Gideon (part 2) Judges 7

The barley cake dream always gets me. Remember that one? To assure Gideon of victory, as if the fleece test wasn't enough (see Judges 6), God tells Gideon to take his servant and to go down to the enemy camp. 

Now, remember, there were so many soldiers that they were like locusts covering the ground. There were too many to number. Yet as Gideon and Pura approach the camp secretly, they both hear a soldier recounting his strange dream. It went like this, "I had a dream,... A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed."

Well, there you go! It's over! The victory is won! Wait, what?

A giant bagel crushes the unnumbered foe? I don't know about you, but I think that I would have been laughing my head off. It sounds like something out of SpongeBob square pants rather than a prediction of victory. 

But, no. Look at the interpretation in the next verse, "Judges 7:14, (The dreamer's) friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands."

The dream sounds like a Joe Biden speech, and the interpretation sounds like a CNN analyst position on said speech. Except that CNN would never make God's servant the Savior. However, that dream and interpretation left Gideon praising God for his coming victory. 

Judges is a peculiar book with peculiar accounts of man's futility and God's patience. I'm glad that God included it in the Holy Scriptures. This book helps us to see the extremes of God's mercy and grace. His mercy never gives up on us, and his grace is equally persistent. Judges shows us how wayward we can stray and how patient God is as he allows us to "run our course." We never leave his plan, and we can always come back to his perfect way, albeit with the scars of our stupidity in tow. So, don't lose heart, dear one. You are not a lost cause just yet. 

The barley cake dream always gets me. Remember that one? To assure Gideon of victory, as if the fleece test wasn't enough (see Judges 6), God tells Gideon to take his servant and to go down to the enemy camp. 

Now, remember, there were so many soldiers that they were like locusts covering the ground. There were too many to number. Yet as Gideon and Pura approach the camp secretly, they both hear a soldier recounting his strange dream. It went like this, "I had a dream,... A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed."

Well, there you go! It's over! The victory is won! Wait, what?

A giant bagel crushes the unnumbered foe? I don't know about you, but I think that I would have been laughing my head off. It sounds like something out of SpongeBob square pants rather than a prediction of victory. 

But, no. Look at the interpretation in the next verse, "Judges 7:14, (The dreamer's) friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands."

 

The dream sounds like a Joe Biden speech, and the interpretation sounds like a CNN analyst position on said speech. Except that CNN would never make God's servant the Savior. However, that dream and interpretation left Gideon praising God for his coming victory. 

Judges is a peculiar book with peculiar accounts of man's futility and God's patience. I'm glad that God included it in the Holy Scriptures. This book helps us to see the extremes of God's mercy and grace. His mercy never gives up on us, and his grace is equally persistent. Judges shows us how wayward we can stray and how patient God is as he allows us to "run our course." We never leave his plan, and we can always come back to his perfect way, albeit with the scars of our stupidity in tow. So, don't lose heart, dear one. You are not a lost cause just yet.