The Midianites loved to cross the Jordan during harvest time to raid their Israelite neighbors like a swarm of locusts. On the other hand, to the discredit of the Israelites many of them had set up altars to Baal forgetting the Lord in proud times of prosperity while expecting the Lord not to forget them when trouble came.
With the Midianites camped nearby preparing to raid, Gideon threshed wheat by his winepress trying to harvest something discretely before they trod across the land demanding all. That’s when the angel of the Lord appeared to him to tell him that he was sent to save his people and the Lord would be with him.
Gideon reminded the angel that he was a nobody, a nothing, and that his subsistence farm, thanks to those Midianites whom the Lord has done nothing about, was well below subsistence levels. The angel of the Lord knew all of that, but, considering the lesson that needed to be learnt, the weakness of Gideon’s position was one of the main reasons why he was chosen.
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Denise offers the prompt word “farm” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories. To read what really happened to Gideon (Jerubbaal) and his family especially his sons, Abimelech and Jotham, see Judges 6-9.
I am grateful to Michael Wilson who pointed out the interaction between the Lord and Gideon. Below is a map from the Bible Mapper site showing Gideon’s adventures against the Midianites.
While writing this I was also thinking of Mary (tqhousecat)’s essay Sometimes a Little is Enough.

Excellent brother. Thanks for the shout out.
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You are welcome. Blessings to you, Michael!
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God made a weak man strong.
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He did! Thank you, Cassa!
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God always choses the humble to carry out his work. He has no time for the proud and the haughty. The Bible also shows this with Moses and David the shepherd boy. Humility is indeed a virtue and pride is a vice.
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Good point: humility is a virtue and pride a vice. Thank you and blessings, Dan!
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We often don’t know why we’re chosen. Nicely done Frank.
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Good point. Thank you and blessings, Dan!
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Thw angel of the Lord knew all because there were lessons for Gideon to learn. Yes and AMEN!
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Amen! Thank you and blessings, Mary!
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Very interesting, Frank.
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Thank you, Chris!
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Love this story form of Gideon’s story
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By retelling it I think I finally understood what was going on. Blessings, Jim!
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Wow awesome
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Excellent re-tell/reboot on a very timeless story.
Nice touch with the maps for geographical context
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Thank you, Clark! I find those maps very helpful.
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You made excellent points in your retelling.
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Thank you! Blessings, Mimi!
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Excellent Six, Frank, backed with supplemental cartography.
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I didn’t know as much as I thought about Gideon until I did the research and then wrote this story. Thank you, Nick!
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A story from the past in the language of today making it eminently readable. Nice, Frank.
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Thank you, Keith! In the process of writing this I finally understood what Gideon was going through.
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Love the long sentences and the story.
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Thank you!
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