Description

YHVH Sifting His People

One of the meanings of Gideon’s name is ‘pruner’ and this is what YHVH did with the men that He gathered for His army, He pruned away the ones that did not fit His criteria. We find the same in the NT where we see the Father as the Gardener Who prunes away or cut those off those who do not bear fruit. [John 15:2]. Which fruit? The fruit of the Commandments and of His Spirit.
YHVH took away people from the army of Israel to make it impossible for them to win the battle on their own, they needed His help and the situation would force them to trust in Him. In the pervious portion we drew the parallel between Jacob fleeing from his uncle Laban and they went to Mt Gilead [Gen 31:21] and here we see the people who were afraid were taken away from Mt Gilead. Mt Gilead was East of the Jordan (the river of judgment). Gilead means ‘heap or mass of testimony’ and that is why YHVH took away the people who were afraid so that they would not be part of His Testimony, but only those who had courage and faith. Gideon lined 32 000 people up for the fight but YHVH reduced their number so that the victory would be a testimony unto Him that He is the One Who delivered them.