Judges 6:1-14

Context

Oppression and Confrontation

6:1 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight,¹ so the Lord turned them over to² Midian for seven years. 6:2 The Midianites³ overwhelmed Israel.⁴ Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters⁵ for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds. 6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops,⁶ the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would attack them.⁷ 6:4 They invaded the land⁸ and devoured⁹ its crops¹⁰ all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat,¹¹ and they took away¹² the sheep, oxen, and donkeys. 6:5 When they invaded¹³ with their cattle and tents, they were as thick¹⁴ as locusts. Neither they nor their camels could be counted.¹⁵ They came to devour¹⁶ the land. 6:6 Israel was so severely weakened by Midian that the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

6:7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help because of Midian, 6:8 he¹⁷ sent a prophet¹⁸ to the Israelites. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you up from Egypt¹⁹ and took you out of that place of slavery.²⁰ 6:9 I rescued you from Egypt’s power²¹ and from the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave their land to you. 6:10 I said to you, “I am the Lord your God! Do not worship²² the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living!” But you have disobeyed me.’”²³

Gideon Meets Some Visitors

6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger²⁴ came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon²⁵ was threshing²⁶ wheat in a winepress²⁷ so he could hide it from the Midianites.²⁸ 6:12 The Lord’s messenger appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, courageous warrior!” 6:13 Gideon said to him, “Pardon me,²⁹ but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster³⁰ overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said,³¹ ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 6:14 Then the Lord himself³² turned to him and said, “You have the strength.³³ Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites!³⁴ Have I not sent you?”

[6:1] ¹tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[6:1] ²tn Heb “gave them into the hand of.”

[6:2] ³tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

[6:2] ⁴tn Heb “The hand of Midian was strong against Israel.”

[6:2] ⁵tn Or possibly “secret storage places.” The Hebrew word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible.

[6:3] ⁶tn Heb “Whenever Israel sowed seed.”

[6:3] ⁷tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east would go up, they would go up against him.” The translation assumes that וְעָלוּ (vÿ’alu) is dittographic (note the following עָלָיו, ’alayv).

[6:4] ⁸tn Heb “They encamped against them.”

[6:4] ⁹tn Heb “destroyed.”

[6:4] ¹⁰tn Heb “the crops of the land.”

[6:4] ¹¹tn Heb “They left no sustenance in Israel.”

[6:4] ¹²tn The words “they took away” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:5] ¹³tn Heb “came up.”

[6:5] ¹⁴tn Heb “numerous.”

[6:5] ¹⁵tn Heb “To them and to their camels there was no number.”

[6:5] ¹⁶tn Heb “destroy.” The translation “devour” carries through the imagery of a locust plague earlier in this verse.

[6:8] ¹⁷tn Heb “the Lord”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:8] ¹⁸tn Heb “a man, a prophet.” Hebrew idiom sometimes puts a generic term before a more specific designation.

[6:8] ¹⁹tc Some ancient witnesses read “from the land of Egypt.” מֵאֶרֶץ (me’erets, “from the land [of]”) could have been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton (note the following מִמִּצְרַיִם [mimmitsrayim, “from Egypt”]).

[6:8] ²⁰tn Heb “of the house of slavery.”

[6:9] ²¹tn Heb “hand” (also a second time later in this verse).

[6:10] ²²tn Heb “Do not fear.”

[6:10] ²³tn Heb “you have not listened to my voice.”

[6:11] ²⁴tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

[6:11] ²⁵tn Heb “Now Gideon his son…” The Hebrew circumstantial clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + predicate) breaks the narrative sequence and indicates that the angel’s arrival coincided with Gideon’s threshing.

[6:11] ²⁶tn Heb “beating out.”

[6:11] ²⁷sn Threshing wheat in a winepress. One would normally thresh wheat at the threshing floor outside the city. Animals and a threshing sledge would be employed. Because of the Midianite threat, Gideon was forced to thresh with a stick in a winepress inside the city. For further discussion see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.

[6:11] ²⁸tn Heb “Midian.”

[6:13] ²⁹tn Heb “But my lord.”

[6:13] ³⁰tn Heb “all this.”

[6:13] ³¹tn Heb “saying.”

[6:14] ³²sn Some interpreters equate the Lord and the messenger in this story, but they are more likely distinct. In vv. 22-23 the Lord and Gideon continue to carry on a conversation after the messenger has vanished (v. 21).

[6:14] ³³tn Heb “Go in this strength of yours.”

[6:14] ³⁴tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”