Shofetim 6:37

37 Hinei, I will put a fleece of wool in the goren (threshing floor); and if the tal (dew) be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all ha’aretz, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Yisroel by my yad, as Thou hast said.

Shofetim 6:37 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 6:37

Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor
On the floor where he was threshing, where the angel first appeared to him, and which lay exposed to the open air, so that the dew might easily fall upon it:

and if the dew be on the fleece only;
the dew that falls from heaven in the night, when he proposed it should lie on the floor till morning:

and it be dry upon all the earth beside;
meaning not upon all the world, nor even upon all the land of Israel, but upon all the floor about the fleece: then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said; for the dew being a token of divine favour, see ( Hosea 14:5 ) it would show that Gideon would partake of it, while his enemies would be dry and desolate, and ruin and destruction would be their portion.

Shofetim 6:37 In-Context

35 And he sent malachim throughout all Menasheh; who also was gathered after him; and he sent malachim unto Asher, and unto Zevulun, and unto Naphtali; and they went up to meet them.

36 And Gid’on said unto HaElohim, If Thou wilt save Yisroel by my yad, as Thou hast said,

37 Hinei, I will put a fleece of wool in the goren (threshing floor); and if the tal (dew) be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all ha’aretz, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Yisroel by my yad, as Thou hast said.

38 And it was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and squeezed the fleece together, and wrung the tal out of the fleece, a bowl full of mayim.

39 And Gid’on said unto HaElohim, Let not Thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once; let me test, now, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be tal.