Judges 6:35

33-40 These signs are truly miraculous, and very significant. Gideon and his men were going to fight the Midianites; could God distinguish between a small fleece of Israel, and the vast floor of Midian? Gideon is made to know that God could do so. Is Gideon desirous that the dew of Divine grace might come down upon himself in particular? He sees the fleece wet with dew to assure him of it. Does he desire that God will be as the dew to all Israel? Behold, all the ground is wet. What cause we sinners of the Gentiles have, to bless the Lord that the dew of heavenly blessings, once confined to Israel, is now sent to all the inhabitants of the earth! Yet still the means of grace are in different measures, according to the purposes of God. In the same congregation, one man's soul is like Gideon's moistened fleece, another like the dry ground....

His own tribe, Manasseh, and the three northern tribes of Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali hastened to join him. Issachar was probably unable to do so, because the Midianites were encamped in the heart of their country. Asher no longer “abode in his breaches,” as in the time of Jabin Judges 6:17, perhaps ashamed of their former backwardness, and stung by the rebuke of Deborah; perhaps, too, from feeling the Midianite yoke much more galling than that of Jabin....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 6:33 THE MIDIANITES, etc. See Judges 6:3, note. THE VALLEY OF JEZREEL. Rather, _the_ _plain_,_ _"the great plain of Esdraelon," as the Book of Judith styles it (Judith 1:8; see Judges 4:13, note). The great plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon (which is the Greek form of the name), through which the Kishon flows, is eight hours in length from east to west, and five hours (twelve miles) in breadth from north to south. It is described as "a very extensive and fertile plain shut in between the mountain ranges of Samaria and Mount Carmel on the south, and of Galilee on the north," and extending from the Mediterranean at the Gulf of C

AND HE SENT MESSENGERS THROUGH ALL MANASSEH,.... Of which tribe he was; not only he called by the trumpet that part of the tribe, the Abiezrites, who were within the sound of it, but the rest of the tribe at a greater distance from him he sent messengers to, acquainting them with his design, and inviting them to his assistance. Some think this refers both to the half tribe of Manasseh within Jordan, and the other half tribe on the other side Jordan; but that is not very probable, only the half tribe within it is meant: WHO ALSO WAS GATHERED AFTER HIM; obeying the summons and invitation he gave them by the messengers: AND HE SENT MESSENGERS UNTO ASHER, AND UNTO ZEBULUN, AND UNTO NAPHTALI; which three tribes lay nearest to him on the north; but he sent not to the inhabitants of the tribe of Ephraim, which lay to the south, and which afterwards occasioned a quarrel,...

4. FOURTH DECLENSION: UNDER MIDIAN AND GIDEON, TOLA AND JAIR CHAPTER 6 _ 1. Israel's suffering from Midian (Judges 6:1)_ 2. Their repentance and the divine answer (Judges 6:7) 3. Gideon, the deliverer, chosen (Judges 6:11) 4. The restored worship (Judges 6:25) 5. The gathering for the conflict (Judges 6:33) 6. The sign of the fleece (Judges 6:36) After Deborah and Barak the land had fifty years' rest, and when again they did

THE MIDIANITE RAID, AND THE SIGN OF THE FLEECE. The broad and deep Vale of Jezreel, lying between Gilboa and Moreh, leads up from Jordan to the Great Plain. Judges 6:34. Gideon now felt the Divine impulse the spirit of Yahweh came upon him, lit clothed itself with him, put him on like a garment, possessed him, inspired him. He then blew his trumpet to awaken others. It was his own Abiezer clansmen who answered his call, and they apparently became his famous three hundred. Judges 6:36. The sign of the fleece is probably the record of a dream. Gideon had often seen the heavy dew fall on a summer night upon the hills of Manasseh, and his perceptions wove themselves into mysterious visions, in which he seemed to have power to bend the Divine will to his own. He thus became more than ever co

_The Midianite invasion; the sign of the fleece_ 33 _.Then all the Midianites … assembled themselves_ Better, _Now all the M.… had assembled themselves_. This verse may be connected with Judges 6:7_; Judges 6:25_; it prepares the way for the account of the battle in ch. 7 For _the Amalekites_etc. see on Judges 6:3. _the valley of Jezreel_ Joshua 17:16; Hosea 1:5; not the Great Plain west of Jezreel, but the broad, deep valley which descends eastwards from Jezreel down to the Jordan. It was not till after OT. times that the Great Plain was

_The Call of Giedon Judges 6:11-35_ 11 And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? 15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my fami

GIDEON AND THE MIDIANITES The story of Gideon, which runs from Judges 6:1 to Judges 8:33, is more detailed than that of Deborah and Barak; and, from the details, it would appear that different traditions have been used. Gideon, at the bidding of an angel, calls his clan together, and after reducing them to 300 men, and receiving the encouragement of a dream, surrounds the camp of the Midianites and throws them into a panic. The Ephraimites complete the defeat. The two kings of Midian are then pursued beyond Jordan and slain. Gideon is offered the kingdom, but refuses it, and lives to old age in honour and peace. 1-6. The Midianites oppress Israel....

LIFE WITHOUT LAW JUDGES _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 6 The stories about Gideon and his son, Abimelech are the most important ones in the book. John J. Davies says, ‘Gideon is the ideal judge like Moses. His son is the very opposite.’ V1 Again *Israel’s people did not obey God. For 7 years, he let people from Midian rule them. V2 The people from Midian were stronger than the *Israelites. The *Israelites hid in holes in the mountains. They hid in caves and other safe places. V3 They planted their seeds. Then people from Midian, Amalek’s people and other *tribes from the east went into the country. They went in as enemies. V4 They camped on the land and they destroyed the crops as far as Gaza. They took sheep, cows and *mules. And they left nothing for *Israel’s people to eat. V5