Judges 6

Judges 6 documents the cycle of Israel's apostasy under Midianite oppression and God's sovereign intervention to raise up Gideon as a deliverer, moving from a prophetic rebuke to Gideon's radical act of iconoclasm and subsequent confirmation of his calling.

• Israel experiences renewed oppression after doing evil in the sight of the Lord (vv. 1-6).
• God sends a prophet to rebuke Israel, reminding them of His historical deliverance from Egypt (vv. 7-10).
• The Angel of the Lord commissions Gideon while he is hiding in a winepress, assuring him of divine presence (vv. 11-24).
• Gideon tears down his father's altar to Baal, demonstrating that peace with God must precede war with Midian (vv. 25-32).
• Gideon, empowered by the Spirit, mobilizes the tribes and seeks confirmation of his calling through the sign of the fleece (vv. 33-40).

• Midian
• Amalekites
• children of the east
• seven years
• dens/caves
• Ophrah
• Joash
• Baal
• Jerubbaal
• the fleece

This passage illustrates the pattern of the book of Judges: divine justice for apostasy followed by undeserved mercy through a chosen deliverer, highlighting that God chooses the weak to display His strength. It prepares the reader for the redemptive-historical reality that true deliverance requires the purging of idolatry.

God provides deliverance for His people not because they deserve it, but according to His own purpose, demanding an exclusive allegiance that requires the destruction of all competing idols.

The chapter follows a structured decline and ascent: it begins with national humiliation and exile into caves, proceeds to the divine commissioning of an obscure man, and concludes with the mobilization of the people after a confrontation with local idolatry.

• The Lord is with thee (v. 12).
• Surely I will be with thee (v. 16).
• Thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites (v. 14).
• Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die (v. 23).

• Go in this thy might (v. 14).
• Take thy father's young bullock... and throw down the altar of Baal (v. 25).
• Build an altar unto the Lord thy God (v. 26).

• You have not obeyed my voice (v. 10).

• Midianite oppression characterized by nomadic, predatory raiding rather than permanent occupation. They utilized camels (v. 5) to move quickly, making them difficult to engage in conventional battle.

• Threshing wheat was typically done on an open, windy hilltop, but Gideon did it in a 'winepress' (v. 11), a dug-out stone pit, to keep it hidden from the Midianites; this act confirms his fear mentioned in verse 27.

• The chapter functions as the centerpiece of the Gideon cycle (Judges 6-8). It mirrors the introductory cycle of Judges but emphasizes the internal spiritual state of the deliverer (Gideon) alongside the external state of the nation.

• The prophet in verses 8-10 recalls the Exodus tradition, anchoring this deliverance in the same covenantal pattern established in Deuteronomy. Matthew Henry observes that repentance is truly felt when the 'sinfulness of sin' as disobedience to God is lamented, rather than merely the suffering it caused.

• The prophet's reference to the 'house of bondage' (v. 8) explicitly ties this moment to the liberation narratives of Exodus 20:2 and Deuteronomy 6:12.

• The Hebrew term for people/children is בֵּן (H1121), indicating familial and national heritage. The term 'evil' is רַע (H7451), signifying both natural calamity and moral wickedness. The 'sight' of the Lord uses עַיִן (H5869), suggesting God's active, observant presence. The 'hand' of Midian uses יָד (H3027), denoting their power and agency. 'Midian' is מִדְיָן (H4080), the descendants of Abraham via Keturah.

• The order of operations is crucial: Gideon must purify his own household (the Baal altar) before he can lead the nation to battle. This emphasizes that covenantal cleansing is the prerequisite for covenantal victory.

• Scholars debate whether the sign of the fleece (vv. 36-40) represents an act of faith seeking guidance or a lack of trust in God's explicit promise (v. 16). Historic views range from Gideon being 'weak in faith' (as Matthew Henry suggests) to Gideon acting as a prudent leader seeking objective confirmation.