The Skeptics Annotated Bible (231 page)

(6.20-21) To prove he’s for real, the angel makes fire come out of a rock, burning flesh and cakes.

20 And
the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth.
And he did so.

(6.20)
“The angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth.”

21 Then
the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff
that was in his hand,
and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes.
Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.

(6.21)
“The angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff … and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes.”

22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.

23 And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

(6.25-28a) God tells Gideon to vandalize his neighbors’ places of worship.

25 And it came to pass the same night, that
the LORD said unto him,
Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and
throw down the altar of Baal
that thy father hath,
and cut down the grove
that is by it:

(6.25)
“The LORD said unto him … throw down the altar of Baal … and cut down the grove.”

26 And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.

27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.

(6.28a)
“The altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down.”

(6.28b)
“The second bullock was offered upon the altar.”

29 And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.

31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.

32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.

33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him.

(6.34)
“The Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet.”

35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

(6.36-40) Then after sacrificing some animals for God, vandalizing his neighbors’ places of worship, and blowing a trumpet, Gideon asks for some (more) signs to convince him that God isn’t lying to him. (The burning flesh sign in 6.20-21 didn’t satisfy him.) So he puts down some wool on the ground and asks God to make it wet, while keeping the surrounding ground dry. And God does it, no sweat. But Gideon is still not sure he can trust God, so he asks him to reverse the trick, and make the ground wet and the wool dry. “And God did so.” Gideon must have been impressed by a God that could do such great things.
148 Is it OK to test (or tempt) God?

36 And
Gideon said unto God
, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,

37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

(6.36-37)
“Gideon said unto God … I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.”

38
And it was so
: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

(6.38)
“And it was so.”

39 And
Gideon said unto God
, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece;
let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

(6.39)
“Gideon said unto God … let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.”

40
And God did so
that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

(6.40)
“And God did so.”

7
Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

2 And
the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many
for me to give the Midianites into their hands,
lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

(7.2a) After God passed all of Gideon’s tests, Gideon and God get down to business. First they need an army. Luckily, the Israelite slaves maintained a large, well-equiped army. But the army was too big for God’s liking. He worried that if they killed all the Midianites with a big army, no one would believe that it was God that did the killing. And God wants all the credit for his killings.