Gideon, Dew, and the Narrative-Geographical Shaping of Judges 6:33-40

By John A. Beck

[John A. Beck is a consultant with Bible World Seminars, Germantown, Wisconsin.]

Selective reduction is a critical part of effective storytelling. Since an event consists of many more details than the story that flows from it, the biblical authors, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, practiced selective reduction, employing only those details from the historical event that would match their rhetorical and theological intentions. While this process of selection means that many details of the event were omitted, it also guarantees that every detail that makes the transition between event and account plays a role in delivering the message of the account. No detail, not even the mention of dew, should escape thoughtful consideration.

As Gideon was empowered by the Spirit of God (Judg. 6:34) and commissioned to lead the attack against invaders who had blanketed the agricultural fields of Israel, the reader encounters a scene drenched in dew. After mustering several tribes for battle, Gideon asked for a specific sign from God, a sign that involved the manipulation of dewfall. In the four verses that summarize this event from the life of Gideon (vv. 37–40), dew is mentioned four times. Given that emphasis, important questions follow. Why would Gideon have requested the manipulation of dew rather than some other sign? How does involvement of dew help deliver the message of this story? What does dew have to do with the request of Gideon?

Dew in Ancient and Recent Literature

Given all the books, commentaries, and articles written about Gideon, it is surprising to find this question largely unaddressed.

An exception, however, was writers in the early church and the Middle Ages who provided fanciful interpretations for the mention of dew in this story. Using the allegorical method, early church fathers like Ambrose and Augustine said the dew represents the Word of God, which entered the fleece, the people of Israel. The disobedience of Israel led to the evaporation of this privilege, which was subsequently extended to the Gentiles, who are represented by the dew-drenched threshing floor. Others like Anthony of Padua taught that the dew entering the fleece symbolized the way Jesus entered the womb of the Virgin Mary.[1]

In contrast to the attention given to dew by these early Christian commentators, more recent commentators using diachronic approaches seldom touch the topic. These authors keep a sharp eye out for shifts in vocabulary, for doublets, and for other literary discontinuities that suggest to them that the story is a poorly made quilt, patched together from a variety of sources. As Mayes noted, “The story of Gideon is a story composed of independent materials that live in an uneasy relationship.”[2] Since advocates of the diachronic method of analysis are more interested in dissection than integration, it is not surprising that certain elements of the story, like dew, simply go unaddressed.

Narrative-Geographical Analysis

The method used in this article is synchronic rather than allegorical or diachronic. This means that the story will be treated as a literary whole whose content and form have been carefully written to deliver a coherent and focused message. Such an approach honors the importance of every detail included in the narrative, even something as inconspicuous as dewfall.

Also the approach of this article is interdisciplinary in nature, blending the insights of narrative criticism and geography in what may be called narrative-geographical analysis. This approach uses narrative criticism to interpret the structure and rhetorical direction of the story, and it uses the insights of geography to better understand the geographical references in the text. Then it blends the insights of both in an effort to explain the literary function of geography in the narrative.

Narrative-geographical analysis, though related to the study of physical, historical, and human geography, is distinct from them. Physical geography investigates the land through the lens of topography, geology, hydrology, climate, forestation, land use, urbanization, and transportation.[3] Historical and human geography examine the role such physical geography plays in the shaping of history and culture.[4] In contrast to these more traditional studies of geography, narrative geography analyzes the literary function of geographical references within a story. It acknowledges that the author may strategically use, reuse, and nuance geography in order to impact the reading experience. Previous investigation has demonstrated that biblical authors may employ geography as a tool to shape the plot,[5] to develop the characterization,[6] to promote ironic energy in a story,[7] and to provide emphasis that encouraged travel to an ancient worship site.[8]

Narrative-geographical analysis follows an outline reflected in the presentation that follows. It begins by identifying the crisis and the development of that crisis through the scenes in the story. With the literary direction of the story in view it consults geographical resources to understand the nature of dewfall in this region. And it seeks to integrate the observations of narrative criticism and the insights of geography in order to define the role of dew in the narrative-rhetorical plan of the story.

The Crisis and Its Development

The Crisis

This story begins by identifying the crisis and assessing how the early scenes work to clarify, complicate, and/or resolve that crisis. Early in the Book of Judges and in this story the crisis is linked with the First Commandment. In the time of the judges God’s chosen people had become heavily influenced by Canaanite culture and theology.[9] This meant that they regularly put Baal on the divine stage next to or instead of the Lord (Judg. 2:1–3). This sad reality receives special emphasis in the exposition of the story of Gideon. When the Midianites had overrun the land and the people had cried out to the Lord, it was not Gideon but an anonymous prophet who first addressed the people.[10] “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. I said to you, I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me” (6:7–10).[11] These words of the prophet indicate that the Midianite invasion was a symptom of a larger crisis, the Canaanization of Israelite society and the adoption of Baal as god.[12] Since the exposition directs the readers’ attention to the crisis in such a clear way, one can expect each scene and details within the scene to have a relationship to that topic, including the mention of dew in scene three.

Development of the Crisis within the Scenes

Long before the reader arrives at any mention of dew, this crisis receives development within the early scenes. While these scenes certainly reveal something of the changing character of Gideon and even editorialize on the state of leadership in Israel at this time,[13] the primary role of each scene is to respond to the crisis; Israel viewed the Lord as absent and impotent while perceiving Baal as present and powerful. These misperceptions that fuel the crisis are clarified and torn down in a bid to move the narrative toward resolution. As that happens, it is also helpful to note two other movements that advance the cause of the first three scenes. Each subsequent scene addresses the crisis in an increasingly public venue before an ever-growing audience.

Scene one. In the first scene Gideon was at work in a setting designed to achieve maximum isolation and he shared the scene with only one other entity. When he was threshing wheat in a winepress, he entered into a conversation with the angel of the Lord (6:11). Here Gideon voiced a misperception about God that helps explain the crisis in the story. “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us in the hand of Midian” (v. 13). This complaint helps reveal the crisis as Gideon saw it. It is difficult to give God undivided respect and loyalty when His power and presence are so inconspicuous. However, the Lord overcame this misperception with His presence, His language, and a dramatic miracle. The Lord said, “I will be with you” (v. 16). And before disappearing from Gideon’s sight the angel of the Lord caused fire to flame up from a rock and consume the meat and bread Gideon had brought to Him (vv. 20–22). Thus this scene both clarifies the crisis and pushes Gideon toward personal resolution. God deserved the undivided loyalty of Israel because He was both present and powerful.

Scene two. This scene moves to a more public venue and presents further clarification of the crisis. It carries the reader to the public worship facility of Baal located in Ophrah, the hometown of Gideon, where a tolerant blend of Baal and Yahweh worship existed.[14] As commanded by God, Gideon took ten servants and destroyed the worship site of Baal that had been associated with his family.[15] When this “atrocity” was discovered, the residents of Ophrah planned to execute Gideon. From the growing crowd in this public setting, the reader learns that the residents of Ophrah worshiped Baal because they believed him to be an authentic deity. But this notion was about to be undone. Joash, the father of Gideon, stepped between his son and the threatening mob. Joash addressed a troubling misperception people had about Baal and defeated it in one sentence. “If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar” (v. 31). The failure of Baal demonstrates that affection for this deity was misplaced.[16] And lest the reader miss the point, Gideon received a new name, Jerub-Baal, a name that points up the impotence of Baal.[17] Thus this scene again helps clarify the crisis and move that crisis toward resolution.

Scene three. The third scene continues the rhetorical trajectory of the first two scenes and adds the component of dew. The first two scenes move toward clarifying the crisis and bringing it to a resolution. The power and presence of God has been contrasted with the absence and impotence of Baal. The third scene builds on this inertia and moves the action to an even more public setting.[18] The scene has shifted from the isolated winepress, to the Baal sanctuary outside Ophrah, and now to the public threshing floor.[19]

As the settings have become increasingly open and public, the number of people involved has grown dramatically. The first scene includes Gideon and the angel of the Lord. The second scene includes Gideon, Joash, and the people of Ophrah. Now in the third scene Gideon was joined by soldiers from Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. This public setting and large audience gave the Lord an opportunity to address misperceptions about Himself and Baal once again before an even larger audience.[20] What is new and what became the focus in scene three is dew.[21]

Dew in Israel

Gideon could have asked the Lord for any number of signs that would prove His presence, power, and right to exclusive worship. So why did Gideon ask Him to manipulate dew, and how does that manipulation contribute to the resolution of the crisis? Here geography helps clarify this topic, and it reveals a connection to the narrative-rhetorical pulse of this story.

Dew and Climate

The natural process of dew formation is well known. Air has the capacity to hold water in an invisible state. But once that air mass begins to cool, its ability to retain water is diminished. As the temperature drops, it eventually reaches a value identified as the dew point. That is the temperature at which moisture is driven from hiding, forced to make itself known either in the form of clouds, precipitation, or dew. The latter forms when moisture-laden air comes into contact with a collecting surface that has a temperature at or below the dew point.

The climate of Israel favors the formation of dew particularly in the summer months from June 15 to September 15. At this time of year, warm moist air that resides over the Mediterranean Sea is pushed inland by westerly winds.[22] Since the stability of the atmosphere during this season discourages vertical movement, it is rare in the summer for clouds to form. But in the evening this moisture-laden air cools to the dew point as it comes into contact with rocks, plants, and soil that have radiated off their heat into the cloudless skies.[23] The amount of dewfall that results varies from place to place with a greater number of dew nights occurring on the coastal plain where moisture is more abundant.[24] Nevertheless the interior plains, where this scene from the story of Gideon took place, also enjoy the benefits of dewfall. Since this story occurred in the days after the harvest, one could expect measurable dewfall to occur on about half the nights of a given month.[25]

Dew and Agriculture

While heavy dew can be a nuisance for suburbanites who want to mow their lawn early in the morning, dew is a welcome presence in Israel, for it plays a critical role in the ancient agricultural cycle. Since the atmosphere of the summer season is rich in moisture but lacks the vertical movement that would produce clouds or rainfall, the summer months in Israel are nearly rain free. The grain is planted so that it can mature during the winter season when it rains. But other crops like grapes, figs, pomegranates, and melons mature during the summer months, and so they require dew to reach maturity.[26] Thus dewfall is not just an interesting physical phenomenon in the promised land; it is an essential dimension in the agricultural cycle.[27] If the dew failed as it did at the time of Elijah (1 Kings 17:1), the crops maturing during the summer months would be lost. The traditional prayer life within Judaism reflects this concern. As the rainy season reaches its close and the dry summer months are impending, the prayers offered on the first day of Passover include the request that God would send dew on the land so that the summer crops might come to maturity.[28]

Dew and Theology

The importance of dew to survival in the land of Canaan also finds expression in the theology of the Canaanites, who had woven dew into the fabric of their theology. They believed that Baal was the deity who provided both the rain and the dew that made agriculture possible.[29] In several places in Ugaritic texts Baal is identified as the cloud-rider who provides “the dew of heaven.”[30] When the Israelites arrived in this land and learned from their Canaanite neighbors how to farm, they learned not only the pragmatics of the planting cycle but also this Canaanite theology.

God had foreseen this risk. Long before they had contact with the Canaanites, He had told His people that farming in Canaan would be different from the farming they had experienced in Egypt. While in Egypt, they had depended on the Nile River and irrigation to mature their field crops. This would not be the case in the promised land, where rain and dew from heaven, not rivers, would mature their crops. And despite the perspective of the Canaanites to the contrary, the Lord, not Baal, would provide that needed moisture, including both rain and dew (Deut. 11:10–17; 1 Kings 17:1; Hos. 14:5–8; Hag. 1:10–11).

Of course this sets up a competing claim that lies at the heart of scene three in the story of Gideon. The people believed that Baal provided both rain and dew. But the Lord claimed that He provides both rain and dew. The people who had gathered to fight beside Gideon as well as Gideon himself were caught between these counterclaims. For the most part they seem to have resolved the matter by affirming the validity of both and dividing their affection between the Lord and Baal. That, of course, is the crisis that lies at the heart of this story. But those days were over. In scene one Gideon encountered the power and presence of the God whom many had thought was gone. In scene two Gideon had destroyed the Baal worship sanctuary at Ophrah and witnessed Baal’s failure to defend himself. What had been demonstrated to Gideon in private and to the residents of Ophrah on a more public stage was now about to be demonstrated on the most public stage in the story so far. Gideon selected the manipulation of dew as the way in which the Lord might assert and proclaim His sole right to the affections of Israel.

The Role of Dew in Scene Three

As scene three opens, dew becomes prominent, mentioned four times in four verses. In three of those four occurrences the word for dew is carefully placed in a position of grammatical emphasis or prominence (6:37, 39–40). Thus by sheer repetition and by position in the grammatical spotlight, the biblical writer was calling the eyes of the reader to this important detail in the story.

In this scene Gideon requested the manipulation of dew on two consecutive evenings; the first would follow more natural expectations building toward the second request which required an unnatural manipulation of dew. Gideon first asked that dew be on a fleece but not on the threshing floor. This request is a natural expectation. Since dew regularly occurred in the evening during this time of the year in this location, it was likely that the fleece would become damp. Since the fleece absorbed water quickly in contrast to the stone threshing floor and since it would evaporate more quickly from the threshing floor than the fleece, this request paralleled natural expectations.[31] Thus it is not so much the presence of dew but the amount of water in the fleece that captures the reader’s attention. “Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water” (v. 38).

The second sign is the culminating moment of the scene marked by an introductory formula and tracking an unnatural manipulation of dew. This sign is preceded by words that recall the words of Abraham as he sought God’s mercy on behalf of Sodom (Gen. 18:32). “Gideon said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me. Let me make one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece’ ” (Judg. 6:39). This special introduction summons readers to note carefully what follows as the scene reaches its climactic moment.[32]

The details of the second request require that God do something contrary to what would normally be expected. One would expect that the dew would evaporate much more quickly from the threshing floor than from the fleece. But God demonstrated His presence and power by reversing that expectation. “That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew” (v. 40). And Baal was nowhere to be seen!

Conclusion

So what does dew have to do with Gideon’s request? By honoring the narrative as a literary whole and by careful inquiry into the use of geography within the story, narrative-geographical analysis has provided the answer. The crisis that lies at the heart of the first three scenes concerns Israel’s divided loyalty, offering both the Lord and Baal a seat on the divine throne. The manipulation of dew would be a powerful way for the real deity to stand up and be counted since both Baal and the Lord had claimed the right to provide this moisture so critical to survival in the land. On a threshing floor before the soldiers of Israel God used the manipulation of dew to confirm His power and presence at the expense of Baal. That is what dew has to do with the request of Gideon.

Notes

1. David M. Gunn, Judges, Blackwell Bible Commentaries (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005), 96; and John R. Franke, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament, ed. Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove, IL: InverVarsity, 2005), 123–27.
2. Andrew David Hastings Mayes, Judges, Old Testament Guides (Sheffield: JSOT, 1985), 24. For similar observations stemming from a diachronic approach see A. Graeme Auld, “Gideon, Hacking at the Heart of the Old Testament,” Vetus Testamentum 39 (1989): 257-67; John Gray, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, New Century Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 205; Gregory Mobley, The Empty Men: The Heroic Tradition of Ancient Israel, Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 2005), 114; George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges, International Critical Commentary (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1906), 175; and Alberto J. Soggin, Judges: A Commentary, Old Testament Library (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1981), 103–5.
3. Barry J. Beitzel, The Moody Bible Atlas of Bible Lands (Chicago: Moody, 1985), 25–69.
4. Ibid., xv.
5. John A. Beck, “Geography and the Narrative Shape of Numbers 13, ” Bibliotheca Sacra 157 (July–September 2000): 271-80.
6. John A. Beck, “Faith in the Face of Famine: The Narrative–Geographical Function of Famine in Genesis,” Journal of Biblical Storytelling 11 (2001): 58-66; idem, “Why Did Moses Strike Out? The Narrative-Geographical Shaping of Moses’ Disqualification (Numbers 20:1–13),” Westminster Theological Journal 65 (2003): 135-41; idem, “Why Do Joshua’s Readers Keep Crossing the River? The Narrative-Geographical Shaping of Joshua 3–4, ” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 48 (2005): 689-99; and idem, “David and Goliath, a Story of Place: The Narrative-Geographical Shaping of 1 Samuel 17, ” Westminster Theological Journal 68 (2006): 321-30.
7. John A. Beck, “Geography as Irony: The Narrative-Geographical Shaping of Elijah’s Duel with the Prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18),” Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 17 (2003): 291-302.
8. John A. Beck, “Mizpah and the Narrative-Geographical Shaping of 1 Samuel 7:5–13, ” Bibliotheca Sacra 162 (July–September 2005): 299-309.
9. Robert B. Chisholm Jr. effectively points out that this reality extends throughout Judges and into the early chapters of 1 Samuel, making a regular appearance in one story after another (“Yahweh versus the Canaanite Gods: Polemic in Judges and 1 Samuel 1–7, ” Bibliotheca Sacra 164 [April–June 2007]: 165-80).
10. For a discussion on the absence of this speech from 4QJudga, see Mobley, The Empty Men,125.
11. Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from the New International Version.
12. Auld, “Gideon, Hacking at the Heart of the Old Testament,” 364; L. Juliana M. Claassens, “The Character of God in Judges 6–8: The Gideon Narrative as Theological and Moral Resource,” Horizons in Biblical Theology 23 (2001): 57; Victor H. Matthews, Judges and Ruth, New Cambridge Bible Commentary (New York: Cambridge University, 2004), 87; J. Clinton, McCann, Judges, Interpretation (Louisville: John Knox, 2002), 61–62; Anson Rainey and Steven Notley, The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World (Jerusalem: Carta, 2006), 139; and Wolfgang Bluedorn, Yahweh versus Baalism: A Theological Reading of the Gideon-Abimelech Narrative, JSOT Supplement (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2001), 50, 69.
13. Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis and Willard Van Antwerpen Jr., “Joshua and Judges,” in A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible, ed. Leland Ryken and Tremper Longman III (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 147; and Tammi J. Schneider, Judges (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2000), 99.
14. Soggin, Judges: A Commentary, 127.
15. Joash may have been the owner and custodian of the worship site (Gray, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 288).
16. Chisholm notes that the ongoing story of Gideon including his burial in his father’s tomb (8:32) highlights the impotence in an enduring way through the coming verses (Chisholm, “Yahweh versus the Canaanite Gods,” 172).
17. Barry G. Webb, The Book of Judges, JSOT Supplement (Sheffield; JSOT, 1987), 149. For a full discussion of various ways this name may be interpreted see Bluedorn, Yahweh versus Baalism, 101–5.
18. Soggin says this is out of place and suggests that it should be reinserted after 6:32 (Judges: A Commentary, 132).
19. The threshing floor may also anticipate the return to agricultural freedom following the defeat of the eastern raiders (Cheryl A. Brown, “Judges,” in Joshua, Judges, Ruth, ed. J. Gordon Harris, New International Biblical Commentary (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 192.
20. Bluedorn, Yahweh versus Baalism, 110. This is wonderfully represented in a seventeenth-century painting. The Dutch illustrator, Jan Goeree, depicted Gideon looking over his shoulder at the gathered army while wringing out the fleece before them (David M. Gunn, Judges, Blackwell Bible Commentaries [Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005], 103). The presence of the Israelite soldiers is supported by language in verses on either side of this scene. Judges 7:1 clearly states that “all the people . . . were with him.” This same reality is strongly implied in 6:35.
21. Commentators invest significant energy in explaining the motivation for Gideon’s request. Some see it as an act of faith (A. Cohen, Joshua and Judges [London: Soncino, 1950], 215; and Gray, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 290). Others observe that it smacks of doubt, fear, or presumption (e.g., Bluedorn, Yahweh versus Baalism, 121; McCann, Judges, 66; K. Lawson Younger, Judges and Ruth, NIV Application Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002], 187). And still others view it as a healthy realism (e.g., Brown, “Judges,” 189). The absence of clear evidence in the story makes it impossible to determine what motivated Gideon’s request.
22. Denis Baly, The Geography of the Bible (London: Lutterworth, 1957), 43.
23. Frank S. Frick, “Palestine, Climate of,” in Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 5:124.
24. Dewfall in the hill country occurs between 100 and 180 nights each year, and western lower Galilee experiences 200–250 dew nights per year (Efraim Orni and Elisha Efrat, Geography of Israel, 3rd ed. [Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1973], 155).
25. From June through August the Geva area in the Harod Valley receives dew about seventeen nights per month (Jacob Katnelson, “Dew,” in Encyclopedia Judaica [Jerusalem: Keter, 1971], 5:1602).
26. Carl G. Rasmussen, NIV Atlas of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), 25; Michael Zohary, Plants of the Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 26; and R. B. Y. Scott, “Meteorological Phenomena and Terminology in the Old Testament,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 64 (1952): 21.
27. In the western Negev rainfall for the season averages 200 millimeters, while dewfall provides up to 150 millimeters of the total moisture enjoyed (Beth Uval, “The Dew of Heaven,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 26 [1998]: 118).
28. “Dew, Prayer for,” in Encyclopedia Judaica, 5:1602.
29. Mark Stratton Smith, “Myth and Mythmaking in Canaan and Ancient Israel,” in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, ed. Jack M. Sassoon (New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1995), 3:2033.
30. The Ba‘lu Myth reads, “She [‘Anatu] gathers water and washes, dew of heavens, oil of earth, the showers of the Cloud-rider. The dew (that) the heavens pours down, the showers (that) the stars pour down” (William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger Jr., The Context of Scripture [Leiden: Brill, 2003], 1:251). The “Tale of Aqhat” includes these words: “Seven years Baal fails, Eight the Rider of the Clouds. No dew, No rain; No welling up of the deep, No sweetness of Baal’s voice” (James B. Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures [London: Oxford University Press, 1958], 127).
31. British mariners have used the absorbent qualities of wool fleeces at sea to extract drinking water from the atmosphere (John Marshall Lang, Gideon and the Judges: A Study Historical and Practical, Men of the Bible [New York: Revell, 1890], 120).
32. Soggin, Judges: A Commentary, 133.