Chapter 6. Gideon.
In this chapter we have an account of the distressed condition Israel was in as a result of continual Midianite invasion; of a prophet being sent to them to reprieve them from their sins; of the angel of Yahweh appearing to Gideon with an order to him to go and save Israel out of the hands of the Midianites; of a sign given to him by the angel, whereby he knew this order was from God; of the reformation from idolatry he commenced in his father's family, by throwing down the altar of Baal, and building one for Yahweh; and of the preparation he made to fight the Midianites and others. But first he desired a sign from Yahweh, that Israel would be saved by his hand, a request which was granted and repeated.
God's Fourth Lesson - Invasions From the East - Gideon the Deliverer (Judges 6:1 to Judges 8:32).
The Continual Invasions by Midian, Amalek and the Children of the East (Judges 6:1-6).
‘ And the children of Israel did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.'
Again the refrain is repeated because the sin of Israel was repeated. Again they turned to idols and worshipped Baal and the Asherah. It should make us wonder why God did not get sick of them and does not get sick of us also with our continual disobedience. It was of course because He was working out His sovereign plan of redemption through them. But again He determined to teach them a lesson.
The time of ‘rest' after the activities of Barak and Deborah was now over, for in their passing Israel once more slipped back into their old ways. They had enjoyed a generation at peace, serving Yahweh, offering sacrifices and offerings, faithfully attending at the central sanctuary, generally obeying Yahweh's commandments, but now they had become complacent and were neglecting Him once again. They had begun again to look to the local Baals and Asherah as well, and to do ‘what was evil in the sight of Yahweh'.
“Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.” ‘Seven' is the number of divine completeness. And these were seven years of perpetual invasions, when the Midianites would sweep in from the eastern desert, murder and plunder, seize their crops and cattle, and then withdraw to wait for the next harvest. God gave Israel full measure for their sins. This particular episode was so dreadful that it bored itself into the mind of Israel long after the others were almost forgotten. ‘The day of Midian' was remembered as horrific (Isaiah 9:4).
The Midianites consisted of a number of semi-nomadic and bedouin tribes, including Ishmaelites. They were connected with Abraham's other sons (other than Isaac). They engaged in both caravan trade (Genesis 37:28) and despoiling any weaker than themselves, as well as herding sheep and goats (Exodus 2:15; Exodus 3:1). They dwelt in, and moved around in, the wilderness and desert from south of the Dead Sea to lands east of the Jordan (Genesis 25:2-6; Genesis 37:25 on; Exodus 3:1; Numbers 22:4; Numbers 22:7), and were fairly widespread. Because of what they had done to Israel some suffered at the hands of Israel (Numbers 25:16-18; Numbers 31:2; Numbers 31:7-12). Five Midianite chieftains, ‘the princes' of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and thus his vassals and presumably fairly settled, were defeated by Moses in the approach to the land (Joshua 13:21). There was nothing but enmity between them and the Israelites. Israel could expect no mercy at their hands.
Here they conjoined with the Amalekites (pure bedouin, who as far as Israel were concerned were under The Ban and therefore subject to total destruction - Deuteronomy 25:19) and the children of the East (Arab tribes east of Jordan - Jeremiah 49:28; Ezekiel 25:4), similar semi-nomadic and bedouin tribes. The confederacy was for the purpose of a powerful attack on Canaan in view of its then present prosperity, combined with its military weakness now that Hazor and its confederacy were no longer a threat. The tribal confederacy was weak because faith in and response to Yahweh had become dulled, affecting their oneness. The covenant was only effective when response to the needs of the confederacy was strong and immediate. With their war camels, a new weapon of war, the Midianites and their allies were themselves the new serious threat.