1And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of Jehovah. So Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years, 2and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. In the face of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. 3So it was that when Israel had sown, the Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the sons of the East would come up against them. 4And they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. 5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as the abundance of locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. 6And Israel was brought exceedingly low before Midian, and the children of Israel cried out unto Jehovah. 7And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to Jehovah because of the Midianites, 8that Jehovah sent a man who was a prophet unto the children of Israel, who said to them, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: I have brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; 9and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10Also I said to you, I am Jehovah your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed My voice. 11And the Angel of Jehovah came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from before the Midianites. 12And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him, and said to him, Jehovah is with you, you mighty man of valor! 13Gideon said to Him, O my lord, if Jehovah is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? But now Jehovah has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 14And Jehovah turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours, and you shall deliver Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you? 15And he said to Him, O my Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Behold my company is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 16And Jehovah said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man. 17And he said to Him, If now I have found favor in Your eyes, then perform a sign for me, that it is You speaking with me. 18Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You. And He said, I will wait until you come back. 19And Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and brought them near. 20And the Angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. 21Then the Angel of Jehovah put forth the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened bread; and fire rose up out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of Jehovah departed out of his sight. 22And Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of Jehovah. And Gideon said, Alas, O Lord Jehovah! For I have seen the Angel of Jehovah face to face. 23And Jehovah said to him, Peace unto you; do not fear, you shall not die. 24And Gideon built an altar there unto Jehovah, and called it Jehovah Shalom. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 25Now it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said to him, Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and chop down the grove that is beside it; 26and build an altar unto Jehovah your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the grove which you shall chop down. 27And Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as Jehovah had spoken to him. But because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. 28And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the grove that was beside it was chopped down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. 29And they said to one another, Who has done this thing? And when they had inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing. 30Then the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has chopped down the grove that was beside it. 31And Joash said to all who stood against him, Would you plead for Baal? Would you deliver him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been torn down! 32Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him, because he has torn down his altar. 33Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the sons of the east, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. 34And the Spirit of Jehovah clothed Gideon; and he blew the shofar, and the Abiezrites assembled behind him. 35And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also assembled behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. 36And Gideon said to God, If You are delivering Israel by my hand as You have said, 37behold, I am putting a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will deliver Israel by my hand, as You have spoken. 38And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39Then Gideon said to God, Do not let Your anger burn against me, but let me speak just once more: Let me prove, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew. 40And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE ISRAELITES, FOR THEIR SINS, OPPRESSED BY MIDIAN. (
Judg 6:1-
Judg 6:6)
and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian--Untaught by their former experiences, the Israelites again apostatized, and new sins were followed by fresh judgments. Midian had sustained a severe blow in the time of Moses (Num. 31:1-18); and the memory of that disaster, no doubt, inflamed their resentment against the Israelites. They were wandering herdsmen, called "children of the East," from their occupying the territory east of the Red Sea, contiguous to Moab. The destructive ravages they are described as at this time committing in the land of Israel are similar to those of the Bedouin Arabs, who harass the peaceful cultivators of the soil. Unless composition is made with them, they return annually at a certain season, when they carry off the grain, seize the cattle and other property; and even life itself is in jeopardy from the attacks of those prowling marauders. The vast horde of Midianites that overran Canaan made them the greatest scourge which had ever afflicted the Israelites.
2 made . . . dens . . . in the mountains and caves--not, of course, excavating them, for they were already, but making them fit for habitation.
8 A PROPHET REBUKES THEM. (
Judg 6:7-
Judg 6:10)
the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel--The curse of the national calamity is authoritatively traced to their infidelity as the cause.
11 AN ANGEL SENDS GIDEON TO DELIVER THEM. (
Judg 6:11-
Judg 6:16)
there came an angel of the Lord--He appeared in the character and equipments of a traveller (
Judg 6:21), who sat down in the shade to enjoy a little refreshment and repose. Entering into conversation on the engrossing topic of the times, the grievous oppression of the Midianites, he began urging Gideon to exert his well-known prowess on behalf of his country. Gideon, in replying, addresses him at first in a style equivalent (in Hebrew) to "sir," but afterwards gives to him the name usually applied to God.
an oak--Hebrew, "the oak"--as famous in after-times.
Ophrah--a city in the tribe of Manasseh, about sixteen miles north of Jericho, in the district belonging to the family of Abiezer (
Josh 17:2).
his son Gideon threshed wheat by the wine-press--This incident tells emphatically the tale of public distress. The small quantity of grain he was threshing, indicated by his using a flail instead of the customary treading of cattle--the unusual place, near a wine-press, under a tree, and on the bare ground, not a wooden floor, for the prevention of noise--all these circumstances reveal the extreme dread in which the people were living.
13 if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?--Gideon's language betrays want of reflection, for the very chastisements God had brought on His people showed His presence with, and His interest in, them.
14 the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might . . . have not I sent thee?--The command and the promise made Gideon aware of the real character of his visitor; and yet like Moses, from a sense of humility, or a shrinking at the magnitude of the undertaking, he excused himself from entering on the enterprise. And even though assured that, with the divine aid, he would overcome the Midianites as easily as if they were but one man, he still hesitates and wishes to be better assured that the mission was really from God. He resembles Moses also in the desire for a sign; and in both cases it was the rarity of revelations in such periods of general corruption that made them so desirous of having the fullest conviction of being addressed by a heavenly messenger. The request was reasonable, and it was graciously granted [
Judg 6:18].
18 GIDEON'S PRESENT CONSUMED BY FIRE. (Jdg. 6:17-32)
Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I . . . bring forth my present--Hebrew, my mincha, or "meat offering"; and his idea probably was to prove, by his visitor's partaking of the entertainment, whether or not he was more than man.
19 Gideon went in, and made ready a kid; . . . the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot--(See on
Gen 18:7). The flesh seems to have been roasted, which is done by cutting it into kobab, that is, into small pieces, fixed on a skewer, and put before the fire. The broth was for immediate use; the other, brought in a hand-basket was intended to be a future supply to the traveller. The miraculous fire that consumed it and the vanishing of the stranger, not by walking, but as a spirit in the fire, filled Gideon with awe. A consciousness of demerit fills the heart of every fallen man at the thought of God, with fear of His wrath; and this feeling was increased by a belief prevalent in ancient times, that whoever saw an angel would forthwith die. The acceptance of Gideon's sacrifice betokened the acceptance of his person; but it required an express assurance of the divine blessing, given in some unknown manner, to restore his comfort and peace of mind.
24 it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him--The transaction in which Gideon is here described as engaged was not entered on till the night after the vision.
25 Take thy father's . . . second bullock--The Midianites had probably reduced the family herd; or, as Gideon's father was addicted to idolatry, the best may have been fattened for the service of Baal; so that the second was the only remaining one fit for sacrifice to God.
throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath--standing upon his ground, though kept for the common use of the townsmen.
cut down the grove that is by it--dedicated to Ashtaroth. With the aid of ten confidential servants he demolished the one altar and raised on the appointed spot the altar of the Lord; but, for fear of opposition, the work had to be done under cover of night. A violent commotion was excited next day, and vengeance vowed against Gideon as the perpetrator. "Joash, his father, quieted the mob in a manner similar to that of the town clerk of Ephesus. It was not for them to take the matter into their own hands. The one, however, made an appeal to the magistrate; the other to the idolatrous god himself" [CHALMERS].
33 THE SIGNS. (
Judg 6:33-
Judg 6:39)
all the Midianites . . . pitched in Jezreel--The confederated troops of Midian, Amalek, and their neighbors, crossing the Jordan to make a fresh inroad on Canaan, encamped in the plains of Esdraelon (anciently Jezreel). The southern part of the Ghor lies in a very low level, so that there is a steep and difficult descent into Canaan by the southern wadies. Keeping this in view, we see the reason why the Midianite army, from the east of Jordan, entered Canaan by the northern wadies of the Ghor, opposite Jezreel.
34 the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon--Called in this sudden emergency into the public service of his country, he was supernaturally endowed with wisdom and energy commensurate with the magnitude of the danger and the difficulties of his position. His summons to war was enthusiastically obeyed by all the neighboring tribes. On the eve of a perilous enterprise, he sought to fortify his mind with a fresh assurance of a divine call to the responsible office. The miracle of the fleece was a very remarkable one--especially, considering the copious dews that fall in his country. The divine patience and condescension were wonderfully manifested in reversing the form of the miracle. Gideon himself seems to have been conscious of incurring the displeasure of God by his hesitancy and doubts; but He bears with the infirmities of His people.