Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 66
54
IMMERSE
•
KINGDOMS
6:29–7:5
built, and on it were the remains of the bull that had been sacrificed. The
people said to each other, “Who did this?” And after asking around and
making a careful search, they learned that it was Gideon, the son of Joash.
“Bring out your son,” the men of the town demanded of Joash. “He must
die for destroying the altar of Baal and for cutting down the Asherah pole.”
But Joash shouted to the mob that confronted him, “Why are you defending Baal? Will you argue his case? Whoever pleads his case will be
put to death by morning! If Baal truly is a god, let him defend himself
and destroy the one who broke down his altar!” From then on Gideon
was called Jerub-baal, which means “Let Baal defend himself,” because he
broke down Baal’s altar.
Soon afterward the armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east
formed an alliance against Israel and crossed the Jordan, camping in the
valley of Jezreel. Then the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power.
He blew a ram’s horn as a call to arms, and the men of the clan of Abiezer
came to him. He also sent messengers throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zeb
ulun, and Naphtali, summoning their warriors, and all of them responded.
Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue
Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece
on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning
but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue
Israel as you promised.” And that is just what happened. When Gideon got
up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole
bowlful of water.
Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me
make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time
let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” So
that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning,
but the ground was covered with dew.
So J erub-baal (that is, Gideon) and his army got up early and went as far as
the spring of Harod. The armies of Midian were camped north of them in
the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too
many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites
will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain
and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who
were willing to fight.
But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down
to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and
who will not.” When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the