Judges 6:11 “And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite, and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.”
Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress.
He was doing the right work in the wrong place. And the reason he was there was not just the Midianites outside. It was what had been happening in Israel for years before the Midianites ever showed up.
The Bible does not hide what got Israel into this mess.
* They had sinned. Judges 6:1 “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD.”
* They were going through suffering. The Midianites had been raiding their crops and starving their families for seven years.
* God was trying to bring them back. He allowed the oppression to press them until they finally cried out to Him.
* Gideon would eventually bring them back. But God had to break them first before He could deliver them.
That is the setting when we meet Gideon. A nation deep in sin, a family running from raiders, and a young man crouched in a pit trying to save a little grain. This is the story of what happens to God’s people when they walk away from Him.
What a Threshing Floor Was Supposed to Be
Wheat was supposed to be threshed in a very specific kind of place. Ancient threshing floors had three things in common.
* High – They were on top of a hill or ridge.
* Open – They were exposed to the sky with no walls around them.
* Windy – The wind was essential to the whole process.
After the wheat was beaten to loosen the grain, the farmer would toss it into the air. The wind would blow the lightweight chaff away and the heavier grain would fall back to the floor. Without wind, there was no separation. Threshing was public, visible work done up where everyone could see it. It was never hidden.
What a Winepress Was
A winepress was the opposite of a threshing floor.
* Low – It was dug down into the ground.
* Closed – The walls of the pit blocked the wind and the view.
* Hidden – Nobody outside could see what was happening inside.
* Isolated – It was a place of solitary, tucked-away work.
A winepress was designed for stomping grapes in a pit and letting the juice collect at the bottom. It was never meant for threshing wheat. There was no wind down there. There was no room to swing a fan. It was the wrong place for the work Gideon was trying to do.
But it was the only place he could hide.
Gideon knew the right way to thresh wheat. He was not confused, he was afraid. The Midianites had been stealing every harvest for seven years, and if he went up on top of the hill where he belonged, they would see him and come take everything he had. So he crawled into a pit.
That is what happens to us when we turn our back on God and lose His hedge of protection.
Fear takes over that the enemy is watching everything. We stop doing the right work in the right place, and we start hiding. We start looking for pits.
The right work in the wrong place is still a losing situation. Gideon was threshing, but he was going to get half the yield with twice the effort.
God Never Made Us for the Pit
Matthew 5:14-16 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Jesus said we are a city on a hill. We should be high and open. Not low and closed.
We were never made to grind wheat in a winepress or to hide in a pit. We were made to be visible with our faith, public with our worship, and out in the open where the wind of the Spirit can do half the work for us.
The Way Out
The angel of the LORD did not climb down into the pit to meet Gideon. He sat under the oak tree above it. God was calling Gideon up and out, not further in.
Judges 6:12 “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.”
A mighty man of valour was crouched in a winepress. God saw who Gideon was going to be, not who fear had made him. And He called him back out to the high, open place He had made him for.
If you find yourself grinding wheat in a winepress, take heart. God is not going to leave you in the pit. He is calling you back to the hill, back to the light, back to the open place where His wind can do its work in you again.
Do not thresh wheat in a winepress. Get back on the hill.
