Shadows or types are those things in the Bible which point to greater truths. This is taught in several places. Of especially poignant use is Colossians 2:16-17:
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
While all types or shadows ultimately point to Christ, they can at times point to future events as part of the greater scope. Ecclesiastes 1:9 teaches that what has been is what will be and what has been done will be done. The future is hidden in the past. So if you want to know the future you can look to shadows of upcoming events in Scripture. One such possible shadow deals with Gideon’s battle. It may surprise you to learn that this could be a picture of the final battle of Armageddon, or the time soon before and including the vanquishing of the Anti-Christ. As shadows or types go this one is admittedly tenuous. The only way to be completely certain if something was a shadow or type is to have verification of the fact from Scripture itself. Therefore, this author could very well be wrong in his belief. Nevertheless, there is enough evidence to at least speculate that there may be a connection. Please consider the following correlations:
Judges 6:1 tells of the Sons of Israel being given over to their enemies (the Midianites) because they did evil in the sight of the LORD. Compare this to Daniel 9:27 where the Anti-Christ makes a covenant with the Hebrews for one “week” (seven years). During this period God will put Israel through some especially hard times so as to bring them to faith in Messiah (Zech. 12:10).
Judges 6:2 records Midian causing the Hebrews to hid in caves and mountains. Matthew 24:16 has Christ telling those Hebrews living just as the Abomination of Desolation is revealed to flee to the mountains. Isaiah 26:20 even has the Hebrews hiding in their “secret places.” Isaiah is also speaking of this tribulational period. As a point of interest, the enemies of Christ will also be forced to do this (Is. 2:19, Rev 6:15).
Judges 6:3 records the “sons of the east” going against the Israelites along with the Midianites and the Amalekites. Revelation 16:12 tells of the “kings of the east.” These kings will take part of the final battle in the valley of Har-Magedon (Rev. 16:16).
Judges 6:11 records the Angel of the LORD appearing to Gideon as he was threshing wheat in the wine press. The Angel of the LORD goes on to tell Gideon that he is with him. Though it cannot be covered here, the Angel of the LORD is a Christophany/Theophany (a pre-incarnate Christ). Compare this to Revelation 14:19; 19:15 where the wrath of Jesus is described as Him treading a wine press.
Judges 6:27 records Gideon taking ten men and did as the LORD had spoken to him. Revelation 17:12 speaks of ten kings who are allied with the Anti-Christ.
Judges 6:33 records the Midianites, the Amalekites and the sons of the east making camp in the valley of Jezreel (Har-Magedon). Revelation 16 records the great battle between Christ and the Anti-Christ as occurring in this very valley.
Judges 8:3 records God giving the two leaders of Midian (Oreb and Zeeb) to the Israelites. In Revelation 20:10 it can be seen that the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet have been cast into the lake of fire.
After examining these comparisons it seems to be completely reasonable to posit that the battle of Gideon was in fact a shadow of the battle of Armageddon.
Matthew I think that there is great potential in this as a type. I do feel however that you are requiring people to make too many metal leaps. I can see that you have a theological mind like me and therefore I am able to overcome what others might write off as mere assumption.
Just a suggestion here “Judges 6:27 records Gideon taking ten men and did as the LORD had spoken to him. Revelation 17:12 speaks of ten kings who are allied with the Anti-Christ.” The “good guys” in the type become the “bad guys” in the anti-type? you cannot take a picture of good and make the fulfillment something bad. Just because it correlates means nothing. Well unless you think it does but then you never explained how it does this – I cannot even make that mental leap.
Your writing is really good Matthew, unusually clear, and theologically sound. But I think that this post may need further development. If it means 3,4, or 5 posts then by all means. This is not about changing the minds of those opposed to our position but about strengthening and arming those who already hold it with sound arguments. There has been so much capitulation to the other side despite the fact that it is completely unsound, it is unfortunately due to the fact that they have on too many occasions been able to articulate it better. That is sad.
Thank you for reading and taking the time to respond. I purposefully chose this possible type as it is not as obvious as many others. Indeed, it may not be a type at all. However, given that there were enough interesting comparisons I thought it would make for interesting speculation. It’s not something that I have spent a great deal of time on as I do at least some other subjects.
You said, “Just because it correlates means nothing.” I disagree. It may or not mean something. By itself I would think nothing of it. However, when combined with the other examples I believe it warrants a mention. But yes, the two points could very well be unrelated.
I have edited the post to make it clear that this claim is not one that I am certain of. And yes, I agree that there has been too much capitulation to the, “covenant” side. It really is a shame because they are working from a presupposition that ultimately undermines the plain meaning of Scripture.
In Christ,
Ervin
Hi, I’m in the parallel of both books as well and found some other very interesting comparison as well. Judges 6:11 records the Angel of the LORD appearing to Gideon as he was threshing wheat in the wine press. Christ alludes to the time of the end as the “time of harvest”. Calling the final harvest of souls as the end of the world or the end of the age. In Roman time, rocks or other rough objects were embedded into large wooden boards used to separate the stem and shell from the hard wheat. In Latin this board is called ‘tribulem’. The final harvest before the return of the Messiah will occur in the time of Tribulation. The area of Armageddon is actually in the Valley of Jezreel and in the story of Gideon, these children of the East “pitched in the Valley of Jezreel”; the same area where the future nations will gather against Israel in the future. I would also agree to keep the 10 men and 10 kings and The seven bullocks represent the 7 years of tribulation. The word “gather” is also used in Zec 14:2, when the prophet saw the time of the end and how all nations should be gather together against Jerusalem for the final battle.
Prior to Gideon’s war, he blew the trumpet to gather his people together and there will be the sound of the trumpet at the gathering of all believers. The army became a remnant of 300 men and the Bible predict that the Lord will blow a trumpet and bring together a remnant. Both Oreb and Zeeb (meaning raven and wolf) were slain at the winepress and John called this the “winepress of the wrath of God”. Just as Gideon battle concluded at a winepress, the battle of the battles in the future will be identified with a winepress (Rev 14:19-20). After crossing the Jordan the men met at Succoth (Judges 8:15), Succoth is the Hebrew word for ‘Tabernacle’, the 7th and final festival. The Feast of Tabernacles is a prophetic picture of the future kingdom of Christ in which He will reign of earth for one thousand years (Rev 20:4).
A very interesting phrase in the Gideon narrative indicates that they ‘taught’ the enemy with ‘thorns and briars’ (Judges 8:7,16); the prophetic parallel is when Christ returns he will thread down His enemies. In Rev 2:27 we read ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels;
The Ismaelites brought Gideon an offering after the battle concluded (Judges 7:22) and at the return of Christ, the nations surrounded Israel will be the sons of Esau and Ismael, will join the other nations in worshiping the Messiah when he returns, as the Bible says: All nations shall come and worship before Thee.
I have really been blessed by your ‘article’ and I just wanted to add to it for some bible students out there. Some of these texts are from Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Study Bible.