Judges 6:13

13 Gideon said to Him, "Please Sir,[a] if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened?[b] And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, 'Hasn't the Lord brought us out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian."

Judges 6:13 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 6:13

And Gideon said to him, oh my Lord
Taking him not to be an angel, but some illustrious and eminent person:

if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?
all these troubles and calamities through the oppression of the Midianites; for he understood what was said to him in the salutation, respecting not himself personally and privately, but the people of Israel; and he could not tell how to reconcile the Lord's being with them, and yet suffering such sad things to befall them they groaned under:

where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, did not
the Lord bring us up from Egypt?
when God was with his people, and brought them out of Egypt, he wrought miracles for them, whereby they were delivered out of their bondage; of this their fathers had assured them, but nothing of this kind was wrought for them now, and therefore there was no appearance of the Lord being with them, but all the contrary, as follows:

but now the Lord has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hand of the
Midianites;
and there was good reason for it, because they had forsaken the Lord, and worshipped the gods of the Amorites.

Judges 6:13 In-Context

11 The Angel of the Lord came, and He sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine vat in order to hide it from the Midianites.
12 Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."
13 Gideon said to Him, "Please Sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, 'Hasn't the Lord brought us out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian."
14 The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you?"
15 He said to Him, "Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house."

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Lit Please, my Lord, or Please, my lord
  • [b]. Lit this found us out
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