Judges 6 Footnotes

6:5 How could there have been Midianites “without number” when, according to Nm 31:7, Moses had killed every Midianite male? First, Midian was not a nation under God’s full edict of destruction, whereby every person was to have been destroyed (Dt 20:16-18). When Moses “killed every male” (Nm 31:7), he would have killed only those who had fought in battle against Israel. Sufficient time had passed since Moses’s day for the people of Midian to repopulate their army. Second, in the heat of battle there was no way to record the exact size of the invading army, so they, with their assets, were “without number.” Third, the phrase may be a conventional literary expression indicating a large force of enemy soldiers and camels; it does not mean that it was literally impossible to count them.

6:17 God uses signs in Scripture for many purposes: to declare his faithfulness (Ex 31:13); to confirm his will (Is 38:7); to encourage a person weak in faith (Jdg 6:36-40); to test his people’s readiness to follow him rather than false prophets (Dt 13:1-5; 2Th 2:8-12); to confirm a person as his spokesperson (Ex 4:8-9); to announce his own coming or presence (Mt 24:30); and to confirm that God is, in fact, the speaker of a message or the source behind it (Ex 10:2; Jr 44:29). That signs sometimes occurred, however, did not mean that God expected people to ask for them. To seek a sign was no guarantee that God would provide one (Mt 12:38-39), and receiving one was no assurance that it came from God (Mt 24:24). Moreover, there was no guarantee that the individual receiving a sign would believe it or act in accordance with it (see Ex 10:1-2; Neh 9:10). God was not always pleased with those who asked for signs (Mt 12:38; 16:1,4; Lk 11:16; 1Co 1:22-23).

6:36-40 Gideon’s desire for a second fleece sign evidenced his less than complete trust in God (see “Don’t be angry with me,” v. 39). He wanted to make certain that the first fleece sign was not merely a coincidence or the result of the natural absorption properties of a fleece.