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"As the reproof of the prophet was intended to turn the hearts of the people once more to the Lord their God and deliverer, so the manner in which God called Gideon to be their deliverer, and rescued Israel from its oppressors through his instrumentality, was intended to furnish the most evident proof that the help and salvation of Israel were not to be found in man, but solely in their God."139
Gideon's name means "Hewer."It is interesting that God used him to cut down the altar of Baal and then the Midianites.
In calling Gideon to deliver the Israelites God revealed Himself twice. First, God appeared to Gideon and spoke directly to Him through the Angel of the Lord (vv. 11-24). Second, He commanded Gideon to destroy the local Baal worship and renew the worship of Yahweh (vv. 25-32). In the first case God acknowledged Gideon, and in the second He called on Gideon to acknowledge Him as his God.
Ophrah was a village over which Gideon's father, Joash, exercised a strong influence (v. 11; cf. v. 24). Its exact location is uncertain, but it appears to have been in the Jezreel Valley.
Normally the Israelites beat out their wheat in the open field or on a raised piece of ground. The prevailing wind would blow the lighter chaff away while the heavier grain would fall to the ground. However, Gideon was beating out his grain in a wine press. The Israelites built wine presses in lower lying areas so the juice of the grapes would not run off. Gideon's use of a wine press for threshing grain points to the Midianite threat that he felt. To remain unnoticed he beat out his grain in a less conspicuous place (v. 11).
The Angel in His greeting (v. 12) addressed Gideon as the man he would become by God's enablement, not the man he was then.140In the same way God had called Abraham the father of a multitude before he had any children. He called Peter a rock before he behaved as one. He also calls Christians saints even though we are not yet as saintly as God will make us.
"One of the great truths of Scripture is that when God looks at us, He does not see us for what we are, but for what we can become, as He works in our lives."141
Gideon could not understand why the Israelites were suffering as they were if Yahweh was indeed with His people (v. 13; cf. Deut. 31:17). He failed to realize that their condition was the result of their abandoning God, not His abandoning them.
"Sins, not afflictions, argue God's absence.'"142
The strength of Gideon to which the Angel referred (v. 14) was what God's promised presence and commission guaranteed (vv. 14, 16).
Gideon did not disbelieve the Angel as much as he failed to understand how he could be God's instrument of deliverance. He was the youngest and therefore the least esteemed in his father's household. Furthermore his family was a comparatively insignificant one in Manasseh (v. 15). Gideon was looking for natural signs of leadership, but God was promising supernatural enablement.
To confirm that the Angel really was a divine messenger Gideon requested some supernatural confirmation that this calling was from God (v. 17). He then prepared to offer his guest a token of his hospitality (v. 18).
