Gideon's Fleece
“And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,”
Judges 6:36 · KJV
“Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.”
Judges 6:37 · KJV
“And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.”
Judges 6:38 · KJV
Gideon, afraid and unsure God would use him, asked for a sign: a wool fleece left on the threshing floor overnight, wet with dew while the ground stayed dry. In the morning he wrung a bowl of water from it. Then, still unsure, he asked for the reverse: the fleece dry, the ground wet. God did both.
It is usually preached as a lesson in doubt, and it is, but the picture underneath is Israel and the nations. First the fleece is wet and all the ground dry: God's blessing on Israel alone while the whole world is dry. Then the fleece is dry and the ground soaked: Israel set aside for a season while the dew of the Spirit falls on all the earth, “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24). Gideon asked for a sign about a battle; God drew him a map of history. And He was patient with a frightened man who asked twice.