The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord again, and the Lord handed them over to the hands of the Midianites for seven years.

The Midianites suppressed the Israelites. The Israelites dug holes and built fortresses in the mountains because of the Midianites.

After the Israelites sowed their seeds, the Midianites, Amalekites, and Easterners all came up to attack them,

They camped against them and destroyed their crops until Gaza, leaving no food, cattle, sheep, or donkeys for the Israelites.

Because those people came with livestock and tents, as many as locusts, and countless people and camels entered the land, destroying the whole land.

The Israelites were extremely poor due to the Midianites, so they called out to the Lord.

The Israelites cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites,

The Lord sent prophets to the Israelites and said to them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:’ I brought you up from Egypt and went out of the house of slavery. ‘,

Save you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all those who oppress you, drive them out from before you, and give you their land.

And he said to you, I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites as you live in their land. You didn’t listen to me.

The angel of the Lord came to Ophrah and sat under the oak tree of Joash, a Abiezer. Gideon, the son of Joash, was threshing wheat at the winepress to guard against the Midianites.

The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said to him, “O mighty warrior, the Lord is with you.”.

And Gideon said, Lord, if the Lord be with us, why have we encountered all these things? Didn’t our ancestors say to us that the Lord brought us up from Egypt? Where is his wonderful act? But now he has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.

The Lord looked at Gideon and said, “By your power, did I not send you to save Israel from the hands of the Midianites?”?

And Gideon said, Lord, how can I save Israel? My family is the poorest among the Manasseh tribe. I am the smallest in my father’s house.

The Lord said to him, “I am with you, and you will strike the Midianites as one person.”.

Gideon said, “If I find favor in your eyes, please give me evidence that I am speaking with the Lord.”.

Please don’t leave here, wait for me to return and bring the gift in front of you. The Lord said, I will wait for you to come back.

Gideon prepared a young goat and made an unleavened cake of one ephah of fine flour. He put the meat in a basket, put the soup in a pot, brought it under an oak tree, and presented it to the messengers.

The angel of God commanded Gideon, saying, Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, and pour out the soup. That’s all he has to do.

The angel of the Lord stretched out the staff in his hand, and the head of the staff touched the flesh and the unleavened bread. Then fire came out of the rock and burned up the flesh and the unleavened bread. The angel of the Lord also disappeared.

When Gideon saw that he was an angel of the Lord, he said, Alas. O Lord GOD, I am not well, for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.

The Lord said to him, “Rest assured, do not be afraid; you will not die.”.

So Gideon built an altar there for the Lord and named it Jehovah Shallum. This altar is in Ophrah of the Abiezer tribe until now.

That night, the Lord commanded Gideon, saying, Take your father’s ox, which is the second ox of seven years old, and demolish the altar that your father built for Baal, and cut down the wooden poles beside it,

Build an altar to the Lord your God neatly and neatly on this fortress, offer the second ox as a burnt offering, and make wood from the wooden poles you have cut down.

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord commanded him. He did it at night because he was afraid of his father’s family and the people of his own city, so he dared not do it during the day.

The people of the city got up early in the morning and saw that the altar of Baal was demolished, and the wooden poles beside the altar were cut down. The second ox was offered on the newly built altar,

And they said to each other, Who did this thing? After their investigation, they said, “This was done by Gideon, the son of Joash.”.

The people of the city said to Joash, ‘Give up your son so that he can be put to death.’. Because he demolished Baal’s altar and cut down the wooden puppet beside it.

Joash answered the crowd standing against him, saying, Are you arguing for Baal? Do you want to save him? Whoever argues for him will be put to death as soon as possible. If Baal is God, let him argue for himself when someone demolishes his altar.

So on that day he called Gideon Jerubbaal, meaning that he would demolish Baal’s altar and let Baal argue with him.

At that time, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people of the east gathered and crossed the river, camping in the plain of Jezreel.

The Spirit of the Lord descended on Gideon, and he blew the horn. The Abiezer tribe gathered and followed him.

He sent people throughout the land of Manasseh, and Manasseh people gathered to follow him. And he sent messengers to the Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they all came out to meet them.

And Gideon said to God, If you save the children of Israel by my hand, as you have said,

I will put a ball of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the wool alone, and everything else is dry, I will know that you will save the Israelites by my hand, as you said.

The next morning, Gideon got up and saw that it was indeed like this. Squeeze the wool and wring out a basin of dew from it.

Gideon said to God again, “Please do not be angry with me. I will say this again, let me try again with the wool.”. I hope the wool is dry and there is dew everywhere else.

This night, the god also did the same: the wool was dry, and there was dew everywhere else.