Our Salvation will be like the Day of Midian

        Isaiah 9:1-7: "But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You have multiplied exultation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Great will be his authority, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."

        This prophecy from Isaiah 9 is very familiar to us, especially around Christmas Time. Many of us will have heard parts of it sung in a famous section of Handel's Messiah. We love the language of those walking in darkness seeing a great light. We love the titles of Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. We love the language of a child being born to us and the image of endless peace that will come. But as I revisited the text this year, one line stood out to me that I had never noticed or paid much attention to before: that God would break the rod of the oppressor as on the day of Midian. 

        What Isaiah is referencing here is Judges 6 and an earlier time in Israel’s history during the time of Gideon when the Midianites were violently oppressing Israel. And I want to focus in on this story, because I think Isaiah references this story because he sees in the story of Gideon a lot of things that apply to the coming Messiah, things that might be just as meaningful and lovely as the other aspects of the Isaiah 9 prophecy we know and love. So, let’s look closer at Judges chapter 6. 

        There an angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and tells him, "The Lord is with you." And already in that language we should be hearing echoes of Immanuel, of God with us. But Gideon is skeptical of the angel’s claim. He basically says, “If the Lord is really with us, as you say, then why have all these bad things happened to us? Why is Midian oppressing us? Why isn't God using His miraculous power to protect us?” And I think these are fair questions. Good questions. Tough questions. 

        I don’t think we humans can ever come up with wholly satisfying answers to such questions around how to square a good God and the existence of evil. However, we can note that often the dark and gloom of our conditions is of our own making. Zebulun and Naphtali, the anguish they were in that Isaiah speaks of, they were in that dark spot because they were facing the consequences of worshipping idols and committing injustices. Israel in Gideon’s day was similarly allowed to be punished by Midian because they too had done much evil in the sight of the Lord, as it says in Judges 6:1. Darkness is often of our own making. But Isaiah’s Christmas prophecy does not attempt to fully explain why so much darkness exists in God’s world or why God has let the darkness persist for so long. What his Christmas prophecy does boldly say though is that there is a light that will shine in the darkness, a light the darkness cannot overcome. He shows that darkness is not the last word. And what his Christmas prophecy shows us is that God is indeed with us, even in the times of darkness, even when it seems like he is not. 

        We can empathize, therefore, with Gideon’s question to the angel: "Is God really with us?" We can understand how it feels like God surely could not be with us if this darkness is what our lives look like. But we must, in hope, trust the angel’s tidings nonetheless and know that God is indeed with us, even when it doesn’t feel like it. 

        In Judges, the angel doesn’t even attempt to answer most of Gideon’s concerns. The angel doesn’t explain fully why the Midianite oppression was allowed to happen, or why God has not helped them out sooner, but what the angel does say to Gideon is that the time of deliverance is now, and that he will be the one to usher in that deliverance. And in the end, isn't that all that really matters? More than we need a detailed and complex explanation for why things are dark like they are, we simply need to know that light is coming, that light will win out, that all will be right in the end. That is good enough news for us.

        But Gideon again responds to the angel with skepticism. He wonders how he could be this miraculous deliverer, for he is from the weakest clan in his tribe, and he is the least in his family. He doesn’t seem to understand that Israel will be delivered not because of his strength, but because of God’s strength. There's nothing too special about him, he is merely God's appointed agent, the one whom God will work through. But by the end of the story God will make this all abundantly clear to him. 

        Interestingly, despite his skepticism, Gideon is actually a little too successful in attempting to fulfill his role of delivering Israel. He sounds the rallying call, calling for Israel to come together to fight and take a stand against Midian, and he is able to gather 32 thousand soldiers together. And God’s basically like, "That’s too many... Because if I let you all go out and fight Midian, you’ll probably think you won because of your own strength. You’ll take credit for yourselves, even though it will be I who granted you the victory." So, God makes Gideon send home some of the troops. Any who are fearful and trembling at the prospect of battle are allowed to return home. I mean, I’d be a little scared about fighting in a war. So, 22 thousand depart, and only ten thousand remain. But it’s still too many. They do another sifting. Gideon is tasked with seeing how all the soldiers drink water from the lake. Do they cup their hands together and drink from their hands, or do they lap up the water like a dog, sticking their tongue in the water and licking it up? As you can imagine most people drink by cupping the water. 9,700 more soldiers are sent home. Only 300 remain. 

        300. It reminds me of the epic story of the 300 Spartans who stood alone against the armies of Persia and made a valiant stand in the  battle of Thermopylae. The Persian army of hundreds of thousands was held at bay by a mere 300 soldiers for quite a while at a very narrow pass as the Spartans used the geography of the area to their advantage. But even these valiant 300, these Spartans who were known around the world for their fierce army, for their warrior state in which all citizens trained from youth in military drills, even these were eventually crushed and defeated by the sheer number of the Persians. A mere 300 cannot win a war against thousands, unless they have the aid of God. 

        Gideon had the aid of God. Gideon had all 300 men surround the Midianite camp during the late hours of the night and they all blew shofars, trumpets, and they all lit torches and smashed jars and shouted a great war cry, and they did everything they could to make it seem like they were a much larger force than they were. And it worked, it startled and scared the Midianites and they started to run away and retreat and they were struck down as they retreated. 

        So when Isaiah compares what the Messiah is going to do in Isaiah 9 to the day of Midian, I think this is primarily what he is referring to: that the deliverance that is going to happen is going to be entirely by God’s hand. It won’t be because of our strength, but by God’s strength. And that is of course what happens. Salvation is entirely the work of God. It is precisely when we were helpless and oppressed and lost in darkness that God came to save us who couldn’t save ourselves. Salvation is always entirely the work of God, it is not something we earn by works, nor something we achieve, it is merely a result of the grace of God who longs to be with us and to bring us deliverance and justice. We cannot save ourselves anymore than an army of 300 can defeat an army of thousands. We need God's grace.

        And God makes sure to use people who are small and weak to demonstrate that deliverance is from his hand alone. Just as Gideon was from a weak tribe and least in his family, so too were many of the other people God used in the Old Testament. David, the youngest in the family, was overlooked by his father as a potential candidate to be king. And Jesus, from lowly Nazareth, was not someone by human measures we would expect to be great either. God chooses what is weak in the world to shame the strong and to show that the only real strength is the strength that comes from God. 

        But there’s another detail from Gideon’s story I find very interesting, and it occurs near the end of the story. After Gideon’s miraculous triumph over Midian the people want to make him king. But Gideon refuses. And he gives a very interesting reason. He says, "I will not rule over you, because God will rule over you." I think Gideon learned the lesson that his own strength was not what was important. The people would be foolish to trust in him as king as if that could provide them with safety. No, they should trust in God as king, who alone has real strength. Well once again this ties in to Messianic prophecies. For God does indeed come to rule his people in Jesus. The Messiah is a human from the line of the Davidic Kings, but he is also to be called Mighty God. Fully God, fully human. He will be the Everlasting Father, because Jesus says that he and the father are one. The good news in an age of corrupt and disappointing politicians is that God himself will rule us.

        And here’s a final detail I find interesting in Gideon’s story. When we first encounter him in the story, he is beating out wheat in the wine press. This is not a normal place to do this. Threshing is normally done in the open air with the aid of wind. But he was doing it in the wine press in order to hide from Midian, for Midian was trying to starve Israel, and if they saw Israel with any food they’d go and destroy it. And now this might be a little bit of a stretch, but I see even in this small detail of Gideon beating wheat in a wine press a foreshadowing of Christ. It is to me communion imagery. The wheat of bread being broken in a place where wine is pressed and poured out. It’s a little bit of a stretch, but I think those with eyes to see, see Christ even in this detail, knowing that Christ is in every scripture. 

        Well, from that one little allusion to Midian in his prophecy, Isaiah speaks forth a lot: he shows us that the deliverance the Messiah will bring will come from God's might alone, that God is with us even when it doesn't feel like it, that just as God has rescued Israel in the past from Midian and from Egypt He can rescue us again in the future from sin and death, and that God alone is fit to be the messianic king to accomplish all these things. Praise be to God, our help in ages past, and our hope for years to come.