A Mighty Little Warrior – Part I
Posted By Joe on January 26, 2009
- A Mighty Little Warrior – Part I
- A Mighty Little Warrior – Part II
- A Mighty Little Warrior – Part III
- A Mighty Little Warrior – Part IV
Over and over again in the Bible, God uses unremarkable people and things to bring about great victories or causes. We have previously talked about God using our "little light" to shine. There is also the little mustard seed (Matthew 13:31), which in Biblical times, was the smallest seed in Israel, yet grows into a large tree.
Paul also reiterates this theme in his first letter to the Corinthians:
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. --1 Corinthians 1:27.
One of my favorite examples of this at work is the story of Gideon in the book of Judges. At this point, the land of Canaan was all but conquered by Israel. However, they did not fully eradicate all of the Canaanite strongholds, leaving them for the individual tribes of Israel to deal with them. Judges documents these smaller, but no less important and vital battles.
Because Israel did not complete what God had commanded them, many of the Israelites fell into worship of Canaanite gods. This cycle could be summed up as:
- Israel serves the Lord
- Israel falls into sin & idolatry
- Israel is enslaved
- Israel cries out to the Lord
- God raises up a judge
- Israel is delivered
- See #1...
It's a vicious circle that continues for many years. One of the judges that is raised up is Gideon.
Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of Midian, that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, "thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. I delivered you from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land. and I said to you, "I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed me."'" --Judges 6:7-10.
So many times God reminded Israel who it was who brought them out of slavery, who delivered them from their oppressors, who gave them the Promised Land, and as if that weren't enough, that He is God! God's patience is overwhelmingly displayed throughout the Old Testament. How much should we be mindful that even today He is patient with us!
The the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior." --Judges 6:11-12.
To the casual reader, you might assume that this "angel of the Lord" is just one of God's angels like Gabriel or Michael. However, in this instance "the angel of the Lord" is actually a theophany: a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament. Normally, the activity of beating out the wheat (threshing) was done in the open where there was air flow. As the person lifts up the stalks of wheat and hits them on the ground, the chaff is blown away by the wind and the heavier grain falls to the ground to be collected. However, Gideon is hiding in a wine press so the Midianites will not see him and take his wheat. A picture might help to put this into perspective.
Ancient Wine Press
The large, rectangular section is where the people would crush the grapes with their feet. The juice would run down and collect in the hole located in the bottom left-hand corner of the picture. So we have to assume that Gideon is either ducking down in the rectangular section or even in the hole. More than likely, it's the latter since he'd be more hidden.
Getting back to verse 11, near this wine press is an oak tree that the angel of the Lord sat under and was talking to Gideon while he was in the hole. It's complete conjecture, but if Gideon is in this hole, he's probably a little guy with a big name: "feller of trees" or "powerful warrior." Look at what the Lord calls him: "O valiant warrior." Wouldn't it be great to have God call you a "valiant warrior?"
Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian." The Lord looked at him and said, "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" --Judges 6:13-14.
Like so many verses, so much packed in here. First, it is clear that Gideon's parents did as God commanded by teaching Gideon of all the things God has done for Israel:
"You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." --Deuteronomy 6:7.
However, what Gideon fails to realize is that it is not God who has abandoned them, it is they who have turned away from God. God repeatedly gave instructions to Israel about what would happen to them if they obeyed His voice. By the same token, he also told them the curses that would befall them if they did not obey Him. Therefore, the response the angel of the Lord gives makes sense. He does not need to explain the perceived abandonment, he simply gives his command to deliver Israel from the Midianites.
In the next post, we'll look at what this mighty little warrior has to say after being given the command to deliver Israel.
May He Increase!
About the author
Comments
Leave a Reply