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forced into hiding as a result of what people do with the result that
God cannot or will not be present in ways that God would like to be.5o
This absence of the divine presence means, according to Fretheim,
never more than the loss of intensification in divine presence. God never
disappears permanently, for God's desire is to be present with God's
people. Thus, God always tries again to restore the broken relation-
ship.51 In the book of Judges, one sees this poignantly when God reap-
pears in the stories of Jephthah and Samson, once again delivering God's
people by the hand of the judges that God has risen up (cf. e.g., 11:21;
13:1, 9).
An important question to ask is how this picture of God that we find
in the Gideon narrative may serve as a theological and moral resource.
Taking up Schweiker's proposal, I would argue that within the narrative
world created by the Gideon story we encounter the Other. The charac-
ter of God addresses the reader and makes a claim for recognition
Accordingly, the picture of God, as one who intentionally wants to engage
in a relationship with God's people and actively reveals Godself in the
lives of God's people, has important relevance for modern readers. This
picture of a God who is actively involved in people's lives instills a claim
on God's people today to respond by recognizing God and exhibiting
loyalty and obedience. Especially, the notion of God's absence might
have an effect on moral behavior. As Samuel Terrien notes, "to be aware
of divine hiddenness is to remember a presence and to yearn for its
return."53
Second, Schweiker argues that biblical texts, and particularly the notion
of divine power in these texts, are capable of "transforming our percep-
tions of power and thus endorsing a moral commitment to respect and
enhance the integrity of life."54 The theme of "power" is an important
point of discussion in theological circles, particularly the theme of how

5"Fretheim, The Suffering of God, 72.
5'Fretheim, The Suffering of God, 65.
52 Schweiker, "Encounter," 8-9.
53Samuel Terrien, The Elusive Presence: Toward a New Biblical Theology (San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 1978), 321.
s4Schweiker, Power, 49.