64 – Gideon’s Fleece
Judges 6:1-40
For seven years, the Midianites came into Israel like a swarm of locusts. They moved across the land, taking everything off it—all the crops and farm animals. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat. The people became desperate and had to find places to hide in mountain caves.
A man named Gideon was also hiding from the Midianites. He had to thresh his wheat in a wine vat instead of an open threshing floor. The Angel of the Lord came and sat under an oak tree nearby. He said, “The Lord is with you, oh mighty warrior.”
Gideon said, “Oh my Lord! If God is with us, why is he allowing all these bad things to happen to us? Where are all the wonderful miracles our fathers told us about? God is no longer fighting for us.”
The Angel said, “I’m sending you to deliver Israel from the Midianites.”
Gideon was shocked. “Lord, how can I deliver Israel? I’m a nobody.”
The Lord said, “Yes, but I’ll be with you, and you’ll have victory.”
Gideon said, “Lord, I need a sign that you’re really talking to me. Please, stay here while I prepare a sacrifice.”
The Lord said. “I will stay here until you return.”
Gideon rushed off and prepared a sacrifice for him. When it was ready, he put it on a rock. The Angel of the Lord reached over and touched the sacrifice with the tip of his staff. Fire came up from the rock and burnt it up. And then the Lord vanished.
Gideon yelled, “Lord God! I’m about to die! I’ve seen the Angel of the Lord face to face!”
The Lord said, “Don’t be afraid. You’re not going to die. Do what I say. Your father has an altar of Baal. Tear it down and build an altar to God. Then offer a burnt offering to the Lord.”
Gideon obeyed, but he did it at night. He was afraid of his family and the men who lived in his city.
In the morning, people found Baal’s altar torn down. They saw the altar to the Lord built in its place, and the ashes of the burnt offering on top of it. Soon they learned Gideon had done this.
The men of the city went to his father’s house and said, “Give us your son! We’ll kill him because he tore down Baal’s altar.”
Gideon’s father said to them, “Show me the man who is defending Baal. He’ll be dead by morning! If Baal is really a god, let him defend himself.”
Once again the Midianites came into Israel and camped in a valley. The Spirit of the Lord filled Gideon, and he sent out messages for people to come, ready to fight.
Then Gideon prayed, “Lord, give me a sign.” He then put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor and said to God, “I’ll know you’ll deliver us if the morning dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry.”
He got up early in the morning and found that the fleece was soaking wet, but the ground was dry.
Gideon said, “Lord, don’t be angry with me. Allow me one more test. This time let the fleece remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.” In the morning, the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.
