Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Judges
Book: Judges
Chapter: 6
Overview:
Israel oppressed
By Midianites.
(1-6) Israel rebuked
By a
Prophet.
(7-10) Gideon set to deliver
Israel.
(11-24) Gideon
destroys
Baal's
Altar.
(25-32) Signs given him.
(33-40)
1-6 Israel's
Sin was renewed, and
Israel's troubles were
repeated. Let all that
Sin expect to suffer. The Israelites hid
themselves in dens and caves; such was the effect of a guilty
Conscience.
Sin dispirits men. The invaders left
No Food for
Israel, except what was taken into the caves. They prepared that
for
Baal with which
God should have been served, now
God justly
sends an enemy to take it away in the season thereof.
7-10 They cried to
God for a deliverer, and he sent them a
Prophet to teach them. When
God furnishes a land with
Faithful
ministers, it is a token that he has
Mercy in store for it. He
charges them with rebellion against the
Lord; he intends to
bring them to
Repentance.
Repentance is real when the sinfulness
of
Sin, as disobedience to
God, is chiefly lamented.
11-24 Gideon was a
Man of a brave, active
Spirit, yet in
obscurity through the times: he is here stirred up to undertake
something great. It was very sure that the
Lord was with him,
when his
Angel was with him.
Gideon was weak in
Faith, which
made it hard to reconcile the assurances of the presence of
God
with the distress to which
Israel was brought. The
Angel
answered his objections. He told him to appear and act as
Israel's deliverer, there needed
No more.
Bishop Hall says,
While
God calls
Gideon valiant, he makes him
So.
God delights to
advance the humble.
Gideon desires to have his
Faith confirmed.
Now, under the influences of the
Spirit, we are not to expect
signs before our eyes such as
Gideon here desired, but must
earnestly pray to
God, that if we have found
Grace in his sight,
he would show us a sign in our
Heart,
By the powerful working of
his
Spirit there, The
Angel turned the meat into an
Offering
made
By Fire; showing that he was not a
Man who needed meat, but
the
Son of God, who was to be served and honoured
By Sacrifice,
and who in the
Fulness of time was to make himself a
Sacrifice.
Hereby a sign was given to
Gideon, that he had found
Grace in
God's sight. Ever since
Man has
By Sin exposed himself to
God's
wrath and
Curse, a message from
Heaven has been a terror to him,
as he scarcely dares to expect good tidings thence. In this
world, it is very awful to have any converse with that world of
spirits to which we are
So much strangers.
Gideon's courage
failed him. But
God spoke peace to him.
25-32 See the power of
God's
Grace, that he could raise up a
reformer; and the kindness of his
Grace, that he would raise up
a deliverer, out of the family of a leader in
Idolatry.
Gideon
must not think it enough not to
Worship at that
Altar; he must
throw it down, and offer
Sacrifice On another. It was needful he
should make peace with
God, before he made
War On Midian. Till
Sin be pardoned through the great
Sacrifice,
No good is to be
expected.
God, who has all hearts in his hands, influenced
Joash
to appear for his son against the advocates for
Baal, though he
had joined formerly in the
Worship of
Baal. Let us do our duty,
and trust
God with our safety. Here is a challenge to
Baal, to
do either good or evil; the result convinced his worshippers of
their folly, in praying to one to help them that could not
avenge himself.
33-40 These signs are truly miraculous, and very significant.
Gideon and his men were going to fight the Midianites; could
God
distinguish between a small
Fleece of
Israel, and the vast floor
of
Midian?
Gideon is made to know that
God could do
So. Is
Gideon desirous that the
Dew of Divine
Grace might come down
upon himself in particular? He sees the
Fleece wet with
Dew to
assure him of it. Does he desire that
God will be as the
Dew to
all
Israel? Behold, all the ground is wet. What cause we sinners
of the
Gentiles have, to
Bless the
Lord that the
Dew of heavenly
blessings, once confined to
Israel, is now sent to all the
inhabitants of the
Earth! Yet still the
Means of Grace are in
different measures, according to the purposes of
God. In the
same
Congregation, one
Man's soul is like
Gideon's moistened
Fleece, another like the dry ground.