The Questioner, Part 4

Hey everyone.
It has been three weeks since I last wrote anything.  The beginning of the new school year has been very busy for me.  I am the supervisor of me department and I am teaching a course in AP European History.  Those two things have kept me pretty busy.  So it has taken me a very long time to tell you the story of Gideon, something I finished studying all the way back in in August.  So today I will give you part 4 and hopefully very soon after I will give you part 5 and then finally be ready to move on. 

So here it is.  If you remember, God has come to Gideon calling him a "mighty warrior."  To this point Gideon has not seemed like much like a mighty warrior, constantly questioning God and asking for signs that God is able to do what he says.  Gideon has however been an obedient, if somewhat reluctant, warrior.  Doing what God has said, in spite of his fear.

In Judges 7 God whittles Gideon's army down to 300 men.  We know from Judges 8:10 that the Midianite army numbers around 135,000.  Gideon starts with 32,000 men.  This is a ratio of around 4 to 1, but God says Gideon has too many men, even though he is the one that is severely outnumbered.  So they tell everyone who is afraid to go home.  22,000 men leave.  Gideon is now down to 10,000 men and is outnumbered 13.5 to 1.  God says it is still too many men.  So when God takes the number down to 300, he has given Gideon an army that is outnumbered about 450 to one.  God is setting Gideon up to finally understand that He is God and that therefore there is no reason for Gideon to fear.

So what happens next.  The night before the battle God gives Gideon one more sign that He is with him.  Gideon didn't ask for this one, but God gave it to him any way.  God tells Gideon that if he is still afraid that he should go down to the edge of the Midianite camp and the He would give Gideon a sign then he would no longer be afraid.  God was likely hoping that Gideon would not need the sign; that he had overcome fear.  Gideon had not yet overcome.  He had to be terrified to go to the edge of his enemy's camp, but to his credit, he went. 

When he arrives at the edge of the Midianite camp, he overhears a conversation.  One Midianite soldier says he has a dream in which a big loaf of barley bread comes rolling into the camp and knocks down his tent.  (Try to visualize the dream.)  The soldier's friend tells him, "this can only be the sword of Gideon.  God has given the whole camp into his hands."  So Gideon overhears the saying that God was delivering them into his hands.  Gideon bows down right there at the edge of the Midianite camp, with their 135,000 soldiers, and worships God.  He is no longer afraid.  He has now grown to trust God no matter what.  He goes back rallies his 300 men and defeats the Midianite army with torches, jars and trumpets.  It took some time, but now we can see the warrior in Gideon that God saw all along.

Tom