DEPRAVITY WITHOUT GOD PART 5: Hewers or Drivers and Filler of Drawers

Pictured are a group of "Hewers or Drivers" standing on or by their work. These are members of my family. The man standing beneath the X is my great grandfather, William Townsley. He and his brother, Jim, owned the lumber business.

 Chapter 5 of Judges ends with these word in Verse 31 according to the English Standard Version: And the land had rest for forty years

In the NIV the is translated as: Then the land had peace for 40 years.

Rest and peace do not last.

Chapter 6: 1-2 begins with the old familiar reframe with the usual result: The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.

See the map. Midian would have covered a large chunk of what is

now Saudi Arabia and Yemen, running north from the Gulf of Aqaga along the east shore of  the Red Sea. It was located in part of what was called the Levant, which we spoke of before in our studies. When you hear the name ISIL remember it stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. See, this stuff goes back to the beginnings. There is nothing new under the sun. 

The name Midian came from a son of Abraham, who had that name. He was the fourth son of Abraham and his wife Keturah. Yeah, you don’t hear much about this woman. We hear about Sarah, who bore Abraham’s promised son Isaac and we hear about Hagar, with whom he had Ishmael, but Keturah kind of gets lost in the shuffle. He married her after the death of Sarah. The name may mean incense. There are even some who claim Keturah was really Hagar come back reformed, but that is not a general belief. It is mostly based because in 1 Chronicles 1:32 Keturah is called Abraham’s concubine. Concubine was a subtle way of saying “kept woman”. But In Genesis 25: we are told Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. Again, her spousal status was challenged because in Genesis 25:5-6 we are told: Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country. The east country most likely would have been Midian. No further Scriptural references are made to Keturah. 

This is the 1630 “Venice Haggadah” illustration depicting Abraham and his wives and sons.  In the center are Abraham with Sarah and Isaac. To the left stand Hagar and Ishmael, while on the right is Keturah with her six sons. The fourth boy from the left with Keturah is Midian. (Haggadah means “telling” and are used to set the order of the seder at the Jewish Passover.) 

We have touched on Midian in other lessons. Midianites had come across Joseph and purchased him from his brothers, later selling him to Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. (Genesis 37: 28) Midian is where Moses fled after he killed the Egyptian and where he met his wife, Zipporah (Exodus 2:11-22). You may remember we talked about Moses father-in-law, Jethro, being a Midian Priest (Exodus 2:16). Jethro was also called Reuel and was a founder of the religion Druze.

Anyway there was along history between Israel and Midian and now God had given the Israelites over to the Midianites for seven years .The Midianites in turn destroyed everything Israel had, coming like a swarm of locust and the Israelites fled into the mountains, dwelling in caves. And of course,  they again turned to God and begged for relief.

God sent a prophet. He is the unknown prophet, probably raised up by God for this purpose. There are Jewish claims that this prophet was Phinehas, a grandson of Aaron. Phinehas is most noted for his fury at a Israelite man who brought a Midianite woman

home as his wife. Phinehas grabbed a spear, went to the man’s tent and ran both through as they were making love. (Numbers 25:1-18) But by the time of the Midianites oppression in Judges, Phinehus would have had to be over 200 years old, so it is unlikely this prophet was him. This prophet, whomever he was, declared:

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”(Judges 6:8-10)

A new hero is about to be called to rescue the Israelites. Verse 11 of Chapter 6 states: Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

Who is the angel of the Lord? Throughout the Scriptures you will find references to “angels of the Lord”, “an angel of the Lord” and “the angel of the Lord.” The angel of the Lord is first used in Genesis 16:7, appearing before Hagar, “The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur;” and lastly in Zechariah 12:8, where Zechariah is giving a vision of the future, “On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, going before them.”

Whenever the definite article is used, “THE angel of the Lord”, it tells us this is a physical appearance of God who is seen or speaking. The angel of the Lord is a term never used in Scripture after the birth of Jesus. (Some Bible versions did use The angel of the Lord in Matthew 28:2, but most translations have corrected this to “An angel of the Lord.”)

So what we have here is God sitting under the terebinth, which is a tree in the cashew family and once a source of turpentine, in case you wanted to know.

Joash, the owner of the tree, has a son who is beating out wheat in the winepress at that moment. Now why is he beating out wheat in the winepress, you may ask. He is trying to hide the wheat from the Midians; otherwise, they will swoop down and take it like they have been taking everything else of the Israelites. The angel of the Lord called to this young man and said, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 

Th young man is Gideon, probably the second best known hero in

Judges. We will get to the first in a later lesson. People may be familiar with Gideon’s fleeces, but they probably  know him best from finding Bibles in hotel and motel rooms when they travel. A lot less such places do this now than years ago, but there are still a lot of hotels and motels that do; although these days you might find a Book of Mormon in the desk drawer along with the Gideon Bible. I am not certain why the Gideons choose his name for their organization. I don’t see anything related to this Bible distribution in his story. 

I do find Gideon something like myself, cynical, skeptical and cautious. Look at the cynicism in Gideon’s conversation with the angel of the Lord.

And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” Judges 6:11-13

A lot of terrible things are happening to Israel at that time. Those Midianites are swooping in and snatching up all the products Israel produces, leaving them with little. And Israel has been so terrified by these Midianites that they are fleeing into the mountains and living in caves. I think a lot of us might ask God the same question in our times. Maybe the answer would be we are basically engaged in the same thing, disobedience.

Take note, God doesn’t give Gideon any direct answer.

And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” Judges 6:14 

So Gideon asks the next logical question. Probably just what I would ask if God told me to go save the United States.

And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” Judges 6:15

Gideon gets the answer that Israel had forgotten since they crossed the Jordan River, the thing we need to remember ourselves when faced with difficulty. It is certainly something I often struggle with remembering.

And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

And [Gideon] said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.”

And [The Angel of the Lord] said, “I will stay till you return.” (Judges 6:16-18)

This is where the skepticism and caution comes in.

So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour, which is a little more than a bushel. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them.

And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.

Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. Judges 6:19-24

Ophrah is a city near Mount Moreh in the Valley of Jezreel, where Taybeh, a Palestinian city stands today. Abiezrite was a grandson of Manasseh and the son of Gilead. Joash and Gideon were of this clan.

When the Angel of the Lord vanished, Gideon realized who had been speaking to him. That night the Lord came back to him and said: Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due  order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. (Judges 6:25-27).

What can we gather from this passage?

Well, for one, despite the Lord calling Gideon mighty, he was more like mighty fearful. He is afraid of his family and he is afraid of the townspeople. He does what God told him, but he waits until night when he won’t be seen, except by his ten servants. 

It also tells us his father was like the other Israelites in having other gods before The Lord. He has his own alter to Baal and an Asterah Pole. Such poles were set up as religious locations to honor the mother-goddess Asherah. Jeremiah referred to Asherah as the Queen of Heaven (jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:17-25)  She was also known as Hera, Astarte and Isis. Modern Pagans consider  her the Great Goddess.

Modern Asherah Poles.

When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” Judges 6:28-30 

Ut oh! What is going to happen to our boy Gideon now. The mob has come with torches and pitchforks demanding his life?

As the movie serials use to say: To be continued…