Day 91: Gideon's Story (2026)

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 for Psalm 135 as always.

I am reading from the revised Standard Version 2nd 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, he will definitely know his story.

As always, we are praying for each other, usually 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 6 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 Amalakites, 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.

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 Ophra, which belonged to Joash,

the abuserite, 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 Manassah, 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 effa 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.

In 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 their sprang up fire from the rock and consumed

the flesh and the unleavened cakes in 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.

When Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, the Lord is peace.

To this day it still stands at Ophra, which belongs to the Abbeyah Zahates.

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 ashrat

that is beside it.

And build an altar to the Lord your God on top of the stronghold here, with stones laid

into order, then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of

the ashrat which you shall cut down.

So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him, but because

he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by

night.

Gideon destroys the altar of Baal.

When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was

broken down, and the ashrat 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 ashrat 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 he 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 droopable, that is to say, let Baal contend against him

because he pulled down his altar.

Then all the media nights and the amalakites and the people of the east came together and

crossing the Jordan, they encamped in the valley of Jezreal.

But the spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet and the

abbey ashrights were called out to follow him.

Then he sent messengers throughout Almanessa, and they too were called out to follow him.

And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulin, and Naftali, 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 7 Gideon's army selected.

Then Jruboville, 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 Mirah 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 vaught 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, 22,000 returned and 10,000 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.

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 300 men.

But all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.

And the Lord said to Gideon, With the 300 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 300 men, and the cab of Midian

was below him in the valley.

Gideon routes 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 Pura, 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 Pura, his servant, to the outposts of the armed men that were

in the camp.

And the Midianites and the Malakites, 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 sort 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 worshipped, 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 three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets

into the hands of all of them, and emptied 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 in 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 in 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 Betchita, toward Zerara,

as far as the border of Abel Maholah, by Tabath, and the men of Israel were called out from

Naftali and from Asher and from Almanasa, and they pursued after Median.

And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, come down

against the Midianites, and seize the waters against them as far as Betbarah and also the

Jordan.

So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they seized the waters as far as Betbarah,

and also the Jordan.

And they took the two princes of Median, Aurob and Zebe, and they killed Aurob on the

rock of Aurob, and Zebe they killed at the winepress of Zebe as they pursued Median,

and they brought the heads of Aurob and Zebe to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Chapter 8 Gideon's Triumph

And the men of Ephraim said to him, what is this that you have done to us?

Not to call us when you went to fight with Median, and they abraided him violently, and

he said to them, what have I done now in comparison with you?

He's not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abbasar?

God has given into your hands the princes of Median, Aurob and Zebe, what have I been

able to do in comparison with you?

Then their anger against him was abated, when he had said this.

And Gideon came to the Jordan, and passed over, he and the three hundred men who were

with him, faint, yet pursuing.

So he said to the men of Sukoth, please, give loaves of bread to the people who follow

me, for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zeba and Zaluna the kings of Median.

And the officials of Sukoth said, are Zeba and Zaluna already in your hand that we should

give bread to your army?

And Gideon said, well then, when the Lord has given Zeba and Zaluna into my hand, I will

flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars.

And from there he went up to Penual, and spoke with them in the same way, and the men of

Penual answered him as the men of Sukoth had answered, and he said to the men of Penual,

when I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.

Now, Zeba and Zaluna were in Carcourt with all their army, about fifteen thousand men,

all who were left of all the army of the people of the east, for they had fallen a hundred

and twenty thousand men who drew the sword.

And Gideon went up by the Kira-Van route, east of Nabah, and Jokbahah, and attacked the

army, for the army was off its guard.

And Zeba and Zaluna fled, and he pursued them and took the two kings of Median, Zeba

and Zaluna, and he threw all the army into a panic.

Then Gideon, the son of Joash, returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.

And he caught a young man of Sukoth and questioned him, and he wrote down for him the officials

and elders of Sukoth, seventy-seven men.

And he came to the men of Sukoth and said, Behold, Zeba and Zaluna, about whom you taunted

me saying, are Zeba and Zaluna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your

men who are faint?

And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briars,

and with them taught them the men of Sukoth.

And he broke down the tower of penuel, and slew the men of the city.

Then he said to Zeba and Zaluna, Where are the men whom you slew at Teibor?

They answered, As you are, so were they, every one of them.

They resembled the sons of a king.

And he said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother, as the Lord lives.

If you had saved them alive, I would not slay you.

And he said to Jethar, his firstborn, rise and slay them.

But the youth did not draw his sword for he was afraid because he was still a youth.

Then Zeba and Zaluna said, Rise yourself and fall upon us.

For as the man is, so is his strength.

And Gideon arose, and slew Zeba and Zaluna, and he took the crescents that were on the

necks of their camels.

Gideon's ephod becomes a snare.

And the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson

also, for you have delivered us out of the hand of Midian.

Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you.

The Lord will rule over you.

And Gideon said to them, Let me make a request of you.

Give me every man of you, the earrings of a spoil, for they had golden earrings because

they were Ishmaelites.

And they answered, We will willingly give them.

And they spread a garment, and every man cast in it to the earrings of his spoil.

And the weight of the golden earrings that he had requested was 1,700 shekels of gold,

besides the crescents and the pendants, and the purple garments worn by the kings of

Midian, and besides the collars that were about the necks of their camels.

And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, in Ophra, and all Israel played

the harlot after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.

So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more.

And the land had rest 40 years in the days of Gideon.

The death of Gideon.

Jerubbable, the son of Joash, went and dwelt in his own house.

Now Gideon had 70 sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.

And his concubine, who was in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimolek.

And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash's

father, at Ophra, of the Abiasites.

As soon as Gideon died, the sons of Israel turned again and played the harlot after the

Baal's, and made Baal Barit their God.

And the sons of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from

the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show kindness to the family

of Joabbable, that is Gideon, in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

The Book of Ruth, chapter 3.

Ruth and Boaz, at the Threshing Floor.

Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, my daughter, should I not seek a home for you,

that it may be well with you?

Now is not Boaz our kinsmen, with whose maidens you were?

See, he is winnowing barley tonight, at the Threshing Floor, washed therefore, and

anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes, and go down to the Threshing Floor, but do

not make yourself known to the man, until he has finished eating and drinking.

And when he lies down, observe the place where he lies.

Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.

And she replied, all that you say I will do.

So she went down to the Threshing Floor, and did just as her mother-in-law had told her,

and when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end

of the heap of grain.

Then she came softly, and uncovered his feet and lay down.

At midnight the man was startled, and turned over, and behold a woman lay at his feet.

He said, who are you?

And she answered, I am Ruth, your maid servant.

Spread your garment over your maid servant, for you are next of kin.

And he said, may you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter.

For you have made this last kindness greater than the first, in that you have not gone after

young men, whether poor or rich.

And now my daughter, do not fear.

I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman

of worth.

And now it is true that I am a near-Kinsman, yet there is a Kinsman nearer than I.

Remain this night, and in the morning, if he will do the part of the next of kin for

you, well, let him do it.

But if he is not willing to do the part of the next of kin for you, then as the Lord

lives, I will do the part of the next of kin for you.

Lie down until the morning.

So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another,

and he said, let it not be known that the woman came to the fishing-floor.

And he said, bring the mantle you are wearing and hold it out.

So she held it, and measured out six measures of barley, and laid it upon her, then she

went into the city.

And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, how did you fear my daughter?

Then she told her, all that the man had done for her, saying, these six measures of barley

he gave to me, for he said, you must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.

She replied, wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will

not rest, but will settle the matter today.

Some 135, praise for God's goodness and might.

Praise the Lord.

Praise the name of the Lord.

Give praise, O servants of the Lord.

Do that stand in the house of the Lord in the courts of the house of our God.

Praise the Lord for the Lord is good, sing to his name for he is gracious.

For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, and Israel for his own possession.

For I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is above all gods.

Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas, and all the deeps.

He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightenings for the

rain, and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

He it was, who struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast, who in your midst

owe Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants, who struck many nations

and slew mighty kings.

Seahong, the king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of

Canaan, and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel.

Your name, O Lord, endures forever.

The renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.

For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

They have mouths, but they speak not.

They have eyes, but they see not.

They have ears, but they hear not, nor is there any breath in their mouths.

Like them, be those who make them.

Yes, everyone who trusts in them.

O house of Israel, bless the Lord.

O house of Aaron, bless the Lord.

O house of Levi, bless the Lord.

You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord.

Blessed be the Lord from Zion.

He who dwells in Jerusalem, praise the Lord.

Father in heaven, may your name be praised, may your name be glorified, may we know who

you are and lift up our voices and our hearts to always honor you, always praise you and

always thank you.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay.

Gosh.

We had the story of Gideon today.

As you noticed, three chapters from the book of Judges following the story of Gideon,

whose name was changed to Jerubba, which is not as easy to say as you might think.

A lot of those consonants right back to back make it a little difficult for this guy right

here.

Anyways, the reality behind this story of Gideon is it starts out with him doing what?

It starts out with him crushing the Baal's and the Asharoth.

He takes his life into his hands by destroying the Baal and by destroying the Asharoth, this

place of worship of the false gods and he becomes the one who contends against Baal.

And it's so good.

It starts out so good, but what happens is he also then turns to idolatry.

Even though Gideon is a decent judge, one of the things we're going to hear again and

again is even so, so judges, even good judges, even judges who seem to have some honor to

them also are tempted by the same thing that every one of us is tempted by and that's

idolatry.

He sets up this golden ephod.

Remember the ephod was what the priests would wear when they were worshipping in the temple.

That was that linen garment that ephod that they would wear in the temple.

And he sets up.

He makes a golden ephod.

He doesn't make a Baal.

He doesn't make a golden calf.

He actually makes a symbol of what is used to worship the living and true God.

And yet what happens is the people turn to it instead of turning to God.

They're distracted by it instead of turning their hearts to the Lord.

And it's just so, so incredible and again, incredible in the bad way.

It says in chapter 8 verses 27, it says Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in the city

in Ophrah.

In all Israel, played the harlot after it there and it became a snare to Gideon and

to his family.

So even though Gideon was the one who contended against the Baal's, right against the false

gods, it turned out to be someone who was setting up his family to turn back to the Baal's

turn back to the false gods.

In fact, it says in verse 33, as soon as Gideon died, the sons of Israel turned again and

played harlot after the Baal's and they made Baal Barit their God.

And Baal Barit means the Baal of the covenant.

Gosh, just how awful is that?

Why?

Because the covenant is what they made with the true and living God, the Lord himself,

who revealed his name to the people of Israel.

And now they're worshiping the false God that they're connecting to the true God.

And that is so often what we can do.

We can take our version of God, whatever version of God we like the most, whatever version

of Jesus we like the most, and we can twist the true and living God who reveals himself

in his fullness and say, no, I like this version, I like this little part.

And that is always a snare.

And that's what happens to Gideon and to his family after him.

And so the land was given rest, but then they turned it once again away from true and

we're living worship and they turned it into idolatry.

No, last little note because I know this is a long set of readings and so we're getting

to the end here.

But one of the things you find in Ruth, Ruth chapter 3, is there's the reality of what

they call the Kinsman Redeemer.

Another word for is the Goel, right?

So the Goel is the Hebrew term for the Kinsman Redeemer.

We came across this when we read through Leviticus and Numbers and even Deuteronomy.

Remember, there was a specifically to find role in Israel's family life.

So for example, if one of Israelites fell into slavery in Leviticus 2548, the Kinsman Redeemer

was responsible to buy the fellow Israel out of slavery.

If someone was killed, was murdered, then the Kinsman Redeemer, their job was to make

sure that the family member was answered in justice in Numbers 35.

If there's ever someone who had lost land, the Kinsman Redeemer was responsible to buy

back family land that had been forfeited Leviticus 2525.

And also the last one is in Deuteronomy 25 versus 5 through 10.

The Kinsman Redeemer was responsible to carry on the family name by marrying a childless

widow.

That's what Ruth is.

Ruth is a widow with no children.

And so she comes to Boaz and says, you're all relative, would you marry me essentially?

She puts herself in this position of trust to this man, Boaz, who's already shown

her great, great kindness.

And Boaz says that he would love to, but there is a nearer Kinsman, near someone who is

actually the primary Kinsman Redeemer for her.

And he's going to talk to this guy in chapter 4, and that is happening tomorrow.

So that's the role of the Kinsman Redeemer.

And there's a definite connection between the Kinsman Redeemer of the Old Testament and

Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

Here's why.

Because, remember, Leviticus 2548, anyone who's fallen into slavery, the role of the Kinsman

Redeemer to buy that person out of slavery, what has Jesus done?

He's made us his brother.

He's made us his brother in all things, and he's forfeited his life to redeem us.

That's why he's the Kinsman Redeemer selling himself into slavery so that you and I can

have life.

I know that's just a really quick little brief thing, but we got a lot of reading today.

You guys, I am so grateful that you're sticking with this, especially when these days kind

of get a little bit longer.

I apologize, but at the same time, it is God's word, and it is so, so good.

I am praying for you.

Please keep praying for me.

My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.