GIDEON

 *13/09/2020**

SECOND SUNDAY SERMON

THEME: *ANGELS: MESSENGERS OF GOD*

TOPIC: *ANGELS MINISTERED TO MANY PEOPLE*

SUB-TOPIC: *GIDEON*

Text: Judges 6:11-22

*#to choose him to lead Israel#*

The Palestinian *terebinth tree* is a large tree with a thick trunk and heavy branches, sometimes confused with the oak. It can grow as high as 25 feet. The terebinth figures in the stories of Abraham, who pitched his tent near the terebinth trees of Mamre (Genesis 13:18; 18:1), and Jacob, who hid a treasure beneath a terebinth tree (Genesis 35:4). The exact location of *Ophrah* is unknown, but it was a city somewhere in the territory of Manasseh. It is not the same as the Benjamite city of the same name (Joshua 18:23; 1 Samuel 13:17). *Abiezrites* were descendants of Joseph through his son Manasseh. They were part of the tribe of Manasseh that settled west of the Jordan (Numbers 26:30 [Jeezer]: Joshua 17:1,2). A wine-press was a square or circular pit carved into rock in which grapes were crushed (Isaiah 16:10; Jeremiah 48:33). Wheat was usually separated on open threshing floors so the wind could carry away the chaff in the winnowing process (2 Samuel 24:18). The fact that Gideon was forced to thresh wheat hidden inside a wine-press - despite the fact that he had access to a threshing floor.

Judges 6:37 - shows again the desperate state the Israelites were in.

*My lord* was a polite form of address, but *the LORD* is the personal name of God (Yahweh), the full meaning of which was revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai (Exodus 3:13-16). The Hebrew word for *miracles* means "wonderful things", and it is translated elsewhere as *wonders* (Exodus 3:20; Joshua 3:5)

*I am the least in my father's house:* Gideon's objection is reminiscent of the words spoken by Moses (Exodus 3:11) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:6)

*I will be with you* was God's great promise of His presence that He had given to Moses and Joshua previously (Exodus 3:12; Joshua 1:5,9). This should have greatly encouraged Gideon but he still expressed doubts (Judges 6:17,36-40). Often we are quick to judge those who doubt God even when they have  first-hand evidence of His mighty works. *But we all fail to trust God fully at times.* God accomplished His will despite Gideon's weakness and He can do the same through us.

Gideon's faith needed such bolstering that he asked God for a sign. Here as elsewhere, Gideon was slow to respond to God (Judges 6:39,40).

*An ephah of flour* was two-thirds of a bushel, or about 20 pounds of flour.

*Gideon perceived:* When the Angel of the Lord vanished, then Gideon realized who it was and feared for his life. This reaction of fear appears to have been rooted in the knowledge that anyone who gazed upon God would die. In Exodus 33:20, God, speaking to Moses, says, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live". The context of Exodus 33:18-23 suggests that it was the fullness of God's glory that Moses could not see, since Moses did speak with God and know Him "face to face" (Exodus 33:11; Numbers 12:8; Deuteronomy 34:10), and he even beheld the form of God Himself (Numbers 12:8). Yet Gideon's fear was a proper response for those who found themselves in the presence of God's Angel. This was also Manoah's reaction when the Angel visited him (Judges 13:21,22).

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