Judges 6:1-18. \u00a0We have been through 4 deliverers so far. \u00a0Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and Deborah. \u00a0Now we come to the fifth and this story is much longer. \u00a0In three of the four the people turn from God and he brings people in to oppress them. \u00a0They then cry out to God and He brings a savior to the rescue. \u00a0In the most recent story we were told that Deborah was a prophetess and that the people would come to her for leadership. \u00a0Now in this fifth story we get more details. \u00a0First we learn that the people were hiding in caves and making forts for themselves. \u00a0We also see that the invaders are destroying and\/or stealing their crops. \u00a0Also the invaders are using up all of the pasture land to the point that the Israelites had no sheep (meat and milk), no ox (used to plow the fields), and no donkeys (used for transportation). \u00a0When verses 6 says that they were “brought very low” I think that is understated. \u00a0It was a disaster! \u00a0The second way we get more details is when the people cry out. \u00a0Always before in the story God sends a savior. \u00a0This time though he sends a prophet who reminds them that God has done great things in the past but also reminds them that they keep honoring the false gods around them. \u00a0It’s kind of like when you disobey a parent and wind up getting hurt. \u00a0You run to them for help and they say, “I told you so.” \u00a0I was very good at that.<\/p>\n
Next the story returns to the more familiar pattern of God providing a savior. \u00a0Even here though there is more detail given. \u00a0Today we will just meet the guy. \u00a0An angel takes form and sits under a tree in Israel. \u00a0The angel is watching a guy named Gideon who is hiding in \u00a0a wine press, a pit carved out of rock in a hill side where grapes would be dumped and smashed up into juice. \u00a0The juice would run out of the carved hole into another one below it where it would be collected. \u00a0By the way in Judges 6:32 we see Gideon’s name changed to Jerubbaal. \u00a0Gideon means “hacker or hewer” \u00a0like chopping down trees and Jerubbaal means “let Baal contend” (You can learn more about this sort of name changing in “What’s in a Name?”<\/a>). \u00a0Baal was a god of the Canaanite and Midianites. So we find Gideon, the next deliverer, hiding in this pit beating some wheat to separate the seeds from the rest of the plant. \u00a0The angel calls him a valiant warrior and tells him God is with him. \u00a0This is basically the angel’s way of saying, “Hear all that crying for help? \u00a0Tag, you’re it.” \u00a0Gideon’s response? \u00a0“Sure we used to have a big God but He’s gone now.” \u00a0So the angel of the Lord then said, “go in your strength I have sent you.” \u00a0Let’s stop here for a minute. \u00a0Some Bible scholars believe that the term “angel of the Lord” indicates an appearance of God in angelic form, usually they identify it as God the Son rather than the Father or Holy Spirit. \u00a0In other words Jesus taking on a temporary form during these Old Testament appearances before he took on a permanent human form in Mary. \u00a0Verses 14 and 16 would tend to support this idea when they say “the Lord looked at him…” \u00a0and “the Lord said to him…” \u00a0Back to the story. \u00a0Next Gideon indicates that his family is too small to fight and he is not the leader of his family. \u00a0God then says basically “I’m with you, you could do it alone”. \u00a0Gideon still doesn’t give in. \u00a0He then asks for a sign. \u00a0He tells his visitor that he’s going to go get an offering and then he expects some proof. \u00a0So the visitor says he will wait.<\/p>\n It will be interesting to see how this story plays out but already there is some good stuff here. \u00a0I like it that God didn’t deliver right away. \u00a0The bigger issue for the Israelites was their relationship with God. \u00a0Saving them here and now would keep them alive for a while but not for eternity. \u00a0Of course I don’t like it when God doesn’t fix my little world right away, but I need to remember that the important part of life relates to eternity. \u00a0I think God wants us to have a \u00a0good and pleasant life but eternity is much more important, Matthew 16:26; Matthew 6:25-30). \u00a0I also like how patient God is. \u00a0How many times can one guy say no? \u00a0How many times can I say no?<\/p>\n God thank you for your patience. \u00a0Thank you for using ordinary people. \u00a0God help me respond to you when you send me. Thank you for using me. \u00a0Thank you for your power. \u00a0Help me hear and do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Judges 6:1-18. \u00a0We have been through 4 deliverers so far. \u00a0Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and Deborah. \u00a0Now we come to the fifth and this story is much longer. \u00a0In three of the four the people turn from God and he brings people in to oppress them. \u00a0They then cry out to God and He brings a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions\/355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}