We are continuing our look at Gideon and the Aleph Tav (Jesus in the Old Testament). 

Last week we learned that the Israelites are being oppressed by the Midianites. What will they do? Will they find freedom? Let’s get into it!

We are going to continue our look at Gideon, and the Aleph Tav (Jesus). Things are about to get exciting! 

If you have not read last week’s post, I encourage you to do so! It laid a foundation for where we are heading this week!

Breaking the Cycle

Let me ask you this: How does the Lord come in and break this cycle? What does He do?

He steps into the misery of Gideon and gives him a brand new identity. Actually, it’s Gideon’s authentic identity, His Heavenly identity. Jesus renames him. Jesus rebrands him. And it goes directly against Gideon’s normal thought patterns. Let’s see what Jesus said to Gideon:

“And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” Judges 6:12 (ESV)

Based on Gideon’s actions and words, he did not consider himself a mighty man of valor. Actually, he believed he was one of the weakest, if not THE weakest person in all of Israel.

“And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save [aleph-tav] Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Judges 6:15 (ESV)  (words in bracket mine)

But the Lord saw Gideon differently than the way Gideon saw himself. God saw him as a mighty man of valor, which means he was a mighty man of valor. That’s the truth of who Gideon was, even though Gideon wasn’t experiencing this truth at the moment.

What about us?

You know, we’re not so different from Gideon. We are just doing our own thing, trying to survive, trying to make it, and then the enemy comes in and steals everything we worked so hard to accomplish. And we feel powerless and small and weak and beaten up.

That is, until Jesus walks into our life and redefines our whole existence, revealing that we are different than we thought we were. We also are mighty men and women of valor… through Him!

Do you remember what else the Angel of the LORD, Jesus Himself, told Gideon?

“And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you…” Judges 6:16a (ESV)

The Lord says, “BUT! I will be with you!”

God with us. Does anyone remember the name of God that means “God with us?” Yes, It’s Immanuel!

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:23 (ESV)

Jesus gives us the key to breaking the cycle of sin, of destruction, of the enemy’s attacks. Here it is:

1. Jesus shows up. You can ask Jesus to show up in your life, and He will respond!
2. Jesus redefines who we think we are. Our minds shift. Our thinking patterns change. This is repentance.
3. Jesus stays with us. He is the “God with us.” He is the One True God, and He promises to never leave you nor forsake you.
4. Jesus gives us directions and directives. It’s up to us to listen and obey.

In fact, this issue of #4 is something Jesus mentioned to a prophet in a verse that I skipped at the beginning, Judges 6:10.

“And I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear [aleph-tav] the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.” Judges 6:10 (ESV) (words in bracket mine, emphasis added)

The whole reason the Israelites were in the mess they were in was that they did not obey the Lord’s voice, His directions or His directives. 

They were actually meant to be fearless because of the Aleph-Tav, the Strength of the Covenant.

The Sign

Back to Gideon. We can see his thinking starting to shift real-time. He realizes that a transaction needs to take place. So he asks for a sign and also offers something to the Angel of the LORD.

“And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my [aleph-tav] present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.” Judges 6:17-18 (ESV)  (words in bracket mine)

The present was representative of a covenant. Gideon was interested in making a covenantal agreement with Jesus, represented by the aleph-tav showing up in these verses.

Now let’s read more of the story to see how Jesus responded with Gideon’s requested sign as part of the covenant they were making together.

“So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the [aleph-tav] meat and the [vav-aleph-tav] unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the [vav-aleph-tav] broth over them.” And he did so.“

Notice there is the Hebrew letter vav added to a couple of the aleph tav in this verse. The Hebrew letter vav means like a nail or bridge or a connector. So the gift or the present that Giedon was giving was the meat and the unleavened cakes and the broth. They were all connected together. They were all part of the covenant. So the vav showing up there means that these three things are one in the same. 

“Then the angel of the LORD [aleph-tav] reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the [aleph-tav] meat and the [vav-aleph-tav] unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. 

And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace [Jehovah-Shalom]. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.” Judges 6:19-24 (ESV)  (words in bracket mine)

I love what the angel of the LORD does with a staff that was in his hand, which, by the way, is another indication that he was physically there. He uses the staff to touch the food, and then fire surges from the rock and consumes the food! How cool is that!?

And also notice how it says “the angel of the LORD [aleph-tav].” This is evidence that The Aleph-Tav Himself, the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus Himself, is the one manifested physically in this story, and not some other angel.

We are going to pause here for this week. Next week, we will finish up this study. I hope you will join me!

Part 1