Commentaries, Commentary on Judges · Chapter 6 · Verses 36-40
36 And Gideon ſayde vntounto God: If thou wylt ſaue Iſrael by my hande as thou haſte ſayde:
37 Behold I wyl put a fleeſe of wool in the threſhyng place, if the dew come vponupon the fleeſe onelyonly, & it be dry vponupon al the earth, thē ſhal I be ſure, that by my hand thou wilt ſaue Iſrael, as thou haſt ſayd.
38 And it was ſo: for he roſe vp earlye on the morrowe, and thruſt the fleeſe together, and wrynged the dewe out of the fleeſe, and fylled the vyole with the water.
39 Againe Gideon ſayde vntounto God: Be not angry wyth me, and I wyll ſpeake onelyonly once more: Let me proue onelyonly once, I praye thee wyth the fleeſe. Let it, I pray thee, he dry vponupon the fleeſe onelyonly, and let the dewe be vponupon all the ground.
40 And God dyd ſo the ſame night: for it was drye vponupon the fleeſe onelyonly, and there was dewe on all the grounde.
Mans imbecillity is diuers and manyfold, wherby it cōmeth to paſſe, that in the promiſes of God we wauer and doubt. Gideon was called by ſo playne and manifeſt woordes, that there was no occaſion of doubting left. He had no cōmon ſigne when the ſacrifice was conſumed with fire: he is nowe furniſhed wyth an hoſt, & yet he now alſo wauereth, & needeth a new confirmation. We vſe not ſo to do when we beleue men: for if there de but a bare promiſe, or a hand writing made, we are content. But God muſt continually beate in into vsus thoſe things which he promiſeth, and ſeale them with miracles and Sacramentes, and yet euen then alſo we geue litle credit vntounto them. And though we ſhould endaūger our ſelues for accompliſhing of our own luſtes, or proſecuting our own affairs, there are we ſtoute, there are we bolde, and nothing afeard, when as otherwiſe few there are found which in God his cauſe, or for his words ſake wil put them ſelues in daunger. In which thing neuertheleſſe we ought to be moſt ſtoute: for God wyl not leaue vsus deſtitute of his ayde. He addeth the ſpurres of promiſes, the confirmation of miracles, and to thoſe which ceaſe of, he threateneth verye grieuous puniſhmentes.Whence our diſtruſt cōmeth And this peſtilence ſpringeth of no other thing, but bycauſe we truſt to our owne ſenſe and reaſon, more then is conuenient. And againſt thys euyl there is no remedy ſo preſent, as frō them to prouoke our ſelues to fayth and conſtancy in God.
Whither Gideon in requiring theſe ſignes, be to be condēned.R. Leui ben Gerſon thinketh that Gideon, when he required theſe ſignes, did partly diſtruſt, and partly beleue: whoſe opinion if it be receaued, then Gideon is guilty of infidelity. And I iudge yt we muſt not labour much, vtterlye to acquite him of al faultes. To the Hebrues his faith in dede is commended: but me thinketh that we muſt not deny but that it was wauering, before it was by diuers meanes confirmed. And vndoubtedly it is a great matter, to confirme the harte of man in the woord of God. Although I am not ignorant, that they which defend Gideon, do ſay that he doubted not, but that he was called of god to ſet at liberty the Iſraelites. But in requiring theſe ſignes, he onelye aſked counſell of God: whither he ſhould then obtaine the victorye againſte the Madianites, when now he had collected and hoſt. And that in the old time with the captaines of the Iſraelites was a common cuſtome. For Saul and Dauid, although they wer by God choſen kinges, namely to ſaue the people, neither did they therof any thing doubt, yet did they often times aſke counſel of God, whither they ſhould aſcend to any place, whither their enemies ſhould be deliuered into their handes: or contrary, whither they ſhould fall before their enemies, or bee deliuered into theyr handes. So peraduenture it might be ſayd, that this captain, for that he had not with him the Arke of the Lord, or a Prophet whom he might aſke counſel of, as touching the ſucceſſe of the battail, by thoſe ſignes did aſke counſel of the Lord. Auguſtine in his .63.Auguſtine. Ambroſe. queſtion vponupon Geneſis in this maner excuſeth Gideon, and affirmeth that he by theſe petitions tempted not God, but aſked counſel as touching the ſucceſſe. And as cōcerning this thing, as he is wont, he agreeth with Ambroſe, who in his firſt booke de ſpiritu ſancto, and .i. chap. affirmeth that Gideon doubted not. And the Rabbines of the Hebrues think that theſe ſignes wer geuen vntounto Gideon by the miniſtery of ſome prophet: but what he was, neyther the ſcripture declareth, neither can they tell. And there are ſome of them whiche ſuppoſe that al this thing was done in a viſion. But of theſe things what nede we any more to argue? Foraſmuch as there is nothing whiche letteth, but that Gideon might in very dede both demaund, and hauehave experience of theſe things. Howbeit, the thing teacheth that al theſe things happened in the ſummer time, for that there is mencion made of dew.
I eaſily aſſent vntounto Auguſtine, which ſaith that Gideon tempted not God,Auguſtine. We maye require a ſigne to ſtrengthen our fayth. bicauſe I am perſwaded, that by ſuch ſignes he woulde hauehave his fayth confirmed, which otherwiſe was wauering. It is ſynne in deede to doubt in faythe, but to ſtrengthen the ſame, it is lawful in time to require a ſigne. For in the Goſpell the man cryed: Lord, I beleue, but helpe thou my incredulitye. Yea and Gideon alſo in the ſelfe ſame thing had before tryal of conſolation: wherfore it is no maruel if he againe deſired the remedy, which he had had experiēce of.Why Gideon required contrary ſygnes. He requireth contrary ſignes, bicauſe the firſt ſemed not to be ſo great a wonder, that the reſt of the earth ſhould be dry, & the fleeſe moyſt. Bicauſe ſuch is the nature of wool, that by a certaine proper power it draweth moyſtnes vntounto it ſelfe, as the Magnete ſtone draweth yron, and Naphtha, fire.Naphtha a kinde of chalk. Wherefore the wool myght eaſilye drinke in the dewe, and that aboūdantly, although the earth wer not yet moiſt. But that about the fleeſe the earth ſhould be moiſt, and the wool dry, it was vtterly againſt nature.
What is the Allegorye of theſe ſygnes, Auguſtine vponupon the .71.Auguſtine. Ambroſe. The Allegorye of theſe ſignes. Pſalme writeth, and alſo Ambroſe in his firſt booke de ſpiriru ſancto, in the Proheme. The fleeſe they vnderſtand to be the people of the Hebrues, who in the old time wer watred with the woord of God, when as the whole earth, that is, all other nations, wanted the preaching of the woord of God. Chriſt alſo was the miniſter of the circumciſion, & in the firſt embaſſadge he ſēt his Apoſtles onelyonly to ye Iewes. But afterward the thing was ſo altered, that the whole worlde, after the comming of the holy ghoſt vponupon the Apoſtles, was watred wyth the woord of God, and the Iewes vtterly wanted it, and as barren bowes were cut of from the fertile and fat Olyue tree.