Judges 6:36

Again on this subject it is written: "For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the law, the justice of God is made manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." When he says "made manifest" he shows that it had existed but was like the dew for which Gideon asked; then it was not visible on the fleece, but now it is made manifest on the ground around. Therefore, since law without grace could only strengthen rather than kill sin—as it is written: "The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law"—and as many flee to grace for refuge from the face of sin which had been so enthroned, to grace lying manifest, as it were, on the ground, so at that time few fled to it [grace] for refuge, invisible as it were, on the fleece. Indeed, this division of times belongs to the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God, of which it is said: "How incomprehensible are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!"

"And he shall come down like rain into a fleece, and like drops distilling upon the earth." He has reminded and admonished us that what was done by Gideon the judge has its end in Christ. He asked the Lord for a sign, that a fleece laid on the floor should alone be rained upon and the floor should be dry; and again, that the fleece alone should be dry and the floor should be rained upon; and so it happened. This dry fleece, which lay upon a floor in the midst of the whole round world, signified the former people Israel. Therefore, Christ came down like rain upon the fleece while the floor remained dry; concerning this he said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." There [in Israel] he selected a mother through whom he would receive the [bodily] form of a servant in order to appear to humanity: there he gave this command to the disciples, saying, "Don't go in the direction of the nations or enter into the cities of the Samaritans: go first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." When he said, go "first" to them, he also showed that afterward, when the floor was to be rained upon, they would also go to other sheep who were not of the former people of Israel. Concerning these he says, "I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I need to bring in them also, that there may be one flock and one Shepherd." For this reason the apostle also says, "For I say that Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the patriarchs." Thus rain came down upon the fleece, while the floor remained dry. […]

What did Gideon's fleece signify? It is like the nation of the Jews in the midst of the world, which had the grace of sacraments, not indeed openly manifested, but hidden in a cloud or in a veil, like the dew in the fleece. The time came when the dew was to be manifested in the floor; it was manifested, no longer hidden. Christ alone is the sweetness of dew: him alone you do not recognize in Scripture, for whom Scripture was written. But yet, "they have heard all the words of your mouth."

But some, like the Jews in former times, both wish to be called Christians, and—still ignorant of God's righteousness—desire to establish their own, even in our own times of open grace, of the full revelation of grace that was previously hidden, that is, in the times of grace now manifested in the floor, which had before lay hidden in the fleece.… Gideon, one of the righteous men of old, asked for a sign from the Lord, and said, "I pray, Lord, that this fleece which I put on the floor would be wet with dew, and that the floor would be dry." And it was so. The fleece was wet with dew while the whole floor was dry. In the morning he wrung out the fleece in a basin—since grace is given to the humble—and you know what the Lord did to his disciples [with water] in a basin. He asked for yet another sign: "O Lord, I [pray] that the fleece would be dry, and the floor wet with dew." And it was so. Consider how, in the time of the Old Testament, grace was hidden in a cloud, as the rain in the fleece. Note also the time of the New Testament: if you consider the nation of the Jews, you will find it like the dry fleece, whereas the whole world, like that floor, is full of grace, not hidden but manifested. Therefore we are greatly compelled to grieve for our brothers who strive against openly manifested, rather than hidden, grace. There is allowance for the Jews, but what shall we say of Christians? For what reason are you enemies of Christ's grace? Why do you rely on yourselves? Why are you unthankful? Why did Christ come? Wasn't [human] nature here before, which you only deceive by your excessive praise? Wasn't the law here? But the apostle says, "If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." What the apostle says of the law, we say regarding nature concerning these people. "If righteousness comes through [human] nature, then Christ died in vain."

But now let's see why, in the first sign, "dew fell upon the fleece, whereas the ground was dry," and in the second sign, "dew fell upon the ground, while the fleece remained dry," an indication which Gideon accepted as a pledge that the Lord would save Israel through his hand. The rationale for this mystery is to be seen in what I remember from one of our preceding books, which characterized the people of Israel as a "fleece," with the surrounding ground being the Gentiles, while the dew that fell "upon the fleece" was the word of God written for this people alone. For only to Israel did the dew of the divine law arrive, whereas all the surrounding nations remained dry, none of them being infused with the moisture of divine locution. In the second sign, however, where he asked that the dew fall on the ground and that the fleece remain dry, a completely different rationale can be observed. We should see this entire people, who were gathered together from nations around the world, now having within themselves the divine dew; see them infused with the dew of Moses, irrigated by the word of the prophets; see them green from evangelical and apostolic water. The fleece, however, that is, the Jewish people, suffers aridity and dryness in the word of God, according to which it is written: "The children of Israel will be for a long time without king, without prince, without prophet; they will have no altar, no victim, no sacrifice." You can see how they remain arid, how they are stricken with drought of the word of God.… Even the seventy-first psalm, as I have often discussed with them, moves me to this conclusion because, when it describes the advent of Christ, it foretells his coming as rain on a fleece and as showers on the earth. Here in Judges a fleece is mentioned and in the psalm, also, "fleece" is the word chosen. […]