Gideon: Man of Fear

When we first encounter Gideon, the fifth of the 12 leaders of Israel described in the book called Judges, he is definitely a man who is overwhelmed, even dominated, by fear.

Gideon lived during that long stretch of time—more than three centuries—between the days of Joshua, and the launch of the monarchy, which is captured for us in the shadowy book of Judges.

Now, Gideon’s fears were not unfounded. Over the course of seven straight years, the Midianites, Amalekites and other Easterners had swept through Israel at harvest time and taken every shred of their crops, along with their animals, leaving the people of Israel completely desolate.

In desperation, Gideon took the unconventional step of threshing his harvest of wheat—apparently a meager harvest, at that—down “in the winepress” (6:11), beneath the line of sight of the Midianites.

The actions of the Midianites were at once both a judgment from God upon Israel for sins such as Baal worship (see Judges 6:25) and a catalyst to bring them back to God in repentance and faith (see 6:6). This is in keeping with the pattern of the whole book of Judges (see 2:11-15), and it is also in line with the manner in which God deals with His children today (see Heb. 12:5-11).

It is in this context that “the Angel of the LORD” (6:11; equated throughout the text with the LORD himself [see vv. 14, 16, 22], showing this to be a theophany) appears to Gideon and calls him, literally, a “mighty man of valor” (6:12; compare Ruth 2:1, where this well-known combination of Hebrew words is used of Boaz). This assessment was certainly not based on Gideon’s past or current performance. It could only relate to his future potential.

God was calling one of the most unlikely men in Israel (see 6:15) not only to overcome his own personal fears, but to lead Israel to a military victory that would go down as one of the greatest in history (see 6:16). We have no record that Gideon had any previous military experience at all. But that was fine, because the source of his victory would be found in God, not himself (see 7:2), and in the process this man of fear would become a man of faith.

Unquestionably, fear runs all throughout the narrative describing Gideon. Consider the following references related to fear just in Judges 6:

• The Israelites hid in “dens” and “caves” (6:2).
• They were forbidden to “fear” false deities (6:10).
• Gideon concealed himself “from the Midianites” (6:11).
• Gideon thought that “the LORD [had] forsaken” His people (6:13).
• Gideon supposed he would die immediately as a punishment during his initial interaction with “the Angel of the LORD” (6:22-23).
• Finally, Gideon “feared” retribution for destroying the altar of Baal (6:27).

Though frightened, Gideon obeyed God’s command to carry out the demolition of his father’s idolatrous Baal altar—but only with a tremendous amount of fear and trepidation (see 6:25-32). We might wonder how, with the command and promises of God behind him, he would not instead be afraid of refusing to strike down such a wicked and perverse worship center. But the Bible presents Gideon to us honestly, in all his human frailty. That, incidentally, is unique to Gideon within the book of Judges. We know more about him than anyone else in the record of these times.

Despite God’s explicit promises to use Gideon mightily following His initial confrontations with the new judge (see 6:14, 16; 7:7, 9), Gideon was still filled with doubt and fear—and asked God to confirm His Word with two different miraculous signs (6:36-40). In his fear, Gideon was trying to “test” God (6:39). Little did he yet understand how God was going to test and stretch him, and grow him into a man of faith.

God graciously condescended to His fearful servant, and was in the process of transforming him into that man of faith, who would lead God’s chosen people to one of the greatest victories in all of Biblical history.

Yet fears would continue to plague Gideon. He even had the audacity to doubt the direct promises of God regarding the outcome of the battle, choosing instead to place his trust in the report of “a dream” (7:13) he overheard from a Midianite soldier (7:9-15).

We will pick up with that theme, and conclude this short study of Gideon, in the next installment.