Judges 6:3-23

3 Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites would come with the Amalekites and the desert tribes and attack them.

4 They would camp on the land and destroy the crops as far south as the area around Gaza. They would take all the sheep, cattle, and donkeys, and leave nothing for the Israelites to live on.

5 They would come with their livestock and tents, as thick as locusts. They and their camels were too many to count. They came and devastated the land,

6 and Israel was helpless against them.

7 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help against the Midianites,

8 and he sent them a prophet who brought them this message from the Lord, the God of Israel: "I brought you out of slavery in Egypt.

9 I rescued you from the Egyptians and from the people who fought you here in this land. I drove them out as you advanced, and I gave you their land.

10 I told you that I am the Lord your God and that you should not worship the gods of the Amorites, whose land you are now living in. But you have not listened to me."

11 Then the Lord's angel came to the village of Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a wine press, so that the Midianites would not see him.

12 The Lord's angel appeared to him there and said, "The Lord is with you, brave and mighty man!"

13 Gideon said to him, "If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the Lord is with us? What happened to all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the Lord used to do - how he brought them out of Egypt? The Lord has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites."

14 Then the Lord ordered him, "Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you."

15 Gideon replied, "But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family."

16 The Lord answered, "You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man."

17 Gideon replied, "If you are pleased with me, give me some proof that you are really the Lord.

18 Please do not leave until I bring you an offering of food." He said, "I will stay until you come back."

19 So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young goat and used a bushel of flour to make bread without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them to the Lord's angel under the oak tree, and gave them to him.

20 The angel told him, "Put the meat and the bread on this rock, and pour the broth over them." Gideon did so.

21 Then the Lord's angel reached out and touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire came out of the rock and burned up the meat and the bread. Then the angel disappeared.

22 Gideon then realized that it was the Lord's angel he had seen, and he said in terror, "Sovereign Lord! I have seen your angel face-to-face!"

23 But the Lord told him, "Peace. Don't be afraid. You will not die."

Judges 6:3-23 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.