Jesus begins this command with the state- ment “I send you forth.”The word He used for send forth is the Greek word apostello, from which we get the English word apostle. Apostello means “to set apart and to send out on a mission.”

Jesus used the same word to describe the sending out of the prophets who were to warn the people and for sending out the twelve disciples to preach the Gospel. (See Matthew 23:34 and Mark 3:14.) When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he sent Gideon forth with a divine mission: “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” (Judges 6:14). Apostello was also used by Jesus to describe His Father’s sending of Him into the world.“As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). Because we, too, are sent on a divine mission, we must obey this command.

Jesus was often in the midst of “ravening wolves” who watched for an opportunity to tear Him apart for the words He spoke.They asked Him craftily designed questions and hoped to trip Him up with His answers. In response, Jesus often answered a question with a question. When the Pharisees asked Him if they should pay taxes to the hated Roman rulers, Jesus replied, “Whose is this image and superscription [on this coin]?” When the Pharisees answered, “Caesar’s,” Jesus gave a wise exhortation: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:20–21).

Another instance in which Jesus responded with a question occurred when the Pharisees waited to see if He would heal a man on the sabbath.“What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Where- fore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days” (Matthew 12:11–12).

Q: When God told Gideon to destroy his father’s altar, Gideon did it at night for fear of the men who worshiped Baal. Did Gideon demonstrate wisdom or a lack of boldness? (See Judges 6:25–32.)

A: Though a General demands obedience from his troops when they are given an order, he also expects them to be aware and alert to possible dangers. A wise soldier is willing to submit his physical body to the direction of his leader, and yet he constantly should use his mind to accomplish the assigned mission.

When Gideon tore down his father’s altar, he chose to do it at night “because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city” (Judges 6:27).

He demonstrated wisdom rather than a lack of boldness because he obeyed the Lord’s command in the very night he received it and avoided what no doubt would have been a disastrous situation if he had done it during the day. The next morning, the men of the city were shocked to see that the altar had been broken down. Upon discovering that Gideon had done it, they demanded that his father bring him out to be killed.

The intriguing account that follows testifies to the fact that Gideon’s discretion and wisdom were used by God to convict an entire nation of their unfaithfulness to Him.