Judges 6:1-10

Israel Oppressed by Midian

1 Then the sons of Israel ¹did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hands of ²Midian seven years.

2 The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because * of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves ³the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.

3 For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them.

4 So they would camp against them and ⁴destroy the produce of the earth as far * as Gaza, and ⁵leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey.

5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in ⁶like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable *; and they came into the land to devastate it.

6 So Israel was brought ⁷very low because * of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the LORD.

7 Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD on account of Midian,

8 that the LORD sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and ⁸he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery.

9 'I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before * you and gave you their land,

10 and I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; you ⁹shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed * Me.""'

Judges 6:1-10 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.

Cross References

• 1. Judges 2:11
• 2. Numbers 22:4; Numbers 25:15-18; Numbers 31:1-3
• 3. 1 Samuel 13:6; Hebrews 11:38
• 4. Leviticus 26:16
• 5. Deuteronomy 28:31
• 6. Judges 7:12; Judges 8:10
• 7. Deuteronomy 28:43
• 8. Judges 2:1, 2
• 9. 2 Kings 17:35; Jeremiah 10:2

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "hand"
• [b] Lit "go up"
• [c] Lit "until your coming to"
• [d] Lit "slaves"
• [e] Lit "listened to My voice"