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.