JU6-20: Gideon Offered Up Forty Pounds Of Bread To The Angel Of The Lord

“Gid‘on replied, ‘If indeed you favor me,
would you mind giving me a sign
that it is really you talking with me?'”
-Judges 6:17

From verse 17 we get the famous story of Gideon’s request for a sign from the Angel of the Lord.

I think a lot of folks get the wrong idea and think Gideon did something wrong when he asked for a sign from this manifestation of the Almighty.

They’re reminded of what Yeshua told the devil when he faced him down in the wilderness.

“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

However, I think this situation was different.

Gideon wasn’t so much coming from a place of faithlessness more than just not being entirely convinced whom this mysterious traveler who had suddenly appeared in front of him was.

Was this messenger simply a mere man who had been sent by God or was he an angel?

Or was he actually God Himself?

I can understand Gideon’s confusion and him wanting a sign from the mysterious being who now stood before him.

Think about it for a sec.

Imagine if God suddenly appeared right in front of you.

Would you be able to accept it?

Probably not right away.

Because you’d have no idea what God in human form looks like?

And don’t give me this nonsense he would like Yeshua.

Because nobody knows what Yeshua looks like.

Which reminds me of the one time I accidentally attended a Moonie gathering during my college days.

When I was presented with this photo of some Korean guy and told he was the Messiah sent from God, I immediately knew it was a bunch of BS.

Because everyone knows the Messiah is Jewish and not some dude from Korea.

Anyways, I digress.

My point is if God suddenly manifested in human form in front of you, you’d probably wonder for a second there if you were hallucinating or not.

You’d might even wonder if this was a manifestation from the evil one.

And based on what Gideon said about coming from a poor family and all, he probably felt unworthy and was thinking out of all the men in Israel, why would God appear to me?

It’s interesting to see how Gideon responded to the Angel of the Lord.

Since he knew he was dealing with a divine manifestation of some sort, he acted the way any person in the ancient Middle East would have behaved.

In other words, he decided to bring an offering.

Why?

Because everyone knew that gods were happy to receive gifts and burnt offerings.

And the more abundant, the better.

So Gideon decided to offer up what would have been quite normal in the Hebrew culture and something connected to Moses’ instructions.

I’m talking about a lavish display of Middle Eastern hospitality.

And when I say lavish, I ain’t joking.

The meal that Gideon prepared for the Angel of the Lord was humongous. 

He prepared an entire kid goat plus Matza bread consisting of a full ephah of flour!!!

You probably don’t know how much a full ephah of flour is (I didn’t).

So let me tell ya, we’re talking about a whopping 40 pounds of bread here man.

I’m quite surprised the Angel of the Lord didn’t say to Gideon…

“Hey brother, I’m not that hungry”.