Musar su Giudici 6:78

And in Tanchuma, on the verse (Devarim 16:18): "And they shall judge the people [with] a righteous judgment": R. Yehuda b. R. Shalom said: 'They should "incline" [judgment] and impute merit to them before the Holy One Blessed be He. From whom do we learn this? From Gideon the son of Yoash, in whose days Israel was [steeped] in suffering, and the Holy One Blessed be He sought a man who would impute merit to them and could not find one, the generation being poor in mitzvoth and in [virtuous] deeds. When merit was found in Gideon, who imputed merit to them, immediately the angels appeared to him, as it is written (Judges 6:11): 'And an angel of the L-rd came' [to Gideon] … and (Ibid. 14): '…and He said: "Go, with this your strength and save Israel, etc."', with this strength of your having imputed merit to My children, this being the thrust of 'And they shall judge the people [with] a righteous judgment, that they shall impute merit to the generation.'" From all of this, we can understand the eminence of one who "imputes merit," before the Holy One Blessed be He. And he [Gideon] afterwards became the chariot for the light of the holy sanctuary, which was called "the sanctuary of merit," where the merits of Israel were brought to remembrance, as we find in Sefer Charedim.

And it is found that it [(guarding one's tongue)] leads to peace [shalom]. And the greatness of peace is already known. As Chazal have said: "Even if there be, G-d forbid, the sin of idolatry in Israel, but there is peace among them, the Holy One Blessed be He tells Satan not to touch them." And if one accustoms himself to speak well of his friend, he merits that the Holy One Blessed be He calls him by His name — "Shalom!" As it is written (Judges 6:24): "And he called it [(the altar)] 'the L-rd - Shalom.'" And if he does the opposite, G-d forbid, he is called "Ra" ["evil"]. As Chazal have said: "If one speaks with his friend and eats with him and drinks with him and speaks lashon hara against him, the Holy One Blessed be He calls him 'Ra,' as it is written (Mishlei 12:20): 'There is deceit in the heart of the plotters of ra.' And if one does not eat and drink with him and does not deal with him [i.e., if he has acquired no favors from him] and [still] he speaks well of him, the Holy One Blessed be He calls him 'Shalom,' viz. (Ibid.): 'And for the counselors of Shalom there is joy.'"

In order to explain somewhat the quality of peace, I shall adduce some of the apothegms of Chazal on this subject. This is from Ma'aloth Hamiddoth: "Know, my sons, that peace is among the highest qualities, it being one of the names of the Holy One Blessed be He, as it is written (Judges 6:24): And he called it [(the altar) 'the L-rd-Shalom.'" Wherever peace is found, fear of Heaven is found. Where there is no peace, there is no fear of Heaven. Great is peace before the Blessed One, our sages of blessed memory saying in the aggadah (Yevamoth 65b, Bava Metzia 87a): "Great is peace, even Scripture prevaricating to maintain peace between Abraham and Sarah. For whereas she said (Bereshith 18:12): 'And my lord [Abraham] is old,' G-d transmitted this to Abraham as (Ibid. 13): 'And I [Sarah] am old.'" Similarly (Ibid. 40:16-17): "and they had it reported to Joseph: 'Your father commanded before he died: "So shall you say to Joseph: 'Forgive, I pray you, the offense of your brothers and their sin, for they accorded you evil.'" Now nowhere do we find Jacob commanding any such thing at all, for he entertained no apprehension whatever of Joseph's conduct. My sons, come and see how great is the power of peace, for the Holy One Blessed be He said that even foes should be approached with peace as it is written (Devarim 20:10): "When you draw close to a city to wage war against it, call out to it for peace." Great is peace, for it consummates the priestly benediction, as it is written (Numbers 6:26): "And He shall repose peace upon you." Great is peace, for it is the consummation of prayer, as it is written (Psalms 29:11): "The L-rd will give His people strength; the L-rd will bless His people with peace." And what is more, in the day of Israel's consolation, the first report shall be of peace, as it is written (Isaiah 52:7): "How comely upon the mountains are the feet of the herald, announcing peace!" My sons, come and see how great is the power of peace, for the Holy One Blessed be He said that even foes should be approached with peace, as it is written (Devarim 20:10): "When you draw near to a city to wage war against it, call out to it for peace." It was stated of R. Yochanan b. Zakkai that no one ever preceded him in greeting, not even a gentile in the marketplace. And our sages of blessed memory have stated (Avoth 4:15): "Extend greeting to all men." What is meant by greeting "all men"? Even if you see that he is ill disposed towards you, extend greeting to him; for if you do so, you will cause him to love you. What is more, even if he will not condescend to make peace with you, the Holy One Blessed be He will deliver him into your hand and humble him beneath you, as it is written (Devarim 20:1): "And if it [the city] does not make peace with you, but wages war against you, then you shall besiege it, and the L-rd your G-d will deliver it into your hand…" And so we find with David, may peace be upon him, that he pursued peace with Saul, as it is written (Psalms 120:7): "I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." Not only was Saul not appeased, but he pursued David to do him injury, and the Holy One Blessed be He delivered him into David's hand in the cave and in the encampment. And even so, it never entered David's heart to do him wrong. For one must love peace and pursue peace, as it is written (Ibid. 34:15): "Seek peace and pursue it." Seek it with your friend and pursue it with your enemy. Seek it in your place and pursue it in other places. Seek it with your body and pursue it with your money. [Sometimes one must be liberal with his money to seize upon the "stronghold of peace."] Seek it for yourself and pursue it for others. Seek it today and pursue it tomorrow. And do not despair, saying: "I will never achieve peace," but pursue it until you do achieve it. And what is the pursuit of peace? Thus have our sages of blessed memory said (Sanhedrin 110a): "This is speaking peace at a time of dispute and sacrificing one's honor for the general good, as was done by Moses, as it is written (Numbers 16:25): 'And Moses arose and he went to Dathan and Aviram…,'" and suspending one's affairs to make peace between a man and his wife, a man and his neighbor, and a teacher and his student — even to the extent of arranging a meal for two to make peace between them.

Our sages of blessed memory already expounded on the verse: "I have come because of your words" (Daniel 10:12) - "that Gavriel was not allowed to re-enter behind the heavenly curtain until he had pleaded in defense of Israel" (Yoma 77a). And on Gideon it was said "go in with your might" (Shoftim 6:14) - "because he pleaded in defense of Israel" (Yalkut Shimoni 247:62).

A person must purify his heart before he commences to pray (Shemot Rabbah quoted by Menorat HaMa'or page 39). We also find that Job referred to the fact that "there is no injustice on my palm, my prayer was pure." Rabbi Joshua the priest, son of Nechemyah queries how a prayer could be עכורה, murky, dirty. He concludes that the statement about Job's prayer not having been offered with hands soiled with violence does not refer to hands that are physically dirty but to the stains caused by sin. A person who has not first removed sin from himself calling upon G–d is not likely to be answered. Gideon, who was descended from the tribe Manasseh, excelled in those two attributes. He demonstrated this even before he destroyed the altar dedicated to the idol Baal and by subsequently building an altar for G–d and sacrificing on it (Judges 6:25-28).