Testing God or seeking reassurance – how to know? (Judg 6:33-40)

Gideon’s experiment with the fleece is a well-known story familiar from Sunday school and the concept of a test is a popular method among less mature Christians to discern God’s will. This, however, is a misunderstanding, since as Block rightly points out, the will of God is never in doubt for Gideon.[1] In other words, the issue is not whether God wants him to do this or that, but whether He will act as He had promised and deliver Israel using him (Judg 6:36). Many commentators harshly condemn Gideon for his unbelief and place his actions on a par with Israel testing God in the wilderness (Ps 106:14). Yet, to give Gideon the benefit of the doubt, can we not ask the Lord for support when our faith wobbles? Should every act of seeking encouragement be condemned as unbelief? When is it acceptable to look for assurance from Him and what is the difference between that and ‘testing’ God?

First, some background on the wording. The verb ‘to test’ (Hebrew nissah – Judg 6:39) is used in two distinct ways elsewhere in the OT. On the one hand, God tests people to see if they are committed to Him (e.g. Abraham is commanded to sacrifice Isaac – Gen 22:1; Israel tested with the manna whether they will obey God’s instructions – Exod 16:4), on the other, Israel tests God in the wilderness when they refuse to trust and obey Him despite numerous experiences of His deliverance and provision during the exodus and beyond (e.g. Exod 17:2, Num 14:22). Thus in the kind of human testing of God condemned in Scripture, there is always an element of rebellion, a refusal to accept what God has already done and an attempt to force God’s hand to do more without any openness towards growing in faith and obeying.[2] While this is an accurate description of Israel in the wilderness, is it a fair portrayal of Gideon?

To be sure, he saw a sign of God’s approval earlier and was delivered from a bloodthirsty mob (Judg 6:21, 31), but he is still early on in his relationship with God. In fact, the sign he asks for now, as Chisholm points out, is not random but relates to the question of God’s power to control the dew, an aspect that was attributed to Baal as the storm god.[3] Thus the test with the fleece is a way of asking if God is more powerful than Baal. Since wool absorbs moisture more easily than the ground, Gideon then reverses the sign to be sure that he got this right. Gideon’s doubts are undoubtedly a backward step in the relationship with God and the narrator indicates this distance by using the generic word for God (Elohim – Judg 6:36, 39, 40), rather than the personal name Yahweh (rendered in English by ‘LORD’).[4] Nevertheless, Gideon is of a generation that did not know the Lord or His works (Judg 2:10), so this is not that surprising. Moreover, he has shown himself obedient so far, destroying Baal’s altar, calling the tribes together and once reassured, will follow God’s instructions reducing his troops and going into battle in the Lord’s strength.

Thus Gideon has more in common with the man whose son was demon possessed and who cried ‘I believe, help my unbelief’ (Mk 9:24) or with Peter who started to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus (Matt 14:28-31) than with rebellious Israel. The difference is a level of openness that wants to be convinced by God despite doubts. The Lord, in fact, is kinder than commentators and does not rebuke Gideon but patiently cooperates. As we grow in maturity, more is required of us, and choosing to trust God is always the best option, but the Lord understands our weaknesses and works with us still.

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[1] Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, NAC 6 (Nashville: B&H, 1999), 272.

[2] This connection between testing and obedience/rebellion is discernible throughout the OT and an obvious instance that explicitly links the two is Deut 6:16-17. The problem with Israel in the wilderness was not their discouragement or need for reassurance but their rebellious spirit. They lived through the ten plagues, the parting of the sea and God providing manna and water repeatedly and yet every single time difficulties arose, their response was unchanged: grumbling and a mistrust of God.

[3] Robert B. Chisholm Jr., A Commentary on Judges and Ruth, Kregel Exegetical Library (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2013), 278-79.

[4] Block, Judges, 273.

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