121H3478H6213H4492H2022H4631H46793Whenever the Israelites sowed their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and certain groups from the east would come up and invade them.H3478H2232H4080H5927H6002H1121H6924H59274They set up their military encampments to fight them, destroyed the harvest of the land as far as Gaza, and left nothing in Israel, whether harvested grain, sheep, oxen, or donkeys.H2583H7843H2981H776H935H5804H7604H4241H3478H7716H7794H25435They would invade with their livestock and tents, swooping in as numerous as locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels - and they came into the land to destroy it.H5927H4735H168H935H935H1767H697H7230H1581H4557H935H776H78436Because Israel was deeply impoverished due to the Midianites, they cried out to the Lord.H3478H3966H1809H6440H4080H1121H3478H2199H30687When the Israelites cried out to him about Midian,H1121H3478H2199H3068H182H40808the Lord sent a man who was a prophet to the Israelites and said to them, "This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I was the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, delivering you from the house of servitude.H3068H7971H376H5030H1121H3478H559H559H3068H430H3478H5927H4714H3318H1004H56509I delivered you from the domination of Egypt and from the domination of all of your oppressors, expelling them right in front of you and giving their land to you.H5337H3027H4714H3027H3905H1644H6440H5414H77610I told you, "I am the Lord your God. You are not to fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you'll be living."' But you haven't obeyed what I said."H559H3068H430H3372H430H567H776H3427H8085H6963

Gideon is Visited by the Angel of the Lord

11After this, the angel of the Lord arrived and sat down in the shade of the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezite while his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press in order to safeguard it from the Midianites.H935H4397H3068H3427H424H6084H3101H33H1121H1439H2251H2406H1660H5127H6440H408012The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, you valiant warrior!"H4397H3068H7200H559H3068H1368H242813But Gideon replied, "Right… Sir, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us?And where are all of his miraculous works that our ancestors recounted to us when they said, 'The Lord brought us up from Egypt, didn't he?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us over to Midian!"H1439H559H994H113H3426H3068H4672H6381H1H5608H559H3068H5927H4714H3068H5203H5414H3709H408014The Lord looked straight at him and replied, "Go with this determination of yours and deliver Israel from Midian's domination. I've directed you, haven't I?"H3068H6437H559H3212H3581H3467H3478H3709H4080H797115"Right…," Gideon responded. "Sir, how will I deliver Israel?Look - my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I'm the youngest in my father's household."H559H994H136H4100H3467H3478H504H505H1800H4519H6810H1H100416The Lord said to him, "Because I'll be with you, and you'll defeat Midian - every single one of them!"H3068H559H5221H4080H259H37617So Gideon asked him, "Please, if I have received favor from you, then do a miracle for me that shows that you're making this promise to me.H559H4672H2580H5869H6213H226H169618And please don't leave here until I've come back to you, brought my offering, and set it down in front of you." The Lord replied, "I'll stay until you return."H4185H935H3318H4503H3240H6440H559H3427H772519Then Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and poured the broth into a pot, and brought them to the angel right under the oak tree. Then he made his offering.H1439H935H6213H5795H1423H4682H374H7058H1320H7760H5536H7760H4839H6517H3318H424H506620The angel, who was God, replied, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this boulder. Then pour out the broth." So he did that.H4397H430H559H3947H1320H4682H3240H1975H5553H8210H4839H621321The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened bread. Fire broke out from inside the boulder, consuming the meat and unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished in front of him.H4397H3068H7971H7097H4938H3027H5060H1320H4682H5927H784H6697H398H1320H4682H4397H3068H1980H5869

God Reassures Gideon

22When Gideon realized that he had seen the angel of the Lord himself, he cried out, "Oh no! Lord God! I've been looking right at the angel of the Lord - and face-to-face at that!"H1439H7200H4397H3068H1439H559H162H136H3069H3651H7200H4397H3068H6440H644023"Calm down! Don't be afraid." the Lord replied. "You're not going to die!"H3068H559H7965H3372H419124So Gideon built an altar right there to the Lord and called it "The Lord is peace." (To this very day it still stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.)H1439H1129H4196H3068H7121H3073H3117H6084H3325Later that very night, the Lord said to Gideon, "Take the bull that belongs to your father, along with a second bull that's seven years old. Then tear down the altar to Baal that your father owns, cut down the Asherah that's beside it,H3915H3068H559H3947H1H6499H7794H8145H6499H7651H8141H2040H4196H1168H1H3772H84226and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this stronghold in an orderly manner. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering using the wood from the Asherah that you'll be cutting down."H1129H4196H3068H430H7218H4581H4634H3947H8145H6499H5927H5930H6086H842H3772

Gideon Destroys His Father’s Altar

27So Gideon went with ten men who were his servants and did just what the Lord had told him to do, though he did it at night because he was too afraid of his father's family and the leading men of the city to do it during the day.H1439H3947H6235H582H5650H6213H3068H1696H3372H1H1004H582H5892H6213H3119H6213H391528When the leading men of the city got up early the next morning, the altar to Baal had been torn down, along with the Asherah that had stood beside it, and the second bull had been offered on the altar that had been erected.H582H5892H7925H1242H4196H1168H5422H842H3772H8145H6499H5927H4196H112929They asked each other, "Who did this thing?" When they looked into it and asked around, they concluded, "Joash's son Gideon did it."H559H376H7453H6213H1697H1875H1245H559H1439H1121H3101H6213H169730So the leading men of the city ordered Joash, "Bring us that son of yours. He's going to die, because he tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah that stood beside it!"H582H5892H559H3101H3318H1121H4191H5422H4196H1168H3772H84231But Joash responded to everyone who was opposing him, "Do you really intend to fight on Baal's behalf?Do you really intend to rescue him by ordering that whoever fights him will be executed by morning?If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. After all, it was his altar that was torn down."H3101H559H5975H7378H1168H3467H7378H4191H1242H430H7378H5422H419632So that very day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, that is, "Let Baal fight," since he had torn down his altar.H3117H7121H3378H559H1168H7378H5422H419633Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and certain groups from the east gathered together, crossed the Jordan River, and set up camp in the Jezreel Valley.H4080H6002H1121H6924H622H3162H5674H2583H6010H315734So the Spirit of the Lord took control of Gideon, who blew a trumpet, mustering the Abiezrites to follow him into battle.H7307H3068H3847H1439H8628H7782H44H2199H31035He sent messengers to the entire tribe of Manasseh, calling them to follow him, and he also sent word to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, calling them to meet him.34H7971H4397H4519H2199H310H7971H4397H836H2074H5321H5927H7125

Gideon Asks for a Sign from God

36Then Gideon told God, "If you intend to deliver Israel by my efforts as you've said,H1439H559H430H3426H3467H3478H3027H169637then take a look at this wool fleece that I'm placing on the threshing floor. If dew appears only on the fleece - and it's dry on the ground all around it - then I'll know that you'll deliver Israel by my efforts like you've said."H3322H1492H6785H1637H2919H1492H2721H776H3045H3467H3478H3027H169638That's exactly what happened: When he got up early the next morning, he wrung out the fleece to drain the dew from it and extracted a bowl full of water.637H7925H4283H2115H1492H2115H4680H2919H1492H5602H4393H432539Then Gideon told God, "Don't let yourself be angry with me! I want to ask you once again: please let me make a test with the fleece just once more. Cause it to be dry only on the fleece, but let there be dew all around on the ground."H1439H559H430H639H2734H1696H6471H5254H6471H1492H2721H1492H776H291940And God did it just like that later that night. It was dry only on the fleece, but dew was all around on the ground.H430H6213H3915H2721H1492H2919H776