Being Practical Vs Being Afraid

“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.” (Jud 6:11 AV)

 

Gideon is a mixed bag.  I don’t know exactly what to think of him.  We see him as a cautious man who takes steps of valor, but rather prudently or while mitigating the risk.  Midian was a nation of nomads who regularly raided Israel to steal from them needed crops and the such like.  It would not be advantageous to raid a winepress because the wine would still have to be stored.  Something the Midianites would not be interested in doing.  The thought here was to thresh the wheat in preparation for storage in an area Midan would not be looking for it.  Rather wise.  Then we have the account of Gideon breaking down the altar of Baal his father’s servants erected.  He did so in the middle of the night rather than in front of the very servants he and his father employed.  Some may look at these two events and conclude Gideon is a bit of a coward.  One might conclude Gideon lacked boldness.  This idea might be bolstered by the account of the fleece.  Twice he asked the LORD to verify His voice by a sign.  We would be left with the idea Gideon was a reluctant leader and only acted when forced to.  When he did, he took the safest route.  But we would be wrong.

When Gideon goes into battle against the Midianites, Gideon shows a level of courage not see from many.  Even the LORD calls Gideon a mighty man of valor.  Gideon began with an army of 20,000.  The LORD reduced that number to 600.  Of those six hundred, the LORD further reduced the army to three hundred.  There three hundred would go up against over one hundred and twenty thousand.  You read that right.  Three hundred against one hundred and twenty thousand.  I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t attempt those odds in a million years.  On top of that, their main weapons were lanterns, pots, and trumpets.  The plan was to stand without the camp on an elevated post.  These three hundred would be divided into three camps.  They would space themselves so as to appear a far larger army than they actually were.  At the assigned time, they would all begin to shout.  Then, they would blow the trumpet and break the pot revealing the lanterns.  The Midianite army would have the impression each lantern represented a legion.  They would assume they were outnumbered three to one.  In doing so, they would simply panic and begin to fight, paying no attention to whom they were fighting.  The Bible tells us over one hundred and twenty thousand Midianites fell that day by friendly fire.  What God did with Gideon was not Gideon’s style.  Sort of.  Gideon was not a man of high risk.  But that doesn’t mean he was not a man of great faith or courage.  This plan was consistent with his character in breaking down the altar at night and hiding the threshing of wheat from robbers.  A great step of faith while mitigating the risk.

The point is simple.  Faith does not need to be proven in the most extreme manner possible just to exercise faith.  Again, the LORD testifies of Gideon’s courage.  “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” (Jud 6:12 AV)  Gideon did not refuse to do right.  He simply found a more prudent way of doing it.  Gideon was somewhat of a pragmatist.  Pragmatists can be men of faith, too.  Just because they look for a better way so as to minimize risk does not mean they are unwilling to take a risk.  Or, it does not mean they have little or no faith.  Gideon receives a lot of criticism.  However, in his way, God used him.  The altar of Baal was destroyed and never rebuilt again.  His father defended Gideon in daring Baal to take vengeance and rebuild his own altar.  Perhaps the three hundred were removed sufficiently from the army of the Midianites that if the plan when south, they could high-tail it out of there without losing any lives.  We may look at the fleece and criticize Gideon for the fear we think he was exhibiting.  But what we cannot dispute is 120,000 dead and fourty years of peace which followed.  Pragmatism does have its place.  It does not mean Gideon lacked courage or faith.  Rather, this judge sought the best way to do something so as to accomplish the same ends without paying a cost not needed to pay.