Judges 6:3-13

3 So it was, when Yisra'el had sown, that the Midyanim came up, and the `Amaleki, and the children of the east; they came up against them;

4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the eretz, until you come to `Aza, and left no sustenance in Yisra'el, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.

5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it.

6 Yisra'el was brought very low because of Midyan; and the children of Yisra'el cried to the LORD.

7 It happened, when the children of Yisra'el cried to the LORD because of Midyan,

8 that the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Yisra'el: and he said to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, I brought you up from Mitzrayim, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Mitzrim, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;

10 and I said to you, I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amori, in whose land you dwell. But you have not listened to my voice.

11 The angel of the LORD came, and sat under the oak which was in Ofrat, that pertained to Yo'ash the Avi-Ezri: and his son Gid`on was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midyanim.

12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, the LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor.

13 Gid`on said to him, Oh, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Mitzrayim? but now the LORD has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midyan.

Judges 6:3-13 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.