Gideon: Jars Of Clay - a podcast by Faith Baptist Church

The story of Gideon is a story of renown. A young man beating out wheat in his father’s winepress. It’s difficult, hot and dirty work made ten times harder because you’re confined to the depressions of the earth (winepresses), away from the beautiful Mediterranean breeze sweeping the open threshing floor, but not away from the blazing Mediterranean sun beating down on you. All because those Midianite marauders could swoop down at any time when you're least expecting it and steal any grain they catch glimpse of. Our text begins with a description of a people so oppressed that they were seeking refuge in caves and animal dens to say alive, living in fear of the Midianite hoards that would pounce like locusts. It says that the number of camels the Midianite raiders had couldn’t even be counted, there were so many. And they would take everything including all the livestock and even the tents.

It must have been an absolutely horrible form of existence. But what could be done? What should be done? You might say, well, that’s when you call the police. But what if there are no police. These are foreign armies who neither fear nor care for anything your law says nor the God who gave it to you. These were perilous days to live in for sure. They were days that a lot of people died in too. Here is the Book of Judges own comment on those days:

“In those days there was no king in Israel, so every man did what was right in his own eyes.”

In Gideon's case, what could be done? What should be done? Gideon rises from obscure servitude and oppression to become a great leader in a culture of compromise and cowardice. That is part of what makes his story so inspiring and popular. He was the least in his family and his family was the weakest clan in the whole tribe of Manasseh. Gideon himself had nothing special to offer as a leader or as a warrior, but somehow, I don’t think that’s going to matter. What do you think?

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