Hiding in a winepress, called a mighty man of valour: Gideon, the fleece and the 300

When the angel found Gideon, he was threshing wheat in a winepress. Normally, wheat was threshed on an open floor where the wind could carry away the chaff. Gideon was hiding.

The angel greeted him anyway: “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.”

Midian and the call

In the time of the judges, Israel suffered under the Midianites, who swept in each harvest with their camels and destroyed crops and livestock. The people hid in caves and strongholds. Gideon, from the smallest family of the tribe of Manasseh, was one of them. Gideon’s answer to the angel was full of questions and doubts. If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? He described himself as the least in his father’s house. God’s answer was simple: “Surely I will be with thee.”

The fleece

Before going to battle, Gideon asked for a sign. He laid a fleece of wool on the ground and asked that in the morning the fleece be wet with dew and the ground dry. It happened. Then he asked for the opposite: the fleece dry and the ground wet. That happened too. “Putting out a fleece” has become a common phrase for asking God for a sign. Many teachers point out that Gideon already had God’s word; the fleece was for his own weak faith, and God was patient with him.

The 300 and victory

Gideon gathered 32,000 men. God said there were too many, lest Israel boast that they had saved themselves. Those who were afraid went home, leaving 10,000. Then God tested them at the water, and only 300 remained. At night, Gideon’s 300 men surrounded the Midianite camp with trumpets and torches hidden in jars. At a signal, they blew the trumpets, broke the jars and shouted, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” The Midianites panicked, and Israel won.

The winepress

God called Gideon by what he would become, not by what he was. God was patient with his doubts. And God cut the army down so that the victory would be clearly his. The man hiding in a winepress was the one God chose. Many people who feel small, afraid or unqualified find courage in that detail: God knew exactly where Gideon was hiding when he called him valiant.