Judges 6:12

12 an angel of the Lord appeared to him (the angel of the Lord appeared to him), and said, The Lord be with thee, thou strongest of men.

Judges 6:12 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 6:12

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him
He stayed some time under the oak, and Gideon being busy in threshing, took no notice of him wherefore he came and stood before him, in his sight:

and said unto him, the Lord is with thee;
the gracious presence of God was with Gideon while he was threshing, who very probably was sending up ejaculations to heaven, on account of the distressed case of Israel, and was deep in meditation about the affairs of the people of God, and contriving how to deliver them; or the angel might mean himself, who was no other than Jehovah, the eternal Word of God, who was present with him, and spake unto him; and so the Targum,

``my Word is thy help:''

thou mighty man of valour;
who very probably was a stout man in body, and of a courageous mind naturally, and might at this instant have an increase both of bodily strength and greatness of soul; or, however, this was said to animate and encourage him to do what he was about to be sent to do.

Judges 6:12 In-Context

10 and I said, I am the Lord your God; dread ye not the gods of Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; and ye would not hear my voice. (and I said, I am the Lord your God; fear ye not, or do not ye worship, the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye live; but ye would not listen to me.)

11 And (then) an angel of the Lord came, and sat under an oak, that was in Ophrah, and it pertained to Joash, the father of the family of Abiezrites. And when Gideon, the son of Joash, threshed, and purged wheat in a presser, that he should flee Midian (And when Gideon, the son of Joash, threshed, and purged wheat in a winepress, to hide it from the Midianites),

12 an angel of the Lord appeared to him (the angel of the Lord appeared to him), and said, The Lord be with thee, thou strongest of men.

13 And Gideon said to him, My lord, I beseech, if the Lord is with us, why then have all these evils taken us? Where be the marvels of him, which our fathers told, and said, The Lord hath led us out of Egypt? For now he hath forsaken us, and hath betaken us into the hand of Midian. (And Gideon said to him, My lord, I beseech thee, if the Lord is with us, then why have all these evils overtaken us? Where be his miracles, which our fathers told us about? Yea, they said, The Lord led us out of Egypt. But now, he hath deserted us, and hath delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.)

14 And the Lord beheld to him, and said, Go thou in this strength of thee, and thou shalt deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; (and) know thou, that I have sent thee.