Community Group Study Guide — Hiding
Judges 6:1-24
Study Information:
For many of us, our tendency is to hide when we are afraid. It is true that some of us run to the thing we’re scared of, a “fight” response, but many of us try to get away or disappear. Think of a kid during a thunderstorm snuggling into their bed and covering their head or if they heard a loud noise down the hall the response is not typically to get up and go investigate! We often hide when we feel helpless or weak. That is the position the people of Israel were in. Midian had oppressed Israel for seven years and their response was to hide. Indeed, even the judge God called to lead them, Gideon, was found to be hiding. What we learn is that this was a faith issue for the people of Israel. They had a false repentance and a lack of trust that God would save them like he did in the past. However we learn God saves the weak and the helpless in his grace.
False Repentance
Judges 6:1, 7-10
The setting to the Gideon story began with the people once again did what was evil in God’s sight and God sent the Midianites, Amalekites and people from the east to overpower them. Israel responded by hiding in the caves and making dens in the mountains. The Midianites were not interested in ruling Israel, instead they came to exploit the land and steal from Israel. The text described how they ravaged the land and came on the land like locusts leaving no sustenance for Israel or their livestock (Jud 6:4-5).
Israel cried for help and God sent a prophet to speak truth to them before he raised up a judge to save them. We’ve seen a pattern in the Bible that when God’s people cry for help God sends a person, but this time he wanted to first remind them of what he had done and what they have done. This prophet’s message was “God has brought you out of slavery in Egypt, he is a God who saves!” and at the same time “you have failed to obey the voice of God.” Simultaneously God is gracious and eager to save, but the people given themselves over to idols and have turned their backs on God. They were sorry that they were suffering but they were not sorry that they had abandoned God. They had a false repentance and yet the amazing thing was that God moved to save them even before they’ve really changed.
Hiding
Judges 6:1-6, 11-16
It is not surprise that we find Gideon hiding like the nation of Israel because Gideon mirrored Israel. Just as Israel hid in caves and in dens they carved out in the mountains, so too Gideon hid. But this is where the Angel of the LORD called Gideon. He visited Gideon while he was preparing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. The winepress would have been a sunken area away from sight where Gideon could be hidden. The irony of the event is that the Angel of the LORD called him a mighty man of valor and called him to go in his might to save Israel. These words felt ironic given how Gideon was hiding. Yet, God saw something in Gideon that he wanted to use. Gideon’s objection included that he was the weakest in his clan and the least in his family, couldn’t God do better than this? God works out his purpose for those who are really helpless and see their need for him.
Gideon also wondered why the people of Israel had gone through all their hardship, almost blaming God for it. He repeated back some of the words of the prophet to God in “did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?” and “if the LORD is with us, why they has all this happened?” God will make it clear to Gideon in our next text when he called Gideon to root out the idolatry in his own household but in this moment God was content to call Gideon to go in his “might" and to trust that the Lord would be with him.
At first sight, Gideon was unimpressive. Why would God call someone like this to save Israel? Yet the story of Gideon calls out attention back to the story of Moses in how the people of Israel cried out for help, God’s call of a savior, Gideon’s objections and God’s promise to be with him (Jud 6:17).
For Gideon to be faithful to God he would have to come out of his hiding.
The First Altar
Judges 6:17-24
One key aspect of Gideon’s story was his need for a sign and his questioning of God. Gideon’s desire for a sign came from a lack of faith. Particularly he desired to know and have certainty that he had found favor in God’s site and this call was real. The Angel of the LORD acquiesced and waited for Gideon to return with food for a burnt offering. When Gideon returned The Angel of the LORD touched the offering, it was consumed in fire prompting Gideon to respond “I have see the Angel of the LORD face to face.” Throughout the story the narrator told us that the “LORD” had been talking to Gideon; LORD, which is the Hebrew word Yahweh, used for the name of God (verse 14, 16, 23). Gideon used a different term for the Angel just referring to him as “Lord”, similar to master or sir. However, upon receiving this sign, Gideon realized he had interacted with God himself and had fear that he would die having seen God “face to face.” The Angel assured him that he would not die and Gideon responded with naming his altar “The LORD is Peace.” This name points to how Gideon was not killed by seeing God face to face, a well as a fledgling trust that God will bring them salvation.
God chose the hiding, doubting, weak Gideon to save his people. God saved his people even before they fully repented giving us an example of how God’s grace goes first. Romans 5:6 tells us that “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Throughout the Gideon story we will learn that God is more gracious with us than we deserve, he is patient in our fear and lack of faith and that God saves with a few, even just 300 against overwhelming odds.
At your community group:
Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.
How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week?
Discussion Questions:
Read Judges 6:1-24
Describe how Israel and Gideon mirrored each other in the text.
What was the message of the prophet in Judges 6:7-10 and how did Gideon use similar words to the prophet in his discussion with the Angel of the LORD?
How did the Angel of the LORD describe Gideon? Do you think this was true or ironic? What was the Angel of the LORD’s final promise to Gideon in Judges 6:17? Why would this promise carry so much weight?
Imagine you have a friend who is like Gideon, they are weak and struggle with trusting what God has promised. How would you encourage that friend from this text of scripture?
