What did god ask Gideon to do?

Answer 1

See Judges 7:5-7 quoted below.

5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink." 6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

7 The Lord said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home."

Answer 2

Read chapters 6 through 8 in the Book of the Judges. The episode of Gideon's battle against the huge Medianite army shows, through actual events, our inability to accomplish anything on our own, and God's mighty strength to do anything at all - no limits! The main lesson in this episode for Israel was that they should keep God's laws to prosper in peace. Chapter 6 begins with "Israel did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Medianites." Lack of faith lands Israel in suffering as Median would ruin their crops and kill their livestock. Finally they turn to God for help. The angel of the Lord (believed to be Jesus in angelic form) tasks Gideon to rescue the people. He orders Gideon to sacrifice one of his father's bulls, using his father's pagan Asherah poles to provide fuel for the sacrificial fire. This incident of renouncing the pagan gods and returning to true worship gains the notice of the local people, and from that Gideon summons an army. Now Gideon asks a sign from God to make sure God is serious about his promise to save his country from the Medianites, even though this has already been told to him. He puts out a sheep fleece and asks God to wet the fleece but leave the surrounding ground dry. The next morning the fleece is soaked with a bowlful of water, but the ground around it is bone dry! Yet he again asks a sign, to reverse the process. God graciously grants this, and the next morning the fleece is bone dry and the ground is wet! Though we see his faith is apparently weak, as Jesus said centuries later, faith as small as a Mustard Seed can (with God) move mountains.

So Gideon starts out with an army of 32,000, but God disapproves. It is too big, the plan is for God to get all the credit for the upcoming victory. So Gideon asks the fearful to leave (22,000) but it is still too big. So they go to a brook to drink, and those who drink with their hands are asked to leave, but those who lap the water like dogs can stay. This shrinks the army to 300, less than 1% of the original. It is symbolic that this method was used, as dogs were considered at that time to be unclean animals of very low status. So this army is small and not considered worth much at all.

That night, before the battle, Gideon sneaks into the (huge) enemy camp and overhears some of the enemy discussing a dream where a loaf of barley bread (barley was considered animal food that people ate only during very hard times. Thus it represents Israel, since they have been forced to live on barley and other low forms of food because of the Medianite raiders) tumbles down a hill into the Medianite camp and destroys the tent. The Medianites all understand the message of the dream and are very afraid, which reinforces Gideon's confidence.

Gideon divides his men into 3 companies, and each man takes a Trumpet and a clay pot containing a torch. Encircling the enemy in the middle of the night, just as the guards are changing shifts, they blow the trumpets all at once, and break the pots so that suddenly 300 torches illuminate the darkness. They shout "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

God causes panic now in the camp, and they turn on each other. The enemy runs away and now more troops are called in for the pursuit. 120,000 of them fall that day. Thus God uses this episode to show that our own efforts are not effective, and not necessary, if we will have faith in him. Then he will do what is necessary. Gideon seems to have weak faith that has to be reinforced through multiple signs from God, and he is prevented from conducting the battle in a way that would imply anything other than a miracle from God. Gideon's pathetic little army just made some noise in the middle of the night - God did the rest. On our own, we can do nothing, with Him, we can do all.

As a final lesson, man's utter sinfulness is again shown afterwards. Gideon, for his share of the plunder, takes an earring from each of the Israelites, and melts them down into a gold ephod (some sort of religious ornament). Another symbol, earrings were a mark of ownership for slaves, much like we brand cattle today. Everyone begins to worship this ephod, "and it became a snare to Gideon and his family". Despite God's obvious, miraculous intervention, man turns his back on Him and chooses the wrong path "we are all like sheep gone astray". Even Gideon reverts to idol worship apparently. We must be on guard and evaluate ourselves and the condition of our hearts honestly.

Answer 3

God used gideon in a way no other man has been used