ReflectionS on Gideon’s Encounter with God

​The story of Gideon in Judges 6 has always been a favorite of mine, not least because I’m a perennial “fleecer”—incessantly asking God for signs that confirm His promises. Better a doubting Thomas (or Gideon) who seeks God than a rebellious Ahaz who refuses to ask God, to “test God,” despite being invited to (Isaiah 7:10-12)!
 
Two “Pardon Me’s”
 
“When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.’ ‘Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, "Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?" But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.’ The LORD turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?’ ‘Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’ The LORD answered, ‘I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.’” Judges 6:12-16 NIV
 
God calls Gideon as His appointed “mighty warrior” to lead Israel against the Midianites. To which Gideon responds: Where have You been all this while, God?? Can I trust You to keep Your word? And then, like Moses (in Exodus 4): Why me?? It’s understandable why Gideon sought assurance from God. Earlier in his God-encounter, he asks the angel: “Where’re the wonders of God our ancestors told us about?” (Judges 6:13). Which suggests that till then, Gideon might not yet have seen God act in his lifetime. Maybe we need to cut Gideon some slack! 
 
Extravagant Worship
 
“Gideon replied, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.’ And the LORD said, ‘I will wait until you return.’ Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.” Judges 6:17-19 NIV
 
Gideon responds by not only bringing an offering, but an extravagant one: besides meat and broth, he uses an ephah of flour for bread, equivalent of 1 bushel (about 9 gallons)—that’s a whole lot of matzah for 1 guest! (Bear in mind at that point, Gideon didn’t know it yet that this was a God-visitation.)
 
Moreover, some might see this as a “wasteful” extravagance in a time of nationwide scarcity, with Midianites and Amalekites ravaging Israel and destroying crops! Yet this brings to mind another occasion where a similar act of extravagant worship was performed: Mary using a jar of expensive perfume, worth a whole year’s wages, with which to anoint Jesus—and prompting Judas’ criticism (John 12:3-5). When we bring our all-in-all—heart, soul, mind and body—to our worship of God, when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to Him as our spiritual worship and service, that’s a worthwhile extravagance for our Extravagant God! (But be ready for the potential backlash from well-meaning critics…)
 
God Leaves No Doubt
 
“The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And Gideon did so. Then the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, ‘Alas, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!’” Judges 6:20-22 NIV
 
The angel of God instructs Gideon to pour broth onto meat and bread, drenching and soaking the offering. Why in the world would he do that? (Recall another incident when an offering was also drenched and soaked: Elijah, atop Mt Carmel against the prophets of Baal, watering his cut-up bull on the altar 3 times (1 Kings 18:33-35)—yet another potentially “wasteful” act in dumping precious water in a time of severe drought. Why?? To leave no doubt whatsoever that the complete consumption of sacrifice by fire is an act of God! 
 
Jehovah Shalom
 
“But the LORD said to him, ‘Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.’ So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace.” Judges 6:23-24a NIV
 
Gideon’s encounter with God leads him to name God (or rather the altar he builds to God): The LORD is Peace. There’s so much we can say about God being our Peace; Jesus is our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). But what strikes me is the juxtaposition in Judges 6: God calls Gideon “mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12) and, in turn, Gideon calls God, Jehovah Shalom. Each of us has been appointed by God to—and equipped/anointed by God for—specific roles and vocations: parents, workers, servants, ministers, leaders, etc. Yet we’re all mighty warriors, whether we dispute the “warrior” label or “mighty” adjective. 
 
But warriors, no matter how mighty, surely need peace! The 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes claimed that all humankind is in a permanent state of war—not necessarily actual fighting but always caught in a disposition and environment defined by war. Spiritually, that makes sense; think, for example, of 2 Corinthians 10:3, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does”—where Paul assumes we are always caught up in spiritual warfare, but we don’t fight as the world does. But a condition of permanent war isn’t very peaceful, is it?! And yet Jesus promises us unworldly peace (John 14:27). Paul counsels if we ask God, His peace that transcends all understanding will be ours (Philippians 4:6-7).