THE STORY OF GIDEON

Hello 👋 friends, it’s good to see you, we will talk about THE STORY OF GIDEON

Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh and his father’s name was Joash and they reside in the city of Ophrah. He was a prophet of God and a judge in Israel, he was also an army commander, he was a true leader and he had the fear of God. He was the least among his brethren and was not recognized in his clan but God had another view because He doesn’t see like humans. 

It happened that the Israelites had sinned against God, forsake His commandments, and God allowed the Midianites to terrorize them for seven years. The Midianites was so powerful that the Israelites abandoned their homes and lived in calves, and whenever it’s harvest season, the Midianites will come and take everything from the Israelites and destroyed the ones they couldn’t carry. It becomes tough for the Israelites to survive and then, they cried to God for help.

(Judges 6:11) when Gideon was threshing some wheat 🌾 secretly because he fears the Midianites, God’s angel appeared to him sitting under an oak tree. The angel greeted him in an usual way “the Lord is with you, brave and mighty man” and he was shocked and asked, “if the Lord is with us, why had all these calamities befallen on us”. He was equipped with the strength to rescue the Israelites from the hands of the Midianites, and God had promised to be with him. 

Gideon wasn’t so sure, so he asked for a prove of God's will by three miracles, he rushed in cook a young goat and made bread, and presented it to the angel and it was consumed by fire and the angel disappeared and then two signs involving a fleece, performed on consecutive nights and the exact opposite of each other. First waking to his fleece covered in dew, but the surrounding ground dry. Then the next morning, his fleece dry but the surrounding ground covered in dew.

His first assignment was to burned down his father’s shrine (clan shrine) and built God’s Altar, he did all in the night with the help of his ten servants because he fears his father and those shrine worshipers. When it was day, the shrine worshipers wanted to kill Gideon but Joash, defended Gideon, insisting the god should fight for himself. 

Gideon was taken over by God’s spirit and he assembled the men from Abiezer his clan and the entire tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. More than 30,000 men gathered and it was too much because God does not want them to think, it was by their power they defeated the Midianites. Later, 20,000 men went home and still 10,000 was much for the battle, God instructed Gideon to take his troops to the river to drink and anyone who lapses the water like dog is qualified and those that keel down to drink were to disqualified. 300 men were qualified for the battle, and the strategy wasn’t to fight because God had already given the Israelites victory. 

Gideon gave his 300 men trumpet 🎺, jar 🏺, and torch. They were divided into three groups and when they had surrendered the enemies camp, they blew their trumpet and broke the jars, and the enemies were terrified and God made them to fight and kill themselves, few ran away and the 300 men pursued them crossing the river Jordan. The two kings (Oreb & Zeeb) were killed by the tribe of Ephraim.

After the great victory, the Israelites asked Gideon to be their leader and he ruled Israel for 40 years in peace. 

Gideon had 70 sons and many wives with a concubine from Shechem, she was the mother of Abimelech. (Judges 6, 7 & 8).

Thanks so much for your affections and remain blessed.

Peace ☮️ out.