GIDEON is the son of
Joash of the clan of Abiezer.In those days Israel did evil in the sight of the
lord. So the lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. Now Gideon was
threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress just to hide the grain from the Midianites
who were their enemy.The angel of the lord appeared to him and said, the lord is with you, mighty man of
valour. Gideon replied, if the Lord is with us why has all this befallen us:
The miracles our ancestors told us where are they and now the lord has
abandoned us.The angel said go and rescue Israel with the strength you have,
but lord Gideon replied, how can I rescue Israel. My clan is the weakest and am the least in my family. Gideon asked of a
sign from the angle to prove that it was the Lord speaking to him. He said
don’t go, wait till I bring my offering to you. Gideon cooked a young goat,
half a bushel of flour he baked bread. He brought what he had cooked to the
angle, Gideon poured the broth over the meat and the
unleavened bread on the rock at the request of the angle. Then the angle
touched the offering with his stuff and fire flamed from the rock and consumed
the offering. Gideon cried out Sovereign Lord! Because he realised he has seen
an angle face to face and the angle said
do not be afraid you will not die.
Gideon built an alter to the Lord and named it The Lord Is
Peace. Gideon also destroyed his father’s altar to Baal and the Asherah poles.
He built an altar with the woods of the Asherah poles and he offered a burnt
offering unto the Lord using the second bull in his father’s herd as requested
by the Lord. He did this at night because he was afraid of his family and the
people of the town. His people found him out, they were upset and wanted Gedion
to be delivered to them so that they could kill him on behalf of Baal.Joash
said that if Baal had been a true god
then Baal could kill Gideon himself. So his people named him Jerub Baal, saying let Baal contend with him
because he broke down Baal’s alter. The spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and
he summoned the tribe of Abiezer to follow him he also sent messengers to Manasseh,
Asher,Zebulum and Naphtali. Gideon placed a wool fleece,and asked God to make
the fleece full of dew, but the ground around the fleece dry.That very night
the fleece was saturated and the ground was dry.Then Gideon asked the lord for
the opposite to happen the next
night.The fleece would be dry and the ground would be wet , to test God if he
was going to use him to save Israel from the Midianites and God did as he requested.
Gideon became very convinced that the Lord was going to use him to deliver
Israel.the Lord asked Gideon to reduced his men because He wanted Israel to
know that it was not the might of 32,000 men which saved Israel, but Himself
God.So Gideon said to his men you can return home if you are afraid to go to the battle. 22,000 men turned around and walked away and Gideon was left with
1,000 men. God asked Gideon to take them to the river and watch them drink.300 men
drank while keeping guard of their
surrounding while 9,700 drank without taking sight of potential enemy attack
.So the 300 men became Gideon’s army.The Lord ordered Gideon together with his
servant to go down into the camp of the Midianites and hear some encouraging
news. Upon their arrival they hard one soldier narrating his dream to another saying
a great barley loaf rolled into the camp and flattened a tent.The other soldier
said that the dream meant that Gideon the son of Joash and the Israelites would destroy
the Midian camp.Gideon left the camp of the Midianites excited. He attacked the Midianites at night dividing his men into groups of
three with each man having a torch in pitcher so that the light did not shine
and a trumpet. Gideon and his men blew the trumpet and yelled out ‘’the sword of the Lord, and of
Gideon.Then the lord sent a spirit of confusion among the Midianites and they
started fighting among themselves and they fled. Gideon sent words to the hill
country of Ephraim to come against the Midianites. Gideon persuaded the Ephraimites
to calm because they complained bitterly for not telling them he was going to
fight the Midianites.
The officials of Succoth and Peniel refused to give Gideon
and his men bread because they were exhausted from the pursuit of the Midian
kings Zebah and Zalmunua.Gideon attacked Zebah and Zalmunua unsuspected and
captured the two kings. On Gideon’s return from the capture he caught a young man who wrote for him the names of
the seventy seven officials of Succoth,
the elders of the town and he though them a lesson by punishing them with desert
thorns and briers. He also tore down the tower at Peniel and killed the men of
the town and he killed Zebah and Zelmunua
The people of Israel requested of him to rule over them but
he refused saying the Lord will rule over. Gideon made a request of them saying
give me each of you an earning from the share of your plunder from Midian and he
made an ephod with it.
Gideon died at a ripe old age and was buried at Ophrah in
the tomb of his father Joash. He left behind seventy sons and many wives
ACCOMPLISHMENT
He had seventy sons
He defeated the Midianites
He had many wives and concubines
He pulled down the alter of Baal and the Asherah poles
He killed the men of Peniel and punished the elders of
Succoth
STRENGHT
He was a warrior
God fearing
Skilled in battle
He was gentile thoughtful and persuasive
WEAKNESS
He was a mediocre and cowered
LESSONS
We need not to look down on ourselves
We need to be obedient to God’s call
God should be first in everything we do in this live
We should learn to take privileges at the right time
Our speech should always be seasoned as Christians.
We should learn to trust God
OCCUPATION
He was a judge, solider and a farmer
RELATIVES
Abimelech and Jotham as sons
Joash as father
The story of Gideon can be found in Judges 6-8:1-35
