God has to have a hero to deliver Israel so, where does He go? To the smallest tribe, to a very insignificant family, to the youngest son who is a coward! “Then the angel of the LORD came to GIDEON son of Joash was threshing wheat at the BOTTOM OF A WINEPRESS TO HIDE the grain from the Midianites.” (Judges 6:11) Normally when you “winnow” the wheat you go to the top of a hill so when you throw the mixture into the air (winnowing), the wind blows away the lighter chaff, while the heavier grains fall back down for recovery. Gideon is afraid of the Midianites, so he goes to the bottom of the winepress to do his winnowing.
“The angel of the LORD appeared to GIDEON and said, “Mighty hero, (he was not a hero but was about to become one) the LORD is with you!” “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The LORD brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the LORD has ABANDONED US and handed us over to the Midianites.” (Judges 6:12-13) God told Gideon to go in strength and He would rescue Israel, “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” (Judges 6:15) Just perfect for God, no pride to deal with.
After a few things to deal with Gideon finally agrees and “From then on Gideon was called Jerub-baal…” (Judges 6:32) (An interesting note, Israeli archaeologists have JUST UNCOVERED (07-23-2021) a rare 3,100-year-old inscription from the time of the biblical Judges at an excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority said. The rare inscription bears the name ‘Jerub-baal” only found in the bible.) Gideon leads a group of thirty two thousand soldiers. The Lord told Gideon he had to many men, “Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000…” (Judges 7:3) That was still too many so they ended up with 300 men and God said I want them to know IT IS ME that delivered them.
With those 300 men and the FEAR OF THE LORD they defeated the 135,000 Midianites. That’s what the Lord can do with us if we just believe Him…
-Bill Stockham