And Gideon said to God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said,
Gideon has sounded the trumpet and gathered the tribes. Yet before he marches he goes back to God for proof. He asks God to soak a fleece of wool on the threshing floor with dew while the ground around it stays dry. Two questions follow. Was this faith or unbelief? And what did the wet fleece and dry ground mean?
God had already told Gideon that He would use him. The words "as you have said" show Gideon knew it. That is why writers treat the opening "if" as a step backwards.
Perhaps his spirit was overawed when he saw the huge pagan army massing in front of him. For a moment his courage failed, and his heart longed for a fresh sign from the Lord. "Then Gideon said to God, If You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said" — alas, the poor heart can place its unbelieving "if" right in front of the word of God who cannot lie.
Other writers judge the same act more kindly. Gideon wants a sign he can see, and God met that same desire in others without complaint.
The boldness of faith, even when it seems to need confirmatory signs, never offends our gracious God. When He promised all blessing to Abraham, and that he would inherit the land of Canaan, Abraham asks, "How am I to know that I shall possess it?" Is God offended that His word is not enough? Ah, no, but He gives the wonderful night vision of the furnace and the flaming torch.
Commentators differ on how much blame Gideon deserves. None of them says God withheld the answer.
What Gideon gets back is not correction but kindness.
But oh, the matchless grace of God! His love that never reproaches! His tender thoughtfulness! He graciously meets the weakness of His poor servant... What condescending grace! Instead of harshly rebuking Gideon's unbelieving "if," He confirms his wavering faith with evidence beyond measure.
Writers also read the picture as a map of God's dealings with His people. The wool sits in the middle of the open floor, just as one nation sits among many.
The fleece in the middle of the ground is the type of Israel in the middle of the nations. The dew is the symbol of divine grace and mercy. It is the Lord who forsakes and who refreshes Israel. Israel today is like the fleece without the dew, while the ground, the Gentiles, have the grace of God. But before long the dew will fall upon Israel again and the time of their blessing and fullness will come.
On the second night the fleece stayed dry and the floor was wet. Writers read that sign the same way, but for a different time.
When the dew is seen upon the floor and not the fleece, it suggests the blessing that has come to the Gentiles during the period of Israel's rejection. We might say the present time.
One writer sees the wet fleece on dry ground as a portrait of one Man in a world that had nothing for God.
In Himself He was always that. In God's eyes He was beautiful beyond compare, and every thought, word and action was completely delightful to His Father. He was indeed like the fleece wet with the dew of heaven, in the middle of the barren dryness — the moral desert of Sahara — that ruled on every side.
Another writer turns the picture into a prayer for ourselves: to carry a character the world cannot produce.
Are we prepared to say to God, "Let the dew be upon the fleece; let us be saturated, baptised, entirely marked by what the earth does not have"? That is Christ. Only as our hearts and minds feed on Him will we bear the heavenly character and stand out from what belongs to the earth.
Many treat this chapter as permission to ask God for a visible sign before making a decision. One writer answers that.
But let believers remember that the Spirit of God lives in us. We can depend on God's Word together with the leading of the Spirit. So we need no confirming signs — only real communion with the Lord and faith in His Word.
- Dew asked. Gideon puts an "if" in front of a promise God had already spoken. The heart wants something it can see, not just God's bare word.
- Dew given. God does not rebuke the "if". He answers it twice, giving weak faith more evidence than Gideon asked for.
- Dew on the fleece. Wet wool on a dry floor pictures grace and mercy resting on Israel among the nations.
- Dew on the ground. The reversed sign pictures blessing reaching the nations while Israel is set aside. That is the present time. Israel's refreshing is still to come.
- Dew in us. Christ is the true fleece, wet with heaven in a dry world. Believers now have the Spirit and the Word. So the call is to soak in Him, not to look for signs.
behold, I put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if dew shall be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said.
The armies of Midian are camped in the valley, and Gideon is about to lead Israel out against them. First he asks God for a sign overnight: wool laid on the threshing floor, wet with dew while the ground around it stays dry.
God had already promised to save Israel by Gideon's hand. So his "if" stands in front of a word that needed no proving. One writer sees here the instinct of every human heart:
How remarkable! And yet we need not be surprised if we know anything of our own hearts. Anything for the poor human heart except the bare word of the living God. A sign, a token, something the eye can see. The word of God is not enough for unbelieving nature.
Commentators differ on the request. Some call it distrust; others say God is never offended when faith asks for confirmation. Both agree on how He answered:
But oh, the matchless grace of God! His love that never scolds! His tender thoughtfulness! He graciously meets the weakness of His poor servant... What grace, that He should stoop so low! He does not rebuke Gideon's unbelieving "if." Instead He confirms his wavering faith with more evidence than Gideon asked for.
Another writer sets Gideon beside Abraham:
The boldness of faith, even when it seems to need confirming signs, never offends our gracious God. God promised Abraham every blessing, and that he would inherit the land of Canaan. Abraham asks, "How am I to know that I shall possess it?" Is God offended that His word is not enough? No — He gives the wonderful night vision of the furnace and the flaming torch.
Dew carried a settled meaning in Israel's life and language:
Dew was the familiar sign of God's favour. It was largely the source of the land's fertility. Without it the land would have been parched and barren. Isaac uses this figure when he pronounces the blessing on Jacob. Moses repeats it in his closing blessing on the tribes. Elijah shows God's judgment on the land by declaring that no dew would fall... All refreshing, for Israel or for the Church, comes by the Holy Spirit. The divine dew is His blessed influence, bringing refreshing and help. Just as the land bears no fruit without dew, nothing grows where the Spirit's work is hindered.
A fleece is the wool cut off a sheep. That matched the nation's condition under Midian:
And how the people had been sheared, we might say, by the Midianites, until nothing was left but the fleece, a remnant.
Writers have also read the fleece and the ground as a sketch of a longer history:
The fleece in the middle of the ground is a picture of Israel in the middle of the nations. The dew is the symbol of divine grace and mercy. It is the Lord who forsakes and who refreshes Israel. Israel today is like the fleece without the dew, while the ground, the Gentiles, has the grace of God. But before long the dew will fall on Israel again, and the time of their blessing and fullness will come.
One writer looks at the wet fleece and sees more than a sign for Gideon:
His first sign was a fleece of wool soaked with dew, while everything around it was dry. Is this not a picture of the Lord Jesus in this world? Everything in this world (apart from God acting by His Spirit) was dry and lifeless as far as God was concerned.
One writer turns Gideon's request into a prayer for the reader:
Gideon's request was that the fleece should be soaked with what the earth knew nothing of... Are we prepared to say to God: "Let the dew be on the fleece; let us be soaked, baptized, entirely marked out by what the earth does not have?" That is Christ, surely. Only as our hearts and minds feed on Him will we carry the heavenly character and stand out from what is of the earth... Your own efforts will always be fruitless. You cannot perform a miracle. Only the power of God can bring this about.
This passage is often used as a method for finding God's will:
Today some Christians use this history as an excuse. They expect a material sign from God about what His will may be in a given matter. But let believers remember that we have the Spirit of God living in us. We can fully depend on God's Word together with the leading of the Spirit. So we need no confirming signs — only genuine communion with the Lord and faith in His Word.
- Doubt. Gideon's "if" stands in front of a promise God had already made. The human heart wants something the eye can see, not the bare word of God.
- Grace. God meets weak faith with kindness and gives more proof than Gideon asked for.
- Dew. Dew is the familiar sign of God's favour and stands for the Spirit's refreshing. Where it is withheld, the land is barren.
- Israel. The sheared fleece on the floor pictures Israel among the nations — dry now, but the dew of God's favour will fall on them again.
- Christ. The fleece soaked with dew in a dry world pictures the Lord Jesus. The believer's prayer is to be marked out by that same heavenly character.
And it was so. And when he rose up early on the morrow, he pressed the fleece together, and wrung dew out of the fleece, a bowl-full of water.
Gideon had asked for a sign: a fleece of wool left out overnight, wet while the ground around it stayed dry. By morning it held a bowlful of dew — which raises two questions: why did a called man need proof, and what does the fleece picture?
God had already given Gideon His word. One writer points to the small word Gideon set in front of it.
The poor heart can place its unbelieving "if" right in front of the word of God who cannot lie... Anything for the poor human heart but the naked word of the living God. A sign, a token, something that the eye can see. The word of God is not enough for unbelieving nature.
God could have rebuked His servant. Instead He answered with more than Gideon asked.
But oh, the matchless grace of God! His love that never scolds! His tender care! He graciously meets the weakness of His poor servant... What grace, that stoops so low! Instead of sharply rebuking Gideon's unbelieving "if," He confirms his wavering faith with overflowing evidence.
One writer measures the answer against ordinary dew.
To see how fully God answered, he wrung the water out of the fleece and found a bowl full of water! Those of us who have left clothes outside overnight may have found them damp in the morning. But there was never a bowl full of water in them from the dew.
So why grant Gideon a sign, when God refused the Jews who asked for one?
It is one thing to seek a sign in order to believe in God. It is quite another to seek one that confirms us in the rightness of the path we have entered, and in God's support of us in it. The first the Lord will not grant or allow. "No sign will be given to this generation," He says to the Jews... The divine path must be begun and entered in faith, without signs. But the Lord keeps giving evidence to confirm the soul that is in the right path.
One writer reads the wool as Israel and the dew as God's grace.
The fleece in the midst of the ground is the type of Israel in the midst of the nations. The dew is the symbol of divine grace and mercy. It is the Lord who forsakes and who refreshes Israel. Israel today is like the fleece without the dew, while the ground, the Gentile nations, shares in the grace of God. But before long the dew will fall upon Israel again and the time of their blessing and fulness will come.
Read that way, the present dryness is not abandonment.
His very chastenings are a pledge of future mercy. The Jews are dry now, while blessing has come to the Gentiles. That very dryness is sure proof that God will one day step in for His beloved earthly people.
One writer sees the soaked fleece in a dry world as a picture of Christ.
His first sign was that of a fleece of wool saturated with dew, while all around was dry. Is this not a picture of the Lord Jesus in this world? All in this world (apart from God's acting by His Spirit) was dry and lifeless as far as God was concerned. There was not a drop of refreshing moisture for God in the world.
Another writer follows that picture to the cross.
There He was made a curse when He took our sins upon Himself. There the dew was wrung from Him. He cried out: "I thirst." ... But now the dew is on all the ground. The ground that sin cursed can now receive the blessing of God! Everyone can now receive the "dew of heaven!"
One writer turns Gideon's request into a question for us.
Are we ready to say to God: "Let the dew be on the fleece. Let us be soaked, baptized, completely marked by what the earth does not have"? ... You may tell me that this is your desire, but that all your efforts have been in vain. And let me assure you that your efforts always will be fruitless. You cannot perform a miracle.
- Cause — Gideon set an unbelieving "if" in front of a promise God had already spoken. The eye wanted what the word had already given.
- Gift — God did not scold the weakness. He gave more than Gideon asked — a fleece yielding a bowlful.
- Limit — God does not give signs to start faith. He gives them to steady a soul already walking in the path He appointed.
- Reach — the fleece pictures Israel among the nations. Israel is dry today while the nations receive grace, but the dew will fall on Israel again.
- Result — the dew wrung out is what reaches the dry ground; no effort of ours produces it, only God.
And Gideon said to God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once! Let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it, I pray thee, be dry upon the fleece only, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
Gideon has already asked God for a sign with the fleece, and God gave it. Now he asks for the same test in reverse, and he starts by begging God not to be angry — which raises the question readers still bring here: is this faith, or unbelief?
Gideon had proof enough, and still he asked for more. Commentators dwell less on his weakness than on the God who answers him anyway.
And yet all this was not enough. Gideon seeks still further confirmation… Such is the abounding grace and endless patience of the God we have to deal with. Who would not trust Him, and love Him, and serve Him?
Gideon himself expects a rebuke for asking:
God gives another proof of how graciously He stoops to us. He grants a sign to strengthen the weak but real and sincere faith of Gideon. As he repeats his request (v. 39), Gideon feels that God might well discipline him for his lack of faith. Still, the Lord grants what he asks.
Commentators differ on how to read the second request. One view treats it as a low point: Gideon tests a God who had already spoken clearly.
All God's orders to Gideon were clear and simple. But when Gideon asked God for signs, everything became unclear and complicated… Having tested God, Gideon now put Him to a test in return. What poor faith! What feeble confidence in Him! But the God of grace patiently did what His servant asked.
Others see the same request as bold faith, not failure:
The boldness of faith, even when it seems to need confirming signs, never offends our gracious God. When He promised Abraham every blessing, and the land of Canaan, Abraham asked how he could know he would inherit it. Is God offended that His word is not enough? No — He gives him the wonderful night vision of the furnace and the flaming torch.
The sign works because dew already carried a settled meaning in Israel.
Dew was the familiar sign of God's favour. Much of the land's fertility came from it, and without it the land would have been parched and barren… And Hosea, describing the restoration of the nation when God will bless them again, describes Him as saying, "I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon."
The same writer draws the line from dew to the Holy Spirit:
We know that all refreshing, whether for Israel or the Church, is by the Holy Spirit, and that the divine dew is His blessed influence bringing refreshing and help. Just as without the dew the land would stop being fruitful, so without the Spirit's unhindered work there can be no fruit. Barrenness will be the result.
Commentators read the wool on the threshing floor, with open ground all round it, as a picture of Israel among the nations.
The fleece of the shorn sheep pictures desolate Israel, which will be filled with the dew of God's blessing while drought lies on the nations around. But the reverse may also be of God: while His mercies refresh the nations around, Israel for her sins may be left dry. Either way, this is no mere natural event… To see His hand in every condition, however opposite, and to own His power and rule everywhere — this is the secret of wisdom, and of strength no less.
Read that way, the dry fleece with wet ground speaks of the present stretch of history:
The dew on the floor and not on the fleece suggests the blessing that has come to the nations during the time of Israel's rejection. We might say the present time.
One writer sees the cross of Christ in the reversal.
This time the fleece of wool was dry, while all around was dew. How movingly this reminds us of the cross of Christ. God forsook Him who was as the dew of the morning, so that the dew of God's grace might rest on the dry and barren waste of humanity.
The chapter is often used to justify "putting out a fleece." One writer draws a careful line through it.
Seeking a sign to establish belief in God is one thing. Seeking one to confirm that the path we have entered is right, and that God supports us in it, is quite another. The first the Lord will not grant or allow… The divine path must be begun in faith, without signs. But the Lord keeps on giving evidence to confirm the soul that is in the right path.
- Dew — the settled sign of God's favour and fruitfulness. Where it falls there is blessing; where God holds it back, barrenness.
- Dew on the fleece — God's favour resting on His own people while all around them stays dry.
- Dew on the ground — the reversal Gideon asks for here: blessing reaching the nations while Israel stays dry.
- Dryness borne — blessing for the barren ground came at a cost: God forsook the One who was as the morning dew.
- Dew for the doubter — God did not rebuke Gideon for asking twice. He answered him, and confirmed a servant already on the right path.
And God did so that night, and it was dry upon the fleece only, but on all the ground there was dew.
Gideon has already seen the wool soaked with dew on dry ground, and now he asks God to run the test backwards — dry wool, wet earth. God gives him what he asks, which raises two questions: why a second sign, and what does the reversal picture?
Gideon already had God's word, yet he asked for one more sign. One commentator sees what that reveals about the human heart:
How remarkable! And yet we need not be surprised if we know anything of our own hearts. Anything for the poor human heart but the plain word of the living God. A sign, a token, something the eye can see. The word of God is not enough for unbelieving nature.
God answers the same night, and without a word of rebuke. One commentator sees the character of God in that reply:
And yet all this was not enough. Gideon seeks still further confirmation... Such is the abounding grace and endless patience of the God we have to deal with. Forever praised be His holy name! Who would not trust Him, and love Him, and serve Him?
So why does God refuse signs elsewhere and grant one here? One writer draws a line between two kinds of asking:
It is one thing to seek a sign in order to believe in God. It is a very different thing to seek one that confirms we are on the right path, and that God supports us in it. The first the Lord will not grant or allow. "No sign will be given to you," He says to the Jews, when they asked for a sign as a ground of belief. We must enter God's path by faith, without signs. But the Lord keeps giving evidence to confirm the soul that is on the right path, and that it will succeed there.
One writer reads the wool as Israel and the bare ground as the nations around them. On that reading, the two signs mark two eras:
When Gideon asks for the dew on the fleece, it speaks of God giving His blessing to His persecuted people. This is true not only of that time, but of the last days, when He will be as the dew to Israel. When the dew appears on the floor and not on the fleece, it suggests the blessing that has come to the Gentiles during the period of Israel's rejection. We might say the present time.
The same writer adds that a dry season is not abandonment:
But whether He gives or withholds blessing, God is showing Himself for His people. His very chastenings are a pledge of future mercy. The Jews are dry now, while blessing has come upon the Gentiles. That very dryness is a sure proof that God will one day step in for His beloved earthly people.
Another writer sees the second sign pointing forward to Christ — one dry thing in a world covered with dew:
And this brings us to Gideon's second sign. This time the fleece of wool was dry, while all around was dew. How movingly this reminds us of the cross of Christ. God forsook Him who was as the dew of the morning, so that the dew of God's grace might rest on the dry and barren waste of humanity... "my strength is dried up like a potsherd." (Ps. 22:15)
The dryness, on this view, had a purpose beyond itself:
God forsook His Son so that His attitude toward this world might be one of grace and blessing, so that the dew of His goodness might rest on it.
A dry fleece in a soaked field is a picture of not absorbing your surroundings. One writer turns the sign into a request a believer can make:
Gideon had one more request to make before he took the field; it was that the fleece might be dry and all the earth wet. Here we have the negative side of the matter, which naturally follows the positive. For us it means this: let us be free in heart and character from what soaks the earth. Let its maxims, principles, ways, hopes and ambitions have no place in our lives. They can only spoil our enjoyment of Him.
- Doubt asks. Gideon had God's word and still wanted something his eye could see. The word of God is not enough for unbelieving nature.
- Grace answers. God does not scold. He gives the sign that same night — "abounding grace and endless patience."
- Confirmation, not proof. God refuses a sign asked as a ground for believing. He gives one to steady a soul already walking in the right path.
- The dew moves. Wet fleece on dry ground pictures blessing on Israel. Dry fleece on wet ground pictures blessing reaching the nations while Israel waits. The dry season is itself a pledge that mercy will return.
- The dry One. At the cross Christ was dried up so that the dew of God's grace could fall on a barren world. Now we are called to stay dry of what soaks that world.