Judges 6:11-27

Gideon Is Visited

11 Then ¹the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the ²Abiezrite as his son ³Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites.

12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior."

13 Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But ⁴now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian."

14 The LORD looked at him and said, "⁵Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?"

15 ⁶He said to Him, "O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in ⁷Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house."

16 ⁸But the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man."

17 So Gideon said to Him, "If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me ⁹a sign that it is You who speak with me.

18 "Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You." And He said, "I will remain until you return."

19 Then Gideon went in and ¹⁰prepared a young * goat * and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them.

20 The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so.

21 Then the angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and ¹¹fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.

22 ¹²When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD, he said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now * I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face."

23 The LORD said to him, "Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die."

24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace. To this day it is still ¹³in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 Now on the same night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the ¹⁴Asherah that is beside it;

26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down."

27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.

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Judges 6:11-27 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 6

In this chapter we have an account of the distressed condition Israel was in through the Midianites, Jud 6:1-6, of a prophet being sent unto them to reprieve them for their sins, Jud 6:7-10 of an angel appearing to Gideon, with an order to him to go and save Israel out of the hands of the Midianites, Jud 6:11-16 and of a sign given him by the angel, whereby he knew this order was of God, Jud 6:17-24, and of the reformation from idolatry in his father's family he made upon this, throwing down the altar of Baal, and building one for the Lord, Jud 6:25-32, and of the preparation he made to fight the Midianites and others, Jud 6:33-35, but first desired a sign of the Lord, that Israel would be saved by his hand, which was granted and repeated, Jud 6:36-40.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 14

1. Judges 2:1; Judges 6:14; Judges 13:3
2. Joshua 17:2; Judges 6:15
3. Hebrews 11:32
4. Judges 6:1; Psalms 44:9
5. Hebrews 11:32-34
6. Exodus 3:11
7. Judges 6:11
8. Exodus 3:12; Joshua 1:5
9. Judges 6:37; Isaiah 38:7, 8
10. Genesis 18:6-8
11. Leviticus 9:24
12. Genesis 32:30; Exodus 33:20; Judges 13:21, 22
13. Judges 8:32
14. Exodus 34:13

Footnotes 14

[a]. Or "terebinth"
[b]. Or "turned toward"
[c]. Lit "with what"
[d]. Lit "smite"
[e]. Lit "he"
[f]. I.e. Approx one bu
[g]. Lit "and he put"
[h]. Or "terebinth"
[i]. Or "departed"
[j]. Lit "Gideon"
[k]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
[l]. Heb "Yahweh-shalom"
[m]. Or "even"
[n]. I.e. wooden symbol of a female deity, also vv 26, 28, 30