Did that just happen?

Judges is my favorite book in the Old Testament. I guess being in the Army the book speaks to me through its leadership lessons, the action of small unit combat, and the intimate detail in which God plans out his repeated rescues of his people. In another aspect of the book, I can identify on a personal level with the repeating cycle of falling away from God's will, needing rescue from God, worshiping him for a time, and then slowly falling back again until the next rescue is needed. I see the cycle repeated on the macro level as well in countries and churches across the globe.


Last night I watched the Veggie Tales rendition of the story of Gideon with my kids. This is a particular favorite story of mine, both for the sheer audacity of it (God has Gideon raise a huge army, whittles it down to 300 men, arms them with nothing more than lighters and kazoos, and then proceeds to destroy the invading horde and rescue his people), and the bizarreness of a particular part of the story where Gideon overhears a dream and its interpretation by his his enemies.


"And Gideon arrived and see! A man was telling his friend a dream, and he said, "See! I dreamed a dream! And see! A round loaf of barley [bread] tumbled into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned and the tent collapsed." And his friend replied, and he said, "This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and the whole of the camp into his hands." And when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, then he worshipped [Yahweh] and he returned to the camp of Israel, and he called out, "Arise! For Yahweh has given the camp of Midian into your hands!" Judges 7:13-15


While this is a relatively small part of the overall story, it does play an important part in reassuring Gideon that God knew exactly what he was doing (remember Gideon is the guy that needed multiple signs from God before he would even get started on raising an army Gideon 6:17-23) What amuses me (that may not be the right word, but it will serve for now) is why anybody would dream about a loaf of bread knocking over a tent, and furthermore; how the subsequent interpretation of the dream by a friend would be "Obviously Gideon and the Hebrews are going to wipe us all out!" Amazing.


Anyways, it is a great story that illustrates God's power and attention to detail (something I think we can all appreciate). The Veggies crew, I think, did a good job with it, and figured I would throw it up here for comments. Ever dreamed about bread? Tired of my overuse of parenthetical statements? Leave a comment and let me know.