Not only does Gideon say, "You've got the wrong man," but he also expresses doubts that the Lord is still on Israel's side. "'Pardon me, my lord,' Gideon replied, 'but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian." (Judges 6:13) Gideon sounds bitter and discouraged. He thinks Israel's current oppression by the Midianites and their allies is a sign that the Lord has turned His back on the nation. But as we discussed yesterday, the Lord allowed the people to endure hardship in order to correct waywardness. We can be certain of that because the unnamed prophet of yesterday's passage delivered a message from the Lord in which He stated, "I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to Me."
What Gideon interprets as abandonment is actually the mercy of the Lord. If the Lord had not sent hardship for the purpose of correction, the citizens may all have fallen into idolatry eventually. This would have led to the Israelites becoming just like all the other people of the ancient world and this would have led to them losing their nation entirely. The Lord carefully outlined, in Deuteronomy 28, the disastrous results idolatry would bring about. He does not want the curses of Deuteronomy 28 coming to pass; therefore He allowed Israel at this time to fall prey to enemies, not because He wishes the people harm but because He wishes them good.
Not every citizen of Israel, of course, abandoned the Lord in favor of idols. Some of the people remained steadfastly faithful. Others blended the worship of the Lord with the worship of idols. We'll find out later in our chapter that Gideon's own father had built an altar to Baal (an ancient Canaanite sun god) and had set up a monument to Asherah (a moon goddess and Baal's consort). Gideon grew up in a household where idolatry was practiced but it may have been practiced alongside worship of the Lord since Gideon appears to believe in the Lord. Gideon can clearly see that Israel has certainly received no help from the gods of the heathens but at this point in time he feels Israel is receiving no help from the Lord either, which is why he says, "Why has He abandoned us? I've been told He performed great miracles on behalf of our ancestors but where is His miracle-working power today? Why isn't He doing the things today that He did back then?"
The answer is that the people aren't doing the things they did back then. But having grown up in an era where heathen idolatry was mixed in with the worship of the one true God, Gideon perhaps didn't recognize the problem. Many of the people who were born in the promised land and who had enjoyed the forty years of peace while Deborah was judge probably didn't realize how far they had drifted from the Lord and may not have seen the direct correlation between their casual spirituality and their loss of the Lord's protective hedge around them. Whenever hardship enters our lives, the first thing we need to do is prayerfully and humbly ask the Lord to reveal to us whether we've brought it upon ourselves through sin. Not every hardship is the result of sin but there's no doubt there are times in our lives when our circumstances are the result of disobedience.
Gideon is complaining to the Lord about his and the nation's circumstances. He's bitter. He's angry. He's discouraged. But we were told yesterday that the Lord sent a prophet to clearly point out the reason for the people's current circumstances. So the angel of the Lord does not get into a discussion with Gideon as he asks questions that have already been answered by the Lord's prophet. The Midianites and their allies gained the upper hand over the Israelites because idolatry entered the nation. There's no point in the angel of the Lord going over this again and he doesn't; instead he tells Gideon to get on with what he's being called to do. "The Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?'" (Judges 6:14) Many scholars interpret this appearance of "the angel of the Lord" as a Christophany: a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. We've already seen a few of these incidences in the Old Testament. I think it's quite likely this is a Christophany since the one speaking with Gideon (who appears in the form of a human man) is referred to here in verse 14 and in many other verses of this chapter as "the Lord". An alternative theory is that since this messenger is coming in the authority of the Lord he is referred to as "the Lord". We won't get caught up in a debate regarding the identity of this person since the focus of the text is on the message and not on the messenger.
Gideon continues to protest that he is not the man for the job. "'Pardon me, my Lord,' Gideon replied, 'but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.'" (Judges 6:15) Gideon isn't the first person in the Bible to say to the Lord, "You've got the wrong guy. Send someone else." Remember when the Lord spoke to Moses from the burning bush and commissioned him to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt? Moses was like, "I'm not your guy. I tried to start a revolt against the Egyptian slavemasters and ended up having to flee for my life. I thought I was supposed to be the man to rescue my people but I failed. I'm not going back. There's probably still a bounty on my head. But even if there isn't, I'm certainly not going to be able to stand before Pharaoh and make a speech so impressive that he'll be persuaded to let them go. I'm not even a good speaker. Send someone else."
But the power is in the Lord, not in the one whom the Lord sends. The Lord enabled Moses to do what He called him to do. The Lord will enable Gideon to do what He's calling him to do. The Lord will enable you and me to do whatever He calls us to do. The Lord assures Gideon that he will be successful. "The Lord answered, 'I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.'" (Judges 6:16)
In our passage tomorrow we'll find Gideon still unconvinced. As we proceed through Chapter 6 we'll find him requesting several signs that he has truly heard the Lord calling him to lead the Israelites against their enemies. I'm so glad Gideon needed extra assurances because I'm the same way sometimes, aren't you? I'm so glad the Bible doesn't gloss over the weaknesses of the people in it because they had the same weaknesses that are common to all of us. We like having extra assurances. We want to be provided with clear signs from the Lord. When called by the Lord to do something, our first instinct is often to say, "I'm not the right person for the job. Send someone else." But the Lord doesn't make mistakes. He calls the right person for the right job and He enables the person to do whatever He's calling them to do. The power is in the Lord, not in us.
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