Judges 6 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible

Israel Cries Out Under Midian

Chapter 6.

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of our Father, and our Father gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years. The hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens in the mountains, the caves, and the strongholds. For whenever Israel planted their crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. They would camp against them and ravage the produce of the land as far as Gaza, leaving no food in Israel, and no sheep or ox or donkey. For they came up with their livestock and their tents, swarming in like locusts in number; they and their camels were beyond counting, and they invaded the land to lay it waste. So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the people of Israel cried out to our Father.

When the people of Israel cried out to our Father on account of Midian,

our Father sent a prophet to the people of Israel, who said to them, "This is what our Father, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt and led you out of the house of slavery." I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, 'I am your Father; you must not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.' But you have not listened to my voice."

The Father Calls Gideon

Now the messenger of our Father came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. The messenger of our Father appeared to him and said, "Our Father is with you, mighty warrior."

Gideon said to him, "Please, my lord, if our Father is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about, saying, 'Did not he bring us up out of Egypt?' But now our Father has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian."

Then our Father turned to him and said, "Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?"

He said to him, "Please, my Sovereign Father, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."

Our Father said to him, "But I will be with you, and you will strike down Midian as one man."

And Gideon said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, then give me a sign that it is really you speaking with me." "Please do not leave here until I come back to you and bring out my offering and set it before you." And he said, "I will wait until you return."

So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them out to him under the oak, and presented them.

The messenger of our Father said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so.

Then the messenger of our Father reached out the tip of the staff in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread, and the messenger of our Father vanished from his sight.

When Gideon realized that it was the messenger of our Father, he said, "Alas, O Sovereign Father! For now I have seen the messenger face to face."

But our Father said to him, "Peace be with you. Do not be afraid; you will not die."

So Gideon built an altar there to our Father and named it "Our Father Is Peace." To this day it still stands at Ophrah of the Abiezrites. ¹

Gideon Tears Down Baal's Altar

That same night our Father said to him, "Take your father's bull, the second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper altar to me, your Father, on top of this stronghold. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down."

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as our Father had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it at night.

When the men of the town got up early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered on the altar that had been built. They said to one another, "Who did this?" And when they searched and inquired, they were told, "Gideon son of Joash did this."

Then the men of the town said to Joash, "Bring out your son so he can die, because he tore down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it." But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal? Will you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, since someone tore down his altar." So that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, meaning "Let Baal contend against him," because he tore down his altar.

The Father Answers with the Fleece

Now all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the East joined forces, crossed over, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. Then the Spirit of our Father clothed Gideon, and he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.

Then Gideon said to our Father, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have promised— behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece while all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have promised."

And that is what happened. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

Then Gideon said to our Father, "Do not be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Let me test once more with the fleece. Please let the fleece be dry, and let there be dew on all the ground."

And our Father did so that night. The fleece alone was dry, while dew covered all the ground.

❤️ FHB? Review Now