36 Then Gideon said to God , " If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken , 37 behold , I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor . If there is dew on the fleece only , and it is dry on all the ground , then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken ." 38 And it was so . When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece , he drained the dew from the fleece , a bowl full of water . 39 Then Gideon said to God , " Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more ; please let me make a test once more with the fleece , let it now be dry only on the fleece , and let there be dew on all the ground ." 40 God did so that night ; for it was dry only on the fleece , and dew was on all the ground .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 6:36-40
Commentary on Judges 6:33-40
(Read Judges 6:33-40)
These signs are truly miraculous, and very significant. Gideon and his men were going to fight the Midianites; could God distinguish between a small fleece of Israel, and the vast floor of Midian? Gideon is made to know that God could do so. Is Gideon desirous that the dew of Divine grace might come down upon himself in particular? He sees the fleece wet with dew to assure him of it. Does he desire that God will be as the dew to all Israel? Behold, all the ground is wet. What cause we sinners of the Gentiles have, to bless the Lord that the dew of heavenly blessings, once confined to Israel, is now sent to all the inhabitants of the earth! Yet still the means of grace are in different measures, according to the purposes of God. In the same congregation, one man's soul is like Gideon's moistened fleece, another like the dry ground.