And the angel of the Lord came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all His wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.
And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee?
And he said unto Him, Oh, Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.
And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
And he said unto Him, If now I have found favour in Thy sight, then show me a sign that it is Thou that talkest with me.
Depart not hence, I pray Thee, until I come unto Thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before Thee. And He said, I will tarry until thou come again.
And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto Him under the oak, and presented it.
And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes: and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.
And Gideon saw that He was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! forasmuch as I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.
And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.
Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
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.
But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after him.
And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
And Gideon said unto God, If Thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as Thou hast spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor: if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as Thou hast spoken.
And it was so; for he rose up early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.
And Gideon said unto God, Let not Thine anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray Thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the people go every man unto his place.
So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands wherewith to blow; and they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight.
And they blew the three hundred trumpets, and the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow, and against all the host.
The Midianites made the lives of the children of Israel very miserable. Israel had to hide in caves, dens, and strongholds. They were impoverished by Midian.
Now, we know that every enemy that oppressed the children of Israel represents something. For instance, Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who oppressed the children of Israel in the beginning, represent the world. The Philistines represent the pride of the flesh. Every enemy in the book of Judges that oppressed the children of Israel represents a principle.
The Midianites were not complete strangers to Israel. They were descendants of Abraham, not by Sarah, but by Keturah. They were very closely related to Israel. Their histories crossed each other from time to time. Moses, when he fled from Pharaoh, went to Midian and married the daughter of a priest of Midian.
For the children of Israel, to enjoy the land meant to enjoy Christ. The land represents Christ to us, and we are supposed to enjoy all the riches of Christ for our life and abundance. But here we find something that deprives us of our enjoyment of Christ and makes our lives so miserable that we have to hide in dens and strongholds.
To me, the Midianites represent the principle of being religious. Being religious is so close to being spiritual. In fact, religion and spirituality should be one. In the New Testament, there is only one place where the word religion is used positively. It speaks of true religion. In other words, true religion is true spirituality.
But today, to be religious very often means that a person becomes less spiritual. The more religious a person is, the less spiritual he becomes. To be religious is to destroy the enjoyment of Christ.
Look at the Pharisees in the days of our Lord Jesus. How religious they were! They were the most religious people in the world. They had all the forms of godliness. They had the appearance of being pious. They fasted, tithed faithfully, and observed all the demands of the law.
Yet they did not enjoy Christ. Whom did they really enjoy by being religious? They enjoyed themselves. Oh, how they enjoyed themselves, thinking how good they were! They looked down upon other people because they were so religious.
To be religious takes away the enjoyment of Christ. It not only makes us poor; it makes us miserable. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel hid themselves in caves, dens, and strongholds.
Is it not true that when we are religious, we build dens and strongholds around ourselves? We surround ourselves with barriers, separating ourselves from one another. That is why religion divides God’s people.
Religiousness is the work of man. It is the energy of the flesh. It is not the overflowing of life. It does not come from the Spirit; it comes from self.
How can God deliver His people from religiousness? First of all, He sent a prophet into the midst of Israel to stir them up. To be delivered from religiousness, the first thing needed is a prophetic message coming to us with such power that our conscience is awakened.
To be religious puts us to sleep. We feel so comfortable. We feel so good. But our condition needs to be stirred. God knows that religion is a dangerous thing, because our religion does not give us any enjoyment of Christ.
Then, secondly, God began to look for a vessel. One day, the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon.
What was Gideon doing? He was threshing wheat in the winepress. Now, this was very unusual. Wheat is normally threshed on the threshing floor, an open place where it can be seen by everybody. The winepress, however, was usually underneath the ground.
Why did he do that? If he threshed wheat on the threshing floor, the Midianites would see him and take away his food. So he hid in the winepress. The Midianites would not know that he was there, and he was able to preserve food.
When the children of Israel were impoverished, here was a person able to preserve food for himself and for his family. This was the kind of person for whom God was looking to deliver His people from spiritual poverty.
Today, God’s people are impoverished by religiousness. They hunger and thirst for the Word of God because the word of life and the vision are not frequent. God looks for a vessel of deliverance. He does not look for a person who is spiritually poor.
Gideon was such a person. Dear brothers and sisters, in the first place, here was a man wise enough to keep food in a time of great poverty. This is the kind of person God looks for today.
When God’s people are impoverished and spiritually poor, there may be some who, somehow, are able to have food. They are able to feed upon the Lord. They are able to enjoy the Lord. To these people God will look, and these people He will use.
The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” Gideon said, “Ah, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?”
In other words, while Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, he must have been pondering something. “I am able to keep some food for myself and for my family, but what about the thousands of my brethren who are dying? I cannot do anything for them. I am not happy just to have food for myself. I am thinking of my brethren, but what can I do?”
Many people are quite miserable, but they do not know why. They may think of one reason or another, and they may give one excuse or another, but they have not found the real reason for their poverty. Unless the real reason is found, you cannot solve the problem.
But Gideon found the reason for the poverty of God’s people: the Lord was not with them. If the Lord had been with them, they would not have been poor. The presence of the Lord was not with them; therefore, the children of Israel were oppressed and deprived of their food and their life.
So when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with thee,” Gideon said, in effect, “No. If the Lord is with us, we will not be reduced to such a condition. Our condition reflects the fact that the Lord is not with us.”
Put it in a positive way: Gideon not only knew that their poverty resulted from the lack of God’s presence; he also had faith that, if the Lord were present, their situation would be changed. And that is faith.
Many of God’s people know they are spiritually poor. They know their lives are miserable. They are not enjoying the Lord. They are very religious, keeping all the traditions of the fathers, yet there is no contact with the Lord. Their life is merely an outward thing. They try their best, but within they know they are empty and miserable.
They try this way or that method to fill the vacuum, but it does not work. God’s people do not know that the one supreme thing that really matters is the presence of the Lord.
If you have the presence of the Lord, your condition will be entirely changed. The presence of the Lord gives true spirituality. You cannot have the presence of the Lord without enjoying Him. You cannot have the presence of the Lord without being spiritual and growing in the knowledge of the Lord. The presence of the Lord with His people is everything.
But today, God’s people are concerned with other things. They are concerned with environment, numbers, programs, attractions, and methods. Whether the Lord is present or not does not seem to matter.
The one thing with which we need to be concerned is the presence of the Lord. We need to ask ourselves again and again, “Is the Lord present?” If the Lord is present, nothing else matters. We need not be occupied with anything else.
The presence of the Lord is the supreme concern of God’s people, and it solves every problem. But very few of God’s people are concerned with that one thing.
The Lord said to Gideon, “Go in this thy might.” This was where Gideon’s strength really lay.
Gideon said, “Oh, Lord, who am I, that I should deliver the children of Israel? My family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. Who am I?”
The vessel that God will use is a person who knows himself. He is a person who is humble because he knows himself. His humility is not something he tries to produce; it is real with him.
Even though Gideon had food while others did not, he knew himself so well that he considered his family the poorest and himself the least. Humility is a quality that God will use.
The power of God is made perfect in our weakness. If we think we are strong, we are weak. When we know we are weak, we are strong, because our confidence is not in ourselves; our confidence is in the Lord. His grace is sufficient for us.
The Lord said, “Go in this thy might.” This is where your power lies: you know yourself, and you know the Lord. You know that within yourself there is nothing, but with Him there is everything. Nothing is impossible with God, although everything is impossible with us.
Gideon was a very careful person. He wanted to make sure that it was the Lord who was speaking to him. So he asked the Lord to wait while he prepared an offering.
He took a kid of the goats and an ephah of flour, prepared them, and brought them to the Lord as an offering. Is that not strange? Gideon not only had wheat; he had a goat. While the rest of the children of Israel were poor and without food, he had flour and a goat.
In a time of scarcity, even a little wheat or a few goats are precious. Normally, you would not want to let go of such things. But Gideon was willing to offer to God what was precious to him.
This is the kind of spirit the Lord can use. Out of deep poverty, we receive grace to give liberally—not because we have too much, but because what we have is precious to us. Therefore, it must be presented to God.
God first. God first.
The Lord touched Gideon’s offering with the end of His staff, and fire came out of the rock to consume it. Then Gideon knew that he had seen the Lord, because the angel of the Lord was the Lord Himself.
Gideon feared that he would die because he had seen the Lord face to face. But the Lord said, “Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.” So Gideon built an altar there and called it Jehovah-shalom: Jehovah is peace.
Here Gideon had a personal relationship with the Lord, a relationship of peace. This is very important in a vessel whom God will use.
But the Lord did not stop there. God said, “Take the second bullock of thy father, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath. Build an altar unto the Lord, and offer the bullock as a burnt offering.”
This was more difficult. At first, Gideon’s experience was a personal matter between himself and the Lord. But before God used Gideon, He wanted Gideon to have a public testimony. It was not to be hidden or secret. God wanted Gideon to make a public stand for the Lord.
This testimony was not only in his family, but in his tribe and before the children of Israel. Gideon was to stand for God publicly.
Gideon did it at night because he was careful and probably feared that people would hinder him from obeying God. But he did it anyway. The next morning, when the people discovered what had happened, they wanted to kill Gideon.
Gideon’s father stood for him and said, “Let Baal contend with him.” Therefore Gideon was called Jerubbaal: “Let Baal contend with him.”
Gideon not only had a personal relationship with the Lord; he was brought to the place where he testified to the Lord publicly. He made a public stand for the Lord. This is important too.
When the Midianites and the people of the east crossed over Jordan and came into the valley of Jezreel, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. He blew the trumpet, and Manasseh, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Asher gathered together to fight against the Midianites.
Here was a vessel prepared, ready, and fit for the Master’s use. When we see poverty all around us among God’s people, we find a great hunger and thirst after the Lord and His Word. It is evident.
Unfortunately, there are very few who have food for themselves, very few who have encountered the Lord, very few who know themselves and do not go in their own strength, very few who know the Lord and His presence, very few who have a right relationship with the Lord, and very few who have a public testimony.
Gideon was a very careful, very cautious man. Sometimes I wonder whether his carefulness was a sign of weakness. It is difficult to distinguish between carefulness and unbelief.
God had already appeared to Gideon, and Gideon knew that God had spoken to him. Yet, when he was going to deliver the children of Israel, he asked again, “I know that You have spoken to me, but I want to know whether You are going to deliver the children of Israel through me.”
Was this humility, or was it a sign of lack of faith? I do not know. But it is good to be sure. Sometimes we rush ahead without being assured that it is the Lord, and that is disaster. At other times, the Lord has assured us, but we are still not satisfied and try to hide behind our uncertainty, as Moses did.
Gideon had no confidence in himself. So he asked the Lord to give him a sign.
He said, “Lord, if it is really You who sent me to deliver the children of Israel from the hand of the Midianites, tonight I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If the fleece is wet with dew and all the ground is dry, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand.”
The next morning, the threshing floor was dry, and Gideon wrung a bowlful of water from the fleece. But he asked for another sign. He said, “Let the ground be wet, and let the fleece be dry.” Humanly speaking, that was impossible. Yet God did so. The next morning, the threshing floor was wet, but the fleece was dry.
We will not argue whether asking for signs is a sign of little faith, a lack of faith, or a token of no confidence in oneself. But I think the signs Gideon asked for are very significant.
What is a fleece of wool? Wool represents the glory and beauty of the lamb. But here it has been cut; it has been shorn. It has become a fleece.
Gideon considered himself as that fleece of wool. He was willing to be shorn. He was willing to lay down his own beauty and glory. Like a lamb being shorn and becoming naked, he was willing to lay down his honour, glory, beauty, and very life.
The threshing floor in Scripture represents the cross, because it is where separation takes place. The wheat is separated from the chaff. So Gideon was willing to lay down his glory, honour, beauty, and life upon the cross.
But in order to do that, he needed the dew of heaven. In himself, he was nothing. Even though he was willing to lay down himself, that would not help. He had to be filled with the dew of heaven.
Psalm 133 speaks of the dew that comes down from Hermon. It is life for evermore. In other words, Gideon needed heavenly life. He needed to be filled with the heavenly dew, with heavenly life. If he was filled with that heavenly life, then he had something to give.
The power is not in the fleece. The power is in the dew.
Brothers and sisters, in the first place, we must be willing to lay down our lives if God is going to use us. This is a principle that cannot be escaped. We must lay down our life, glory, honour, position, beauty, respectability, and everything that we care for in ourselves. We must lay these things down on the cross.
But that is not enough. The power is not in laying down these things. We lay them down in order that we may be filled with the dew from heaven, with the Spirit of life.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels. We have to be filled with heavenly life. It is that heavenly life which has the power.
The second sign reverses the order. We have to bear in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in others. The fleece was dry because the dew in the fleece had been poured out upon the threshing floor.
First, we receive the dew from heaven; then we must be willing to pour it out, so that the threshing floor may be wet. This is 2 Corinthians 4: bearing in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested.
That is the secret of spiritual ministry. There can be no spiritual ministry without these two realities. You may not have these particular signs, but these are tokens—things that must happen in our lives if there is to be ministry.
Ministry is ministering life. Ministry is imparting Christ. Ministry is emptying ourselves. But you cannot be emptied if you are not first filled. That is the prerequisite.
God was going to use Gideon to deliver the children of Israel, but how? Thirty-two thousand children of Israel gathered with Gideon. Even though the Midianites and the people of the east were more numerous, thirty-two thousand was not a small number.
But God said, “The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.” God will not share His glory with man.
God told Gideon to announce, “Anyone who is fearful and afraid, go home.” Twenty-two thousand left, and only ten thousand remained. They had gathered to fight against the Midianites, yet they were afraid.
Is it not true even today? Are you afraid to fight against religiousness and tradition? Many people are. If you are afraid, go home. God cannot use you.
Yet God said that ten thousand were still too many. He told Gideon to take them down to the water and observe how they drank.
Those who bowed down to drink were set aside. There were nine thousand seven hundred. Those who took water in their hands and lapped it were three hundred. God said, “Send those who bow down and drink away. I will deliver by the three hundred.”
Why? They came to fight, and the enemy was nearby. But when the nine thousand seven hundred saw water, they forgot the war. They prostrated themselves by the river to drink. If the enemy had descended at that time, they would have been defeated.
They were not watchful. They were careless. They were supposed to be involved in a fight, yet they were absorbed in satisfying themselves. God could not use them.
But those who took the water in their hands were disciplined. They did not drink merely to satisfy themselves and forget the war. Yes, they quenched their thirst, but they remained watchful—always watchful.
The principle is true today. Whom will God use to deliver His people? Those who are watchful, disciplined, and conscious of their purpose—those who know they are not here merely to satisfy themselves, but are here with a purpose.
God delivered the children of Israel by Gideon and his three hundred. Not Gideon alone, but Gideon and his three hundred. I believe this is a principle of the overcomers.
Out of so many, God was able to use so few. The problem is not whether there are many or few; the issue is the presence of the Lord. If the Lord is present, a few are many. If the Lord is absent, many are few. It is the Lord, but there must be suitability for God’s use.
Gideon divided his people into three companies. Everyone had a pitcher, with a torch hidden in the pitcher, and a trumpet.
At the beginning of the middle watch, the three companies took their positions around the camp of the Midianites. They broke the pitchers, showed the torches, blew the trumpets, and cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.”
In this way, the enemy was completely routed.
How did they defeat the enemy? They broke the pitchers, lifted the torches, blew the trumpets, and shouted, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.”
Of course, we are earthen vessels. But hidden within this earthen vessel is the torch—the treasure, the radiance—so that the power may not be of us, but of God. This is 2 Corinthians 4.
The pitcher must be broken. We need to be broken, as it were, ourselves. The torch must be lifted up. May we be decreased, but may Christ be increased.
Then there is the trumpet, the declaration: “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” In other words, we declare that Jesus is Lord.
It was by this that their enemies were routed. This is spiritual reality. This breaks religiousness and delivers God’s people into spirituality.
When the enemy was routed and began to flee, Gideon called the Ephraimites. They caught two princes of the Midianites. But afterward they came to Gideon and argued with him, saying, “Why did you not call us when you went to fight?”
Perhaps the Ephraimites were not called because the Midianites oppressed the northern tribes more directly—Manasseh, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Asher. The land of Ephraim was probably not under such oppression. Perhaps also Gideon knew they were not interested because they were not directly affected.
How true it is: when something affects us directly, we are concerned; but if it does not affect us directly, we are indifferent. How small is our heart!
But when the battle was won and there was victory to enjoy, Gideon called the Ephraimites to share in it. They were not happy. If Gideon had called them to the battle, perhaps they would not have come. But when there was a victory, everybody wanted a share of the glory—more than his share.
Gideon had sacrificed his life, as it were, to deliver the children of Israel. Yet after the victory, the Ephraimites argued with him and found fault with him.
But thank God, a soft answer turns away wrath. How humble Gideon was! He said, “Your gleaning is better than my harvest. You have captured the two princes. You have more than I have. What are you arguing about?”
By doing this, they were comforted, like little children. Dear brothers and sisters, if the Lord ever uses you in any way, you will invariably find people coming to you and trying to find fault with you because they want the glory. The only way to solve the problem is to let them have the glory.
Gideon and his three hundred crossed the Jordan. They were faint, yet pursuing. They had fought through the night and through the day, and they were exhausted, but they would not give up. They pursued until the enemy was completely destroyed.
When they came to Succoth, on the east side of Jordan, they asked for food. But the people would not give it to them. Then they came to Penuel, and those people also would not help.
Why would they not help? The Midianites had been defeated and were fleeing. Surely the Israelites on the way would have been happy to supply this conquering company with food and drink, so that they could continue their pursuit.
But they lived on the other side of Jordan, near the Midianites. They were afraid that the Midianites might return and make them their target. So they would not help their own brothers.
How people always think of themselves! How people try to keep themselves from offending religiousness because they do not see what is spiritual.
After Gideon delivered Israel, the children of Israel came to him and said, “Rule thou over us. Be our king.” What an opportunity!
But Gideon knew the Lord. He said, “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you.” Oh, how precious this is.
Often, when the Lord uses us a little and people acclaim us, saying, “Be our king,” we immediately assume the crown. We think that we deserve it, and that becomes our downfall.
But Gideon knew that God had done the work. He was only a vessel in God’s hand. It was not his strength; it was God Himself. Glory belongs to the Lord, and Gideon would not take that glory for himself.
Yet Gideon did one thing wrong. He refused the temptation to be their king because he knew that God was their King, and he was right. But he asked them to give him the golden earrings taken from the spoil of the Midianites.
He made an ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his city. An ephod was a priestly garment. A priest was clothed with an ephod in order to serve God and inquire of the Lord.
Gideon had a desire to serve God. He had inquired of the Lord, and the Lord had answered him. He treasured that experience. He treasured the way by which he had come into such victory. So he made an ephod, not for people to worship, but as a memorial.
He had no idea that one day the children of Israel would worship the ephod instead of worshipping God. But the result was that it became an idol. That was Gideon’s fall.
Dear brothers and sisters, what does this mean? I think it means this: if we treasure our past experience, if we treasure a past way or method, then one day it will become an idol.
Yes, the Lord may use a method. The Lord may give us an experience that is very real. The Lord may use that experience to deliver His people. But how we want to hold on to it! If we hold on to it, one day it will become an idol.
Instead, hold fast the Head. Hold fast the Head.
That is the one thing we find in the life of Gideon that was to his hurt. May the Lord use these principles, demonstrated in the life of Gideon, to show us the principles of the overcomers.
Our heavenly Father, impress upon our hearts anything that Thou dost desire to speak to us. We pray that Thou wilt work it out in our lives, so that we may be a corporate vessel in Thy hand to deliver Thy people from poverty and misery into Thy fullness and into Thy riches. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.