28 – Gideon’s Fleeces

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The calling of YHVH is just the beginning of our battles. Gideon made the right choice when he destroyed his father’s Baal altar but he would still have other choices to make and other battles to fight starting with his own flesh.

The Aftermath Of Destroying Joash’s Altar To Baal

Judges 6:28  When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built.

Judges 6:29  They said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” When they inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”

Who was it that revealed it was Gideon who destroyed the altar?

Judges 6:27  Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as YHVH had spoken to him.

The deed was revealed by those who assisted Gideon. He had told YHVH his family was among the poorest in Manasseh, yet here he is with 10 servants. Poor people don’t have servants. Poor people become servants. These men were bondservants.

H5650
עבד
‛ebed
eh’-bed

From H5647; a servant: –  X bondage, bondman, [bond-] servant, (man-) servant.

From this, we can deduce that Gideon was likely poor, impoverished by lending his helping hand to struggling brethren. This may be one reason YHVH selected Gideon for the job of saving Israel. It may be that Gideon was laying down his own life for his brethren. Yet, those 10 servants turned on him.

“Ten men” arise in scripture 11 times from Judges 6 to Luke 17. There is a spiritual gleaning to be had from this which I don’t have time to talk about. Here in Judges is the first time “ten men” appear as a symbol of something. It could symbolize a minion or the loss of Israelites through exile (as in the so-called lost 10 tribes which aren’t really “lost” at all) or that they are the tithe of YHVH or those who start out with YHVH but soon leave the faith when trouble happens, like when you get questioned about the destruction of Baal and Asherah idols.

Judges 6:30  Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it.”
Judges 6:31  Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has broken down his altar!”

Joash was a Baal and Asherah worshipper, yet he seems here to have come to his senses. This was the time when YHVH bring bring salvation to Israel. As it was then, so will it be in our future when people begin to come to their senses. There will be those who will return to YHVH in repentance. Joash’s words imply that he had already made the choice between the dead gods and the living One. Let’s examine Joash’s words.

“Will you contend for Baal”? Verse 32 reveals that Joash realized that Baal had failed to contend with Gideon in the overthrow which may be the reason Joash returned to YHVH. He may have awakened to the fact that Baal and Asherah were “eliyl”, good for nothing.

H457
אליל
‘ĕlı̂yl
el-eel’

Apparently from H408; good for nothing, by analogy vain or vanity; specifically an idol: – idol, no value, thing of nought.

Judges 6:32  Therefore on that day he named him Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal contend against him, because he [Gideon] has broken down his [Baal’s] altar.”

“Or will you save him?”. Gods are supposed to do the saving but Baal could not save himself. Joash’s plea to the men of Abiezer was logical but his words also caused a spiritual revival that prevented the city’s Baal worshippers from doing anything to Gideon.

Now Joash gets bold: “He who will contend for him, let him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has broken down his altar!”.

In Jasher 11, the rest of Abram’s story is that his father turned him over to Nimrod who tried burning him in a fiery furnace. Abram’s brother, Haran, died in that fire but Abram came out unscathed. Here, we have a complete reversal of what happened to Abram because Gideon’s father, Joash, returned to YHVH.

The reasoning is that Baal should have able to stop Gideon which proves that Baal was no god at all! The idol was just an inanimate object. Someone had come and attacked this “great god” and the god did nothing about it. The god could do nothing about it. Thus, the argument prevented the death of Gideon.

Judges 6:33  Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.

It was wheat harvest time and the enemies had come to take their spoil. YHVH will now use Gideon to prevent the probable starvation of the Israelites. If their oppression went on for another year, they might not have survived as a nation. They had already survived 7 years of manmade famine, starvation from enemy occupation. They will now be delivered from it.

Last week, I pointed out that the story of Gideon has parallels to the end of days. The 7 years of famine endured by Israel is a parallel to the coming food shortages with the added famine of YHVH’s Word through which people might return to Him. However, with even the lack of the Word, even those like Joash who would turn to YHVH might not be able to because of the lack of His Truth on earth.

Gideon’s battle will happen in the Jezreel Valley just as will the final Battle of Armageddon. The Jezreel Valley has always been the place of Israel’s great wars. Joshua did battle in the Jezreel valley in Joshua 11. Deborah and Barak also fought there in Judges 4. That battle had taken place at Mount Tabor in Lower Galilee, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley. Other battles will yet take place in the Jezreel Valley all the way to the last war of the era of Satan’s hold on YHVH’s planet earth which is popularly called the Armageddon War.

There is nothing new that will happen. The enemy cannot do anything new. YHVH set the stage for how this war between His Kingdom and Satan’s would go on this earth. Satan, Lucifer, is a created being with limitations. All of YHVH’s created beings are limited each species in its own way. Lucifer is no different. He has built-in limitations, too.

The first limitation YHVH made was that history would repeat itself. There would be cycles and patterns which Satan is, himself, subject to. This is why Satan has nothing new up his sleeve and, if we all paying attention to the cycles and patterns, we will always know what he has in store of us regardless of what new technology he might invent through his wicked servants.

The second limitation was that Satan cannot do anything that YHVH won’t let him do. There are boundaries and rules that Satan must obey even though YHVH has allowed him leeway to prowl around like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). These limitations are in addition to Lucifer’s natural limitations and they have to do with YHVH’s people. These particular limitations do not apply to those who are not in covenant with YHVH although YHVH often grants protection to those who we pray for.

Keep these things in mind for the end of days.

Judges 6:34  But YHVH’s Spirit came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together to follow him.

This was a shofar, not a silver trumpet. The silver trumpets were for use by the Aaronic priesthood only. Yet, the town’s people of Abiezer gathered to Gideon where he told them YHVH’s plan. Those who had wanted to kill him now gather around him and they now regard him as their leader because he overcame Baal and Asherah.

Furthermore…

Judges 6:35  He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together to follow him. He sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

Remember that Zebulun and Naphtali that participated in the war against Sisera in Deborah’s time. Gideon now also called Asher. He will call on Ephraim, too. The tribes are now beginning to listen to his voice. He became Israel’s shepherd before he became Israel’s National Judge.

The Sign of the Fleece

Judges 6:36  Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,
Judges 6:37  behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I’ll know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken.”
Judges 6:38  It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
Judges 6:39  Gideon said to God, “Don’t let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once. Please let me make a trial just this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.”
Judges 6:40  God did so that night; for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

There are all kinds of commentaries about Gideon’s fleece. People cannot figure out if Gideon was questioning, challenging or testing God and if this was good or evil, proper or improper. Gideon’s fleeces have confused people for thousands of years. That’s because scripture does not reveal the reason Gideon put out the fleeces. No one else repeated Gideon’s fleece challenge to YHVH so we have nowhere else to go for further understanding.

Here are some factors that might help us understand why he put out those fleeces.

Commentators say Gideon lacked faith. That’s a common problem especially for those who are new to the faith as it appears Gideon was. He may have been practicing the religion of Baal or perhaps even mixing worship of Baal with worship of YHVH. The scriptures don’t address whether that was true of him or not but we know his father was a Baal worshipper. Thus, there was Baal influence over Gideon, and that always leads to spiritual blindness and perverted relationship with YHVH.

Gideon knew about YHVH as part of the history of his people but it appears he did not have faith like the faith of Abraham in him although his life, at this point, has similar elements to Abraham’s. Gideon only knew YHVH when YHVH accepted his sacrifice but Gideon now needed to develop his faith in YHVH. He needed to grow spiritually. However, developing faith takes time and YHVH began to use Gideon right away. We will see that his spiritual immaturity led to some bad decisions later on.

Some say Gideon had fear.  Any fear he had was because he had not been cultivating a relationship with YHVH through his life, and now suddenly, he had a divine calling on his life. This was “0 to 60 in less than 30 seconds”! That can certainly twist your head around.

Gideon had been hiding from the Midianites but  YHVH has now called him to attack them in the capacity as YHVH’s earthly on-the-ground commander. This man was a farmer, not a warrior! Remember, YHVH found him grinding wheat into flour. His flesh was likely reminding him that he had no military training whatsoever and now ALL Israel was depending on him! The entire weight of the Kingdom was resting on his shoulders. For someone with little faith, fear becomes a reality.

It may be that he was afraid. Some commentators make this claim saying he was afraid of the Midianites. It is also possible he was afraid of what would happen to him if the war went badly. Remember, the men of Abiezer wanted to kill him after he tore down Baal’s altar. Well, if the war against the Midianites went badly, and if he wasn’t killed in the war, he may have been thinking his own people would kill him. That would be more frightening than dying in a war with the Midianites.

One thing Gideon may not have considered because of his possible fear was that YHVH would have been rejected by Israel and Baal would have stood as their god. This means that YHVH definitely would come to Israel’s rescue through him but his reasoning probably did not get that far.

As far as the Israelites were concerned, their reasoning would have led them believe that YHVH brought them to the slaughter so they were better off with Baal even though it meant being oppressed by the Midianites. People sometimes choose oppression over freedom because of their fears. Here is an example of the Jews choosing the queen of heaven over YHVH. See their reasoning about it.

Jeremiah 44:15  Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
Jeremiah 44:16  “As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you.

Jeremiah had been calling them back to YHVH and to stop serving the queen of heaven.

Jeremiah 44:17  But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.
Jeremiah 44:18  But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

Regardless of Gideon’s reason for putting out the fleeces, YHVH answered them. Gideon should have approached YHVH through simple prayer but he needed an answer that he could see! His flesh was still in control of him even though YHVH’s Spirit had come on him once.

Was it an evil thing that Gideon did?

Deuteronomy 6:16 says, “You shall not tempt YHVH your Elohim”. People stop there, though, when they say it is a sin to ask YHVH for confirmation because the verse further says, ‘as ye tempted him in Massah”.

What happened at Massah?

Exodus 17:1  All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to Yahweh’s commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.
Exodus 17:2  Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”
Exodus 17:3  The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”
Exodus 17:4  Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
Exodus 17:5  Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go.
Exodus 17:6  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Exodus 17:7  He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”

That generations’ testing/tempting was not about confirming YHVH’s will as Gideon was doing. Their testing/tempting was a demand that YHVH “belly up to the bar” and produce water!

Gideon’s unique approach was his way of asking for confirmation which came from his own spiritual weakness. It was a genuine question in the same vein as when Abram had asked, “Lord YHVH, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”

That was a rightful question for Abram to ask YHVH and it was a rightful question Gideon asked but perhaps through the wrong method. YHVH prefers our prayers. Fleeces should be a last resort.

Some commentators say Gideon was testing YHVH to see if YHVH was actually greater than Baal. Gideon had no reason to doubt the strength of YHVH since Baal had never shown up or spoken to Gideon as YHVH had. And it had been that YHVH put His Spirit on Gideon in verse 34 so that Gideon obtained YHVH’s strength in himself. The problem was that he did not have YHVH’s Spirit IN him.

There had been others who received a portion of YHVH’s Spirit. The 70 prophets who prophesied in the wilderness had a portion of the Holy Spirit that was in Moses put on them by YHVH. The problem was that those prophets never prophesied again after that. It is probable, even though we do not know for sure what their souls’ status was before YHVH, that they did not have YHVH’s Spirit in them as did Moses.

As soon as Gideon blew the shofar in verse 34, he took command of Abiezer and the tribe of Manasseh in verses 35 and 36 but then he returned to being himself again without the almighty power of YHVH’s Holy Spirit. This should tell us he may have lacked the continuing mighty Spirit of YHVH indwelling him. In fact, YHVH had to give Gideon another confirmation. We will read about next week.After the Spirit of authority had worn off, Gideon might have then been having trouble believing HE could be used by YHVH again! It is one thing to call the brethren with a shofar, but quite another to attack the Midianites. Doubt showed up right away. New and even seasoned believers have this problem and many believers have a hard time hearing YHVH’s personal instructions to them  through prayer. Often this is because the desires of the flesh scream louder than YHVH’s soft voice.

For whatever reason that we are not shown in scripture, Gideon used fleeces. YHVH knows our weaknesses and He wants us to hear properly so we can obey. For this, He extends mercy to us to answer us in whatever way we need.

But there is a problem that has arisen in the body of Messiah. Fleeces have become divination tools to help foresee the future of people’s personal lives. Should we buy this car or that one? Should I marry this person or that one? Pray about these things. Do not fall into the occult trap that Israelites have always fallen into using His Word as an oracle (Bible codes are the modern method) or using fleeces in frivolous ways.

What do I mean by “frivolous”? Issues that are not related to YHVH’s Kingdom. Those issues that pertain only to our fleshly desires are frivolous. Both Abram and Gideon were called by YHVH to perform tasks regarding His Kingdom on earth. YHVH’s Kingdom is not frivolous. Abram was called to produce a son and Gideon was called to save Israel from the Midianites. Both of these were Kingdom issues. Abram asked YHVH and Gideon asked, as well, about the promised outcomes.

Your choice of vehicle or spouse is not a Kingdom issue. Did YHVH promise you a car or truck? Did He promise you a spouse? Did He make any other personal promises to you that you can rightfully ask whether He will certainly fulfill them? These are personal issues that YHVH can answer through prayer. Our concerns and our interests are to be centered on Biblical Israel and YHVH’s Kingdom, not our own personal kingdoms. Don’t use fleeces for that.

And don’t ever put out a fleece, get an answer from YHVH and then decide to go ahead and disobey because your flesh doesn’t like His answer. Why? Because a fleece is His definite answer. Fleeces make His answers plain. You can’t later say you “mis-heard” Him because of emotional or mental confusion. No, the evidence will always be right there in front of you if you turn to your own will which, in effect, is the same as walking away from YHVH.

Don’t keep putting fleeces out hoping the second or third or fourth fleece will get you the answer you want. YHVH will be consistent to tell you the same answer every time. Doing this only proves you have a fleshly desire that you want God to approve of.Spoiler alert: Gideon’s fleeces later caused his downfall but you will have to listen to the future message about that.

The reason YHVH answered Gideon was because it was YHVH’s Kingdom at stake and YHVH has a responsibility to keep His promises. Had God not intervened, it is entirely possible Israel would have disappeared.

Matthew 24:22  Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.

This is another way that Israel’s situation is a type and shadow of the end of days. ALL flesh will be in danger of not being saved. This is a situation in which YHVH must, once again, intervene in order that His Promises to Adam, Abraham, the prophets, etc. will be fulfilled. This is why we must understand that 100 / 60 / 30 of Matthew 13:23 as the sure fulfillment of all the promises.

And now I understand why YHVH would not let me start the Gideon teaching without first explaining the 100 / 60 / 30 principle.

Instead of us trying to figure out the internal spiritual situation guiding Gideon, and figuring out why God called Gideon, we need to just know that YHVH is sovereign and He can use a farmer, or a farm like this one in Jordan, for instance, for His purposes. It is in His best interests to use those who are the unlikely ones, people like Gideon and all of us who have no special skills except for those YHVH has given us. This way, He will get all the glory due Him!

In summary, asking YHVh something by a fleece has to do with something He has personally promised us. He personally promised Abram a son to carry on his name. He personally promised Moses and Joshua that He would be with them in their battles against Israel’s enemies. And He personally promised Gideon that He would be with him, too.

Gideon was chosen by YHVH to deliver Israel from the Midianite oppression for reasons known only to YHVH and Gideon chose fleeces for reason known only to Gideon and YHVH.