In the conversation between God’s messenger and Gideon, the angel says that it is YAHWEH who sends him to save Israel. But Gideon doesn’t understand why he is being chosen and objects to his calling. Apparently, he feels weak and unfit for such a great task.
Judges 6
15 And he says to him, “O my Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my thousand is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
My thousand or my clan?
The NBG translation here has “my clan is the least in Manasseh.” The Hebrew word eleph is used as a numeral for a thousand, but can also refer to a unit, and hence a lineage or family.
God did not choose Gideon because of his own strength or because of his good lineage. We will see later that “the Gideon band,” with which Gideon goes into battle, is a representation of the ecclesia (>church). In our present time, God is gathering a people from the nations (Acts 15:14), consisting of those considered foolish, weak, and ignoble in the world (1 Cor. 1:26-29).
1 Corinthians 1
29 so that no flesh will boast before God.
the weak and despised chosen
God chooses people who are weak, insignificant, and socially despised to carry out His plan, so that the power comes from Him and not from people. Think of all the women in the Bible who were barren, yet still brought forth life. Or Moses, who had to go to Pharaoh and deliver God’s message to let His people go, and told God he wasn’t a very good speaker (Ex. 4:10).
New Testament
At the birth of Jesus, this was not announced to kings or priests, but to simple shepherds. The Lord also chose His disciples from fishermen, tax collectors, and ordinary people, not the scholars or religious leaders of His day.
David
We read that David (like Gideon) was the youngest, and yet his older brothers were not chosen to be king, but he. David was not initially called in when Samuel came to his father to anoint a king from among his sons (1 Samuel 16).
Adullam
When David fled from Saul, he gathered in a secret place a motley crew of men who were despised in society (1 Samuel 22:1-2). When David later became king, these people, who had shared in his humiliation, received high positions in his court and built his kingdom with him (1 Chronicles 11:10). It is a beautiful picture of the ecclesia, now sharing in Christ’s hidden position and in His humiliation, but soon sharing in His glory (Col. 3:1-4).