6:36–40. fleece oracles. In an oracle a yes-no question is posed to
deity and a mechanism of some binary nature is used so that deity can provide
the answer. In Israel the priest carried the Urim and Thummim to use in
oracular situations (see comment on Ex 28:30). That is apparently not
available, so Gideon must be more creative and use a natural mechanism for the
oracle (see Gen 24:14 and 1 Sam 6:7–9 for other occurrences). His yes-no
question is whether or not the Lord is going to use him to deliver Israel. His
oracular mechanism is based on what would normally happen to a fleece on a
threshing floor overnight. Since the fleece is soft and absorbent and the
threshing floor is rock or hard dirt, one would expect the fleece to be damp
and the ground of the threshing floor dry. That would be the normal behavior of
nature. In this case such a response would indicate a “yes” answer to his
oracular question. Gideon has already been informed of the Lord’s intentions by
the angel and is just offering an opportunity for the Lord to inform him if the
plan has changed. When the events of the first night turn out exactly how one
would expect them to under normal circumstances, Gideon wonders if maybe this
“silence” might just mean the Lord wasn’t paying attention. He therefore
switches the indicators so that the unusual occurrence would represent the
“yes” answer—the fleece dry and the threshing floor wet. The thought behind
this is that if deity is providing the answer, he can alter normal behavior and
override natural laws in order to communicate his answer. In the ancient Near
East, when they wanted a natural mechanism for oracles, they tended to use the
liver or kidney of sacrificed animals (a divinatory practice called extispicy;
see comment on omens at Deut 18:10). (Victor Harold Matthews, Mark
W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old
Testament, electronic ed. [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2000],
Jdg 6:36–40)
6:36–40 In the presence of the assembled forces Gideon asks the
Lord to perform two signs before entering into battle with the Midianites.
These signs are not employed in order to determine the will of God. God has
spoken clearly to Gideon, and Gideon understands what God desires him to do: to
“save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”
Additionally, the request for a sign before entering into battle does not
necessarily constitute a lack of faith on Gideon’s part. He is now clothed with
the Spirit of God and serving as God’s instrument of deliverance.
We have already seen how the call
of Gideon connects him with Moses in the tradition of Exodus 3. In the same
way, the signs of Gideon correspond to similar signs given to Moses in Exodus
4. There the Lord gives Moses two signs, the sign of the staff changing into a
serpent and the sign of a leprous hand being made clean. The elements of the
sign are symbolic of the events to which they point. For example, the staff
that becomes a serpent represents Pharaoh, who wears the image of a serpent on
his crown. Moses is then commanded to take the serpent with his hand, and it
turns back into a staff. This sign demonstrates that the Lord will indeed give
Pharaoh into the hand of Moses. These signs are to be performed so that the
Israelites will believe that God has raised up Moses to deliver his people (Ex.
4:1, 30–31). In the same way, the fleece signs of Gideon are intended to
demonstrate that the Lord has indeed raised up Gideon to deliver Israel from
Midianite oppression. Once again, these signs do not reveal the will of God;
rather, they are signs coming after the revelation of God’s will to provide his
people with the courage to do that which he has revealed to them.
The ground of the threshing floor
represents the land of Israel. The expression “all the ground” occurs three
times. The word for “ground” in Hebrew also means “land,” and a Hebrew reader
would have made the connection. The fleece of wool represents the Midianite
army and their hordes of camels that have crossed the Jordan to consume
Israel’s crops and livestock. The dew symbolizes the blessing of God (Gen.
27:28; Deut. 33:13 ESV mg.; Ps. 133:3), the crops and livestock produced from
God’s gift of the land to his people. In the first fleece sign the land is dry
and the fleece is wet with dew, symbolizing Israel’s current situation, as the
Midianites consume what God intended for Israel in the form of blessing. In the
second fleece sign the fleece is dry and the land is wet with dew, symbolizing
that God is about to reverse the situation and return the conditions of
blessing to his people.
By the time we arrive at the end
of this chapter, the Lord has sent his prophet to rebuke Israel for her
idolatry, raised up a Spirit-empowered deliverer, destroyed the altar of Baal
and Asherah, assembled the army of Israel, and performed two signs to encourage
the faith of those assembled for battle. Now the Lord is ready to fight for
Israel against the Midianites and purge them from the land. (Miles V. Van Pelt,
“Judges,” in Deuteronomy–Ruth, ed. Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr.
[ESV Expository Commentary 2; Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2021], 2:579)