In today's reading from Judges, Fr. Mike talk about Gideon's story, and points out how the people began to worship the object Gideon had created to glorify God, instead of worshipping the living God. In Ruth, he highlights the role of kinsman-redeemer and how Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of that role. Today's readings are Judges 6-8, Ruth 3, and Psalm 135. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: Who is Gideon and what is his significance in the Bible?
We're still traveling with the judges. Today, we're going to be following the judge whose name is Gideon. You might know his story, but by the end of today, you will definitely know his story. As always, we are praying for each other. Usually, I save that to the end, but gosh, I think we need to begin this day just knowing that
We belong here, you belong here, and the Lord does want to speak to you today. He is proud of you, and he loves you very much. The book of Judges, chapter six. The Midianite oppression. The sons 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 prevailed over Israel, and because of Midian, the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and the strongholds. For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up and attack them.
They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land as far as the neighborhood of Gaza and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. And they would come up with their cattle and their tents coming like locusts for number. Both they and their camels could not be counted so that they wasted the land as they came in. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian.
Chapter 2: How did God call Gideon to lead Israel?
And the sons of Israel cried for help to the Lord. When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel. And he said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage.
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 pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but you have not given heed to my voice. the call of Gideon.
Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezarite, and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor. And Gideon said to him, Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this befallen us?
And where are all his wonderful deeds which our fathers recounted to us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has cast us off and given us into the hand of Midian. And the Lord turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Do not I send you? And he said to him, Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel?
Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family. And the Lord said to him, But I will be with you and you shall strike the Midianites as one man. And he said to him, If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Do not depart from here, I beg you, until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.
And he said, I will stay till you return. So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour, the meat he put in a basket and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak 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 there sprang up fire from the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
Then Gideon perceived that he was an 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."
That night the Lord said to him, Take your father's bull, the second bull, seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal, which your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it, and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order.
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Chapter 3: What was the sign of the fleece and its importance?
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 upon the altar which had been built. And they said to one another, Who has done this thing? And after they had made search 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 pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it. But Joash said to all who were arrayed against him, will you contend for Baal or will you defend his cause? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning.
If he is a god, let him contend for himself because his altar has been pulled down. Therefore, on that day, he was called Jerubabbel. That is to say, let Baal contend against him because he pulled down his altar. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came together, and crossing the Jordan they encamped in the valley of Jezreel.
But the Spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. Then he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them. The sign of the fleece.
Then Gideon said to God, if you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said. And it was so.
When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung out enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, let not your anger burn against me. Let me speak but this once. Please let me make trial only this once with the fleece. Please let it be dry only on the fleece and on all the ground. Let there be dew.
And God did so that night for it was dry on the fleece only and on all the ground there was dew. Chapter seven, Gideon's army selected. Then Jerubabbel, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod. And the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Morah in the valley.
The Lord said to Gideon, The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has delivered me. Now therefore, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home. And Gideon tested them. Twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained.
And the Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many. Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there. And he of whom I say to you, this man shall go with you, shall go with you. And any of whom I shall say to you, this man shall not go with you, shall not go.
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Chapter 4: How did Gideon defeat the Midianites with his army?
So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone that laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise everyone that kneels down to drink. And the number of those that lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was three hundred men. But all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.
And the Lord said to Gideon, With the three hundred men that lapped, I will deliver you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home. So he took the charge of the people from their hands and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel, every man, to his tent. but retained the three hundred men, and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
Gideon routs the Midianites. That same night the Lord said to him, Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.
but if you fear to go down go down to the camp with purah your servant and you shall hear what they say and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp then he went down with purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men that were in the camp and the midianites and the amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locusts for multitude
And their camels were without number as the sand which is upon the seashore for multitude. When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade and he said, behold, I dreamed a dream. And the cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.
And his comrade answered, this is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. into his hand God has given Midian and all the host. When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.
And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, look at me and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout for the Lord and for Gideon.
So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch. when they had just set up the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches and in their right hands the trumpets to blow.
And they cried a sword for the Lord and for Gideon. They stood every man in his place round about the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Bet Shittah, toward Zerurah, as far as the border of Abel Maholah by Tabath.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Gideon face from the Israelites after his victory?
Chapter 6: What is the role of the kinsman-redeemer in the book of Ruth?
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.
Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 91, and today we are reading from Judges chapters 6, 7, and 8, as well as from the book of Ruth chapter 3. Ruth is only four chapters long, so we are three quarters of the way through it at the end of today.
And we're also praying Psalm 135. As always, I'm reading from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, reading from the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to get that Bible, you can go to ascensionpress.com and order it or Amazon or wherever they sell Bibles. You can also download your Bible in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.
If you haven't yet done that, you can also subscribe to this podcast. You can also rate it. You can also give it one star up to five stars, and you can also give a review, which is really helpful for a lot of people because the more people review, the more people get to see it and maybe more people start reading the Bible, which could be pretty awesome. Anyways, as I said, today is day 91.
We're still traveling with the judges. Today, we're going to be following the judge whose name is Gideon. You might know his story, but by the end of today, you will definitely know his story. As always, we are praying for each other. Usually, I save that to the end, but gosh, I think we need to begin this day just knowing that
We belong here, you belong here, and the Lord does want to speak to you today. He is proud of you, and he loves you very much. The book of Judges, chapter six. The Midianite oppression. The sons 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 prevailed over Israel, and because of Midian, the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and the strongholds. For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up and attack them.
They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land as far as the neighborhood of Gaza and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. And they would come up with their cattle and their tents coming like locusts for number. Both they and their camels could not be counted so that they wasted the land as they came in. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian.
And the sons of Israel cried for help to the Lord. When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel. And he said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage.
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