Study Desk

the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said, "This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: I brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery.

Then I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. Live in the land of the Amorites, but do not worship their gods.' But you did not obey me."

The angel of God said to Gideon, "Put the meat and the bread without yeast on that rock over there. Then pour the broth on them." And Gideon did as he was told.

Then Gideon understood he had been talking to the angel of the Lord . So Gideon cried out, "Lord God ! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!"

Then build an altar to the Lord your God with its stones in the right order on this high ground. Kill and burn a second bull on this altar, using the wood from the Asherah idol."

But Joash said to the angry crowd around him, "Are you going to take Baal's side? Are you going to defend him? Anyone who takes Baal's side will be killed by morning! If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. It's his altar that has been pulled down."

Then Gideon said to God, "You said you would help me save Israel.

Then Gideon said to God, "Don't be angry with me if I ask just one more thing. Please let me make one more test. Let only the wool be dry while the ground around it gets wet with dew."

That night God did that very thing. Just the wool was dry, but the ground around it was wet with dew.

The man's friend said, "Your dream is about the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God will hand Midian and the whole army over to him!"

When Gideon heard about the dream and what it meant, he worshiped God. Then Gideon went back to the camp of Israel and called out to them, "Get up! The Lord has handed the army of Midian over to you!"

God let you capture Oreb and Zeeb, the princes of Midian. How can I compare what I did with what you did?" When the men of Ephraim heard Gideon's answer, they were not as angry anymore.

Gideon used the gold to make a holy vest, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. But all the Israelites were unfaithful to God and worshiped it, so it became a trap for Gideon and his family.

As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel were again unfaithful to God and followed the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god.

The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had saved them from all their enemies living all around them.

So the leaders of Shechem gave Abimelech about one and three-quarter pounds of silver from the temple of the god Baal-Berith. Abimelech used the silver to hire some worthless, reckless men, who followed him wherever he went.

When Jotham heard this, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He shouted to the people: "Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, so that God will listen to you!

Then God sent an evil spirit to make trouble between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem so that the leaders of Shechem turned against him.

Abimelech had killed Gideon's seventy sons, his own brothers, and the leaders of Shechem had helped him. So God sent the evil spirit to punish them.

They went out to the vineyards to pick grapes, and they squeezed the grapes. Then they had a feast in the temple of their god, where they ate and drank and cursed Abimelech.