When God spoke to Gideon (which means “hewer”) he was hewing wheat, separating the wheat from the chaff which is pretty remarkable when we think of what he went on to do with God. Through Gideon God weeded out the “wheat” from the “chaff” in his army through different tests in Judges 8, and later God also sifted Israel’s enemies.
Gideon is famous for secretly threshing wheat in a winepress – a place meant for grapes. It was a deceptive tactic to cope with the frustrating economic devastation to Israel’s livelihood caused by Midian, Amalek, and the people of the East. If they didn’t hide the grain, Israel’s enemies would just take it. Secretly threshing the wheat in a winepress sounds clever and sophisticated, but it actually highlights a failed response to sin — their reality of having to hide crops from their enemies was a result of God’s judgment!
“And the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hands of Midian for seven years.” (Judges 6:1)
Facing up to the real problem
Gideon was dealing with the consequences of sin rather than with the sin itself.
Dealing with the consequences of sin is one of the main engines of our society’s economy! And when a person is busy coping with the consequences of sin instead of the root problem, he does not seek the Lord – and neither did Gideon.
But the Lord found Gideon in the hiding place, just as He found Adam hiding.
Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite [Gideon’s father], while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.” (Judges 6:11-18)
Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! [אֲהָהּ אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה] For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”
But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. (Judges 6:22-24a)
Face to face with God
In verses 22–24 we read that Gideon fully understood that he had seen Adonai YHWH (יְהוִה) face to face and feared he would die, but he received a promise: “Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.”
Gideon believed God’s promise, built an altar to the LORD, and called it “YHWH is Peace”.
But the surprising spiritual experience — seeing Adonai YHWH face to face, the blessing of peace, and the promise that he would not die — is only the beginning of the story.
Now the real work begins — work that requires:
To bring about real change, Gideon had to move from dealing with the consequences of sin to addressing the root cause – the spiritual issue at the core.
To treat the problem of sin thoroughly, two stages are required: breaking down and building up.
Stage One – breaking down
“That same night the LORD said to him, ‘Take the bull from your father’s herd, and the second bull seven years old; tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.’” (Judges 6:25)
Gideon was the son of a well-known man – everyone in town knew Joash! By his actions of hewing down the altar to Baal and the Asherah pole, Gideon openly rebelled against his father’s faith/religion, used his father’s property, and destroyed his source of livelihood.
In order to cause a change in the city, purification must begin in my own house.
Gideon tore down the idolatry, but that was only the first necessary step, but not a sufficient one.
Stage Two – building up
“Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold, in an orderly manner. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering using the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.” (Judges 6:26)
It is one thing not to follow “one false god“; it is an entirely different thing to actively follow the “one true God“. If we do not build the altar of YHWH on the ruins, a spiritual vacuum is created — and it must be somehow filled.
Unlike dealing with the consequences of sin, which is often hidden, the building of the altar to the LORD must be public: “On the top of the stronghold,” in the highest and most prominent place. Gideon already built one altar and called it “YHWH is Peace” But there were still more altars to tear down and rebuild. The second altar was “YHWH is War.”
These truths apply:
A. In our personal faith lives
We have peace with God – but there may be areas in our lives that still need purification, the demolition of an altar, and the building of a new altar to the LORD our God. God promised that we “shall not die,” but He will not destroy the idols in our lives – that’s our job!
B. In evangelism – especially among our Jewish people
Our people are filled with idolatry, religiosity, traditions that contradict the Word of God, and superstitions. In this context, Yeshua warned the people after they accused Him of casting out demons by Beelzebub:
“When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through arid places seeking rest; not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it returns, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they all go in and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24–26)
Sometimes, in order to focus the eyes of our people to the Lamb who was slain for us, we must slaughter “sacred cows” – be willing to touch topics that may arouse controversy and opposition. The truth is painful, but it saves!
May God give us the courage and wisdom to balance demolition and construction — breaking down and building up.
From a devotional by Johnny Khoury
