Judges 6:36-40 And Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said,… Like other Israelites, he is strongly persuaded that God appears and speaks to men through nature; and he craves a sign in the natural world which is of God's making and upholding. Now, to us the sign Gideon asked may appear rude, uncouth, and without any moral significance. A fleece which is to be wet one morning while the threshing-floor is dry, and dry next morning while the threshing-floor is wet, supplies the means of testing the Divine presence and approval. Further, it may be alleged that the phenonema admit of natural explanation. But this is the meaning: Gideon providing the fleece, indentifies himself with it. It is his fleece, and if God's dew drenches it, that will imply that God's power shall enter Gideon's soul and abide in it, even though Israel be dry as the dusty floor. The thought is at once simple and profound, childlike and Hebrew-like, and carefully we must observe that it is a nature-sign, not a mere portent, Gideon looks for. It is not whether God can do a certain seemingly impossible thing. That would not help Gideon. But the dew represents to his mind the vigour he needs, the vigour Israel needs if he should fail; and in reversing the sign, "Let the dew be on the ground and the fleece be dry," he seems to provide a hope even in prospect of his own failure or death. Gideon's appeal is for a revelation of the Divine in the same sphere as the lightning, storm and rain, in which Deborah found a triumphant proof of Jehovah's presence; yet there is a notable contrast. We are reminded of the "still small voice" Elijah heard as he stood in the cave-mouth after the rending wind and the earthquake and the lightning. We remember also the image of Hosea, "I will be as the dew unto Israel." There is a question in the Book of Job — "Hath the rain a father, or who hath begotten the drops of dew?" The faith of Gideon makes answer, "Thou, O Most High, dost give the dews of heaven." The silent distillation of the dew is profoundly symbolic of the spiritual economy and those energies that are "not of this noisy world, but silent and Divine." (R. A. Watson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,WEB: Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken, |
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