Is Gideon a model for modern believers? He is included in a list of saints who are commended for their faith in Hebrews 11. The story of his fleece is well known, and the phrase “putting out a fleece” is a common idiom for seeking signs and confirmations today just as Gideon once did.
Despite Gideon’s faith and obedience in general, I have a hard time seeing how the sign of the fleece is a good model for us today. The sign of the fleece was not the first one that he asked for. When speaking with the angel of the LORD (or, just the LORD as in Judges 6:16), he asks for a sign and he gets it. He prepares food and brings it back and sets it on a rock and after the angel touches it with his staff, fire consumes it and the angel vanishes.
He already asked for a sign and he got it. Verse 22 says “Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD.” After this, the LORD speaks to him again about cutting down the Asherah and Gideon does it. It’s only after all this that Gideon asks for the sign of the fleece.
To be fair, most people who are “putting out a fleece” or seeking some kind of confirmation from God for one thing or the other probably don’t have the kind of confirmation that Gideon already had. So, I wouldn’t necessarily object to someone doing such or thing or using that phrase. But in light of the confirmation Gideon did already have, I’ll ask again:
Is Gideon’s fleece a model for us?
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