Book Of Judges Chapter 6-7 [Gedeon]

[Dawn Marie]

Book Of Judges

Chapter 6-7

 

 

The people for their sins, are oppressed by the Madianites. Gedeon is called to deliver them.

And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord: and he delivered them into the hand of Madian seven years.  And they were grievously oppressed by them. And they made themselves dens and eaves in the mountains, and strong holds to resist.  And when Israel had sown, Madian and Amalec, and the rest of the eastern nations came up:  And pitching their tents among them, wasted all things as they were in the blade even to the entrance of Gaza: and they left nothing at all in Israel for sustenance of life, nor sheep, nor oxen, nor asses.  For they and all their flocks came with their tents, and like locusts filled all places, an innumerable multitude of men, and of camels, wasting whatsoever they touched.

And Israel was humbled exceedingly in the sight of Madian. And he cried to the Lord desiring help against the Madianites. And he sent unto them a prophet, and he spoke: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I made you to come up out of Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage, And delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians, and of all the enemies that afflicted you: and I cast them out at your coming in, and gave you their land. And I said: I am the Lord your God, fear not the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell. And you would not hear my voice.

And an angel of the Lord came, and sat under an oak, that was in Ephra, and belonged to Joas the father of the family of Ezri. And when Gedeon his son was threshing and cleansing wheat by the winepress, to flee from Madian, The angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said: The Lord is with thee, O most valiant of men. And Gedeon said to him: I beseech thee, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why have these evils fallen upon us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers have told us of, saying: The Lord brought us Out of Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the bands of Madian.  And the Lord looked upon him, and said: Go in this thy strength, and then shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian: know that I have sent thee. [15] He answered and said: I beseech thee, my lord, wherewith shall I deliver Israel? Behold my family is the meanest in Manasses, and I am the least in my father's house.

 

[15] The meanest in Manasses: Mark how the Lord chooseth the humble (who are mean and little in their own eyes) for the greatest enterprises.

 

 

And the Lord said to him: I will be with thee: and thou shalt cut off Madian as one man. And he said: If I have found grace before thee, give me a sign that it is thou that speakest to me, And depart not hence, till I return to thee, and bring a sacrifice, and offer it to thee. And he answered: I will wait thy coming.  So Gedeon went in, and boiled a kid, and made unleavened loaves of a measure of flour: and putting the flesh in a basket, and the broth of the flesh into a pot, he carried all under the oak, and presented to him. And the angel of the Lord said to him: Take the flesh and the unleavened loaves, and lay them upon that rock, and pour out the broth thereon. And when he had done so,

The angel of the Lord put forth the tip of the rod, which he held in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and there arose a fire from the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and the angel of the Lord vanished out of his sight. And Gedeon seeing that it was the angel of the Lord, said: Alas, my Lord God: for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said to him: Peace be with thee: fear not, thou shalt not die. And Gedeon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it the Lord's peace, until this present day. And when he was yet in Ephra, which is of the family of Ezri, That night the Lord said to him: Take a bullock of thy father's, and another bullock of seven years, and thou shalt destroy the altar of Baal, which is thy father's: and cut down the grove that is about the altar:

And thou shalt build an altar to the Lord thy God in the top of this rock, whereupon thou didst lay the sacrifice before: and thou shalt take the second bullock, and shalt offer a holocaust upon a pile of the wood, which thou shalt cut down out of the grove. Then Gedeon taking ten men of his servants, did as the Lord had commanded him. But fearing his father's house, and the men of that city, he would not do it by day, but did all by night. And when the men of that town were risen in the morning, they saw the altar of Baal destroyed, and the grove cut down, and the second bullock laid upon the altar, which then was built. And they said one to another: Who hath done this? And when they inquired for the author of the fact, it was said: Gedeon the son of Joas did all this. And they said to Joas: Bring out thy son hither, that he may die: because he hath destroyed the altar of Baal, and hath cut down his grove.

He answered them: Are you the avengers of Baal, that you fight for him? he that is his adversary, let him die before tomorrow light appear: if he be a god, let him revenge himself on him that hath cast down his altar. From that day Gedeon was called Jerobaal, because Joss had said: Let Baal revenge himself on him that hath cast down his altar. Now all Madian, and Amalec, and the eastern people were gathered together, and passing over the Jordan, camped in the valley of Jezrael. But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gedeon, and be sounded the trumpet and called together the house of Abiezer, to follow him. And he sent messengers into all Manasses, and they also followed him: and other messengers into Aser and Zabulon and Nephtali, and they came to meet him.

And Gedeon said to God: If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said, I will put this fleece of wool on the floor: if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry on all the ground beside, I, shall know that by my hand, as thou hast said, thou wilt deliver Israel. And it was so. And rising before day wringing the fleece, he filled a vessel with the dew. And he said again to God: let not thy wrath be kindled against me if I try once more, seeking a sign in the fleece. I pray that the fleece only may be dry, and all the ground wet with dew. And God did that night as he had requested: and it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

 

 

Gedeon, with three hundred men, by stratagem defeateth the Madianites.

Then Jerobaal, who is the same as Gedeon, rising up early and all the people with him, came to the fountain that is called Harad. Now the camp of Madian was in the valley on the north side of the high hill. [2] And the Lord said to Gedeon: The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against me, and say: I was delivered by my own strength.  Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all, I Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return. So two and twenty thousand men went away from mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained.  And the Lord said to Gedeon: The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them: and of whom I shall say to thee, This shall go with thee, let him go: whom I shall forbid to go, let him return. And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs are wont to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves: but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side.

 

 

[2] Lest Israel: By this we see that God will not choose for his instruments in great achievements, which depend purely on his grace, such as, through pride and self conceit, will take the glory to themselves.

 

 

And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. [7] And the Lord said to Gedeon: By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place. So taking victuals and trumpets according to their number, he ordered all the rest of the multitude to depart to their tents: and he with the three hundred gave himself to the battle. Now the camp of Madian was beneath him in the valley.  The same night the Lord said to him: Arise, and go down into the camp: because I have delivered them into thy hand.  But if thou be afraid to go alone, let Phara thy servant go down with thee.

 

[7] That lapped water: These were preferred that took the water up in their hands, and so lapped it, before them who laid themselves quite down to the waters to drink: which argued a more eager and sensual disposition.

 

And when thou shalt hear what they are saying, then shall thy hands be strengthened, and thou shalt go down more secure to the enemies' camp. And he went down with Phara his servant into part of the camp, where was the watch of men in arms.  But Madian and Amalec, and all the eastern people lay scattered in the valley, as a multitude of locusts: their camels also were innumerable as the sand that lieth on the sea shore. [13] And when Gedeon was come, one told his neighbour a dream: and in this manner related what he had seen: I dreamt a dream, and it seemed to me as if a hearth cake of barley bread rolled and came down into the camp of Madian: and when it was come to a tent it struck it, and beat it down flat to the ground.  He to whom he spoke, answered: This is nothing else but the sword of Gedeon the son of Joas a man of Israel. For the Lord hath delivered Madian, and all their camp into his hand. And when Gedeon had heard the dream, and the interpretation thereof, he adored: and returned to the camp of Israel, and said: Arise, for the Lord hath delivered the camp of Madian into our hands.

 

[13] A dream: Observation of dreams is commonly superstitious, and as such is condemned in the word of God: but in some extraordinary cases, as we here see, God is pleased by dreams to foretell what he is about to do.

 

 And he divided the three hundred men into three parts, and gave them trumpets in their hands, and empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he said to them: What you shall see me do, do you the same: I will go into one part of the camp, and do you as I shall do. When the trumpet shall sound in my hand, do you also blow the trumpets on every side of the camp. [19]And Gedeon, and the three hundred men that were with him, went into part of the camp, at the beginning of the midnight watch, and the watchmen being alarmed, they began to sound their trumpets, and to clap the pitchers one against another. And when they sounded their trumpets in three places round about the camp, and had broken their pitchers, they held their lamps in their left hands, and with their right hands the trumpets which they blew, and they cried out: The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon;

 

[19] Their trumpets: In a mystical sense, the preachers of the gospel, in order to spiritual conquests, must not only sound with the trumpet of the word of God, but must also break their earthen pitchers, by the mortification of the flesh and its passions, and carry lamps in their hands by the light of their virtues.

 

Standing every man in his place round about the enemies' camp. So all the camp was troubled, and crying out and howling they fled away. And the three hundred men nevertheless persisted sounding the trumpets. And the Lord sent the sword into all the camp, and they killed one another, [ Fleeing as far as Bethsetta, and the border of Abelmahula in Tebbath. But the men of Israel shouting from Nephtali and Aser, and from all Manasses pursued after Madian. [ And Gedeon sent messengers into all mount Ephraim, saying: Come down to meet Madian, and take the waters before them to Bethbera and the Jordan. And all Ephraim shouted, and took the waters before them and the Jordan as far as Bethbera. [And having taken two men of Madian, Oreb and Zeb: Oreb they slew in the rock of Oreb, and Zeb in the winepress of Zeb. And they pursued Madian, carrying the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gedeon beyond the waters of the Jordan.

 

[Mary Ellen]

I loved reading this.  Thank you for posting.

Mary is referred to Gideon's fleece.   The following is taken from the book 'The Blessed Virgin in the Father's of the First Six Centuries' which explains why Mary is referred to as Gideon's fleece

"What is this earth that has yielded the fruit of benediction but Mary? For to her was said: Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb; and in Genesis: Blessings of the breasts and of the womb; and in the Psalms: Children the reward, the fruit of the womb; and: Of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne. Of which same fruit the holy Psalmist says in another Psalm: Truth is sprung up out of the earth... and our earth shall yield her fruit; and the Prophet also: Drop down dew, ye heavens from above, and let the clouds rain the Just, let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Saviour."*

"He shall come down like rain upon the fleece, and as showers falling gently upon the earth." -- lxxi. 6.

"One shadowed out His coming in a shower that cometh down tranquilly: and Mary again he shadowed forth in a fleece comely and pure."+

"The fleece of Gideon, in that it was a receptacle for the dew of heaven, has prefigured the Virgin, in whom the Word was made Flesh."++

"That the Saviour was thus silently and secretly to descend into the Virgin, the prophet David had before testified, saying, He shall descend like rain upon the fleece of wool. For what takes place so silently and noiselessly as when rain pours upon a fleece of wool? ...Well then may we compare Mary to the fleece, since in such wise did she conceive the Lord, as to drink Him in with her whole body, without suffering any rent of the same body, but was soft and tender for obedience, solid for sanctity. Rightly, I say, is Mary compared to a fleece, because from her Fruit garments of salvation are woven for the peoples. Clearly is Mary the fleece, since it was from her tender bosom the Lamb came forth, who Himself too weaving His Mother's wool, that is to say, her flesh, covers with a soft fleece the wounds of all the peoples. For every wound of sin is suffused with the wool of Christ, and for its healing is clothed with the garment of Christ."**

"For like as the rain came down upon the fleece of Gedeon, whilst the arid earth lacked it, so too did He glide down into the virginal womb by the infusion of the Holy Ghost."||

"Hail full of grace, and well does he say full; for to others it is bestowed in parts, but on Mary was poured the whole fulness of grace. Of this it is in truth that David sings: He shall come down like rain upon the fleece. Now the fleece, though it is from the body, knows not the passion of the body. So too virginity, though it is in flesh, knows not the vices of flesh. A rain entirely heavenly shed itself with tranquil fall upon the virginal fleece, and the whole shower of divinity poured upon her flesh, when the Word was made Flesh: and afterwards, under the pressure of the gibbet of the Cross, shed forth the rain of salvation on all lands, and let fall the droppings of grace into the souls of men.