And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
All Commentaries on Judges 6:40 Go To Judges 6
Caesarius of Arles
AD 542
Now, although Gideon was brave and confident, still he sought fuller proofs of victory from the Lord, saying, “If indeed you are going to save Israel through me, as you promised, O Lord, I am putting this woolen fleece on the threshing floor. If dew comes on the fleece, while all the ground is dry, I shall know that you will save the people through me, as you promised.” That is what took place. Afterwards, he added that the second time dew should pour over all the ground and only the fleece be dry; and so it happened. The dew on the fleece was faith in Judea, for the words of God descend as dew; for this reason Moses says, “May my discourse be awaited like the rain, and my words descend like the dew.” Thus, when the whole world was dried up from the unproductive heat of Gentile superstition, then there was the dew of a heavenly visitation upon the fleece, that is, in Judea. However, after “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (foreshadowing, I think, the figure of the fleece of the Jews) refused the fountain of living water, the dew of faith dried up in the hearts of the Jews, and that divine stream turned its path to the hearts of the Gentiles. For this reason, the whole world is now moist with the dew of faith, but the Jews destroyed their prophets and advisers. It is no wonder that they submit to the dryness of faithlessness, since the Lord God deprived them of the fruitful rains of the prophets, saying, “I will command the clouds not to send rain upon that vineyard.” Salutary is the rain of the prophetic cloud, as David said: “He shall be like rain coming down on the meadow, like showers watering the earth.” The sacred writings of the whole world promised us this rain which watered the world at the advent of our Lord and Savior with the dew of the divine spirit. Thus, the dew has already come, and also the rain; the Lord came and brought with him heavenly showers. For this reason, we who thirsted before now drink, and by an interior drinking [we] absorb that divine spirit. Therefore, holy Gideon foresaw that by perceiving faith, even tribes and nations would drink the true heavenly dew.
