Judges 6:11-24

The Call of Gideon

11 Then the angel ^[a] of the LORD came and sat down under the oak ^[b] in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

13 “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

14 The LORD ^[c] turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

15 “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

16 “Surely I will be with you,” the LORD replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.”

17 Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me.

18 Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.” And the LORD said, “I will stay until you return.”

19 So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. ^[d] He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak.

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

21 Then the angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.

22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he said, “Oh no, Lord GOD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”

23 But the LORD said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid, for you will not die.”

24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. ^[e] To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Judges 6:11-24 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Or Angel; also in verses 12, 20, 21, and 22; corresponding pronouns may also be capitalized.
• [b] Or terebinth or great tree; also in verse 19
• [c] LXX The angel of the LORD or The Angel of the LORD; also in verse 16
• [d] An ephah is approximately 20 dry quarts or 22 liters (probably about 25.5 pounds or 11.6 kilograms of flour).
• [e] Hebrew YHWH Shalom