Judges 6 — Gideon, the beginning of a new type of leader

With the beginning of the account of Gideon, we meet a new type of judge for Israel and symbolic of kings to follow. Gideon in some ways parallels Moses in his interactions with the angel of the LORD in boldly asking for signs via the fleece.

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With the beginning of the account of Gideon, we meet a new type of judge for Israel and symbolic of kings to follow. Daniel Agee explores some of the parallels between Gideon and Moshe (Moses) in his interactions with the angel of the LORD in boldly asking for signs via the fleece.

Food for thought

Who is similar to Gideon in interactions with the presence of the LORD?
- How are the actions of the angel of the LORD with the offering from Gideon (Judges 6:17-21) similar to what Eliyahu experienced with his confrontation of the prophets of Ba’al on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:20-46)?
- How do Moshe (Moses) and Gideon differ in their relations to their calls from God to act with power?
- How does Gideon and the judges after him differ from those before him?
  - How are those traits similar to kings to follow?
What’s significant about the number seven in this account?
What are the different types of aggressive peoples around Israel?
- How do those different types parallel God’s messages and warnings to Israel?
Why did God raise up Israel to clean out the Promised Land?
- Why did the Philistines arrive?
- How is the rise of Midian similar?
- What was happening in Israel to provoke this?
- Who raised up the Midians?
- Why were the Midians raised up?
- What was their "job"?
Is this one of the first references to Ba’al?
Was Gideon a great person before God called him?
How did the Israelites hide themselves to survive?
Why did the messenger of God call Gideon a "mighty warrior"?
- How many times did Gideon challenge the LORD?
What tribe was Gideon from?
- What part of that tribe was he from?
- What does Gideon’s name mean in Hebrew? (See Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon entry 1439; the name is derived from 1438.)
What offering did Gideon offer God, and why?
What time of year was this meeting of Gideon and the angel of the LORD? (See Judges 6:11.)
- What festival of the LORD was celebrated at that time of year?
Jewish tradition says the age of the bull was significant because Gideon was the "young bull" of his family and Midian was the 7-year-old bull for the seven years of oppression of Israel (Judges 6:1).
- What was the symbolism of burning the 7-year-old bull on the wood of the hewn-down Asherah pole?
What had happened in the Valley of Yezre’el (Jezreel)? (See Judges 4-5.)
- How far had Amalek come through the Promised Land to reach that valley?
Regarding the sign of the damp and dry fleece, Jewish tradition says God would not allow a day to pass without dew to fall on the ground of Israel.