Judges 6

The people of Israel again did what the LORD said was evil, so the LORD handed them over to Midian for seven years.

1And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

Note"LORD" in capitals stands where the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, four consonants usually written YHWH; "Lord" in ordinary type translates a different word meaning master or sir. Midian was a group of nomadic, camel-herding tribes living east and southeast of Israel, mostly beyond the Jordan River and in the desert regions south of it.

2Midian's power over Israel was too strong for them. Because of the Midianites, the people of Israel made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, along with caves and other places that were hard to reach.

2And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.

NoteThe "strongholds" were not forts but naturally defensible spots (clefts, rock shelters and hilltop refuges) where people and grain could be hidden from raiders who came and went with the harvest.

3Every time the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and other peoples from the east would come up and attack them.

3And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;

NoteThe Amalekites were a desert people to the south, long-standing enemies of Israel. "Peoples of the east" is a general term for the nomadic tribes of the desert fringe beyond the Jordan.

4They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza. They left Israel nothing to live on, no sheep, no cattle, and no donkeys.

4And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.

NoteGaza was a city on the Mediterranean coast at the far southwestern edge of the land. Saying the raids reached that far means they swept the whole width of the country.

5They came with their livestock and their tents, swarming in like locusts. There were too many of them and too many of their camels to count. They came into the land to ruin it.

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

NoteLocust swarms stripped a region's crops bare in hours; the comparison is about numbers and total destruction, not about insects. The camels matter too: camel-riding raiders could cross desert quickly, strike at harvest and be gone, which farmers on foot could not answer.

6So Israel became very poor because of the Midianites, and the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help.

6And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.

7When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD because of the Midianites,

7And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites,

8the LORD sent a prophet to them, and the prophet said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt. I brought you out of the place where you were slaves.

8That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

9I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and from everyone who mistreated you. I drove them out ahead of you and gave you their land.

9And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;

10And I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God. Do not honor or serve the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.' But you did not listen to me."

10And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.

Note"Amorites" is used here as a broad term for the earlier inhabitants of Canaan generally, not one particular tribe.

11Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the family of Abiezer. Joash's son Gideon was beating wheat out in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

11And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "angel" simply means "messenger" (one sent to speak for another. In this story the messenger and the LORD are spoken of almost interchangeably, and the text never sorts out the relationship. Ophrah was a small town in the territory of the tribe of Manasseh; Abiezer was a clan within that tribe. Threshing) beating grain loose from the stalk, was normally done on an open, windswept floor on high ground, so the chaff could blow away. A winepress was a pit cut down into rock for treading grapes: sunken, cramped and hidden. Gideon working there is a sign of how afraid he was.

12The angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said to him, "The LORD is with you, brave fighter."

12And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

NoteThe phrase rendered "brave fighter" is a standard Hebrew expression that covers both military courage and social standing, a capable man of substance, the kind expected to lead.

13Gideon answered, "Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the wonders our fathers told us about when they said, 'Didn't the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has left us and handed us over to Midian."

13And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

14The LORD turned to him and said, "Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the power of Midian. I am the one sending you."

14And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

NoteThe story shifts here from "the angel of the LORD" to "the LORD" speaking directly, with no explanation. The Hebrew leaves the shift unresolved.

15Gideon said to him, "Please, my lord, how can I rescue Israel? Look, my family group is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important person in my father's house."

15And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

NoteIsrael was organized in descending units: tribe, then clan (an extended kinship group), then household. Gideon is saying he is unimportant at both levels. "Least in my father's house" can mean youngest as well as lowest in standing.

16The LORD said to him, "I will be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man."

16And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

17Gideon said to him, "If you are pleased with me, then give me a sign that it is really you speaking with me.

17And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.

18Please do not leave this place until I come back to you and bring my gift and set it in front of you." And he said, "I will wait until you come back."

18Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

NoteThe word for Gideon's "gift" covers both a present offered to a human superior and an offering presented to God. At this point Gideon does not know which he is doing, and the Hebrew keeps the ambiguity.

19So Gideon went inside and cooked a young goat. He also made flat bread without yeast from a large measure of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them out to him under the oak tree, and offered them.

19And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

NoteAn ephah was a dry measure of roughly five gallons, about twenty-two liters, somewhere near forty pounds of flour. That is an extravagant amount of bread for one guest, especially in a time of famine and raiding, and the size of the gift is part of the point. Bread made without yeast could be prepared at once, with no waiting for dough to rise.

20The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the bread made without yeast, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." Gideon did it.

20And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.

21Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff in his hand and touched the meat and the bread. Fire flared up from the rock and burned them up. Then the angel of the LORD disappeared from sight.

21Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.

NoteMeat and bread laid on a rock and burned up by fire is the shape of a sacrifice rather than a meal, which is what tells Gideon who his visitor was.

22When Gideon realized that it had been the angel of the LORD, he said, "Oh no, Lord GOD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!"

22And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O LORD God! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.

NoteGideon's alarm rests on a widely held assumption in these texts: that a human being who saw God directly would not survive the encounter. His cry is fear for his life, not regret.

23But the LORD said to him, "Peace to you. Do not be afraid. You are not going to die."

23And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

24So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and named it Jehovah Shalom, which means "The LORD Is Peace." It still stands today in Ophrah, the town of the family of Abiezer.

24Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

NoteNaming an altar or a place after what happened there was a normal way of marking an event. "It still stands today" means the day of the writer, who is clearly looking back from long after the events he describes.

25That same night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's young bull and the second bull, the one that is seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the wooden pole of the goddess Asherah that stands beside it.

25And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

NoteBaal was the leading Canaanite god, associated with storm and rain and therefore with crops and fertility, a natural object of worship for farmers. Asherah was a goddess; the "pole" was a wooden object, perhaps a carved pole or a living tree, set up beside an altar as her symbol. The Hebrew of the bull or bulls in this verse is difficult, and it is not clear whether one animal or two is meant. Seven years old matches the seven years of Midianite domination.

26Then build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this height, set up in the proper way. Take the second bull and burn it whole as an offering, using the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down."

26And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.

NoteThe word behind "this height" can mean a natural rock outcrop or a fortified place, and translators differ. A burnt offering was one in which the whole animal was burned on the altar and no part was eaten, the most complete kind of sacrifice, and here made with the wood of the rival god's own symbol.

27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the LORD had told him. But he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the town to do it in the daytime, so he did it at night.

27Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

28When the men of the town got up early the next morning, there was Baal's altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered on the newly built altar.

28And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.

29They said to each other, "Who did this?" After they asked around and looked into it, they were told, "Gideon son of Joash did it."

29And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

30Then the men of the town said to Joash, "Bring your son out so he can be put to death, because he tore down Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it."

30Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.

31But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Are you going to argue Baal's case? Are you going to rescue him? Anyone who argues for him will be put to death before this morning is over. If Baal really is a god, let him argue his own case, since it was his altar that was torn down."

31And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.

NoteJoash's words are courtroom language: to "argue for" someone is to plead his case in a legal dispute. His argument is that a god who cannot bring his own lawsuit does not need human lawyers.

32So that day Joash gave Gideon the name Jerubbaal, which means "Let Baal argue against him," because Gideon had torn down Baal's altar.

32Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.

NoteThe name Jerubbaal is a play on that legal word. Gideon is called by this second name at several points later in the book.

33Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the other peoples from the east joined together, crossed over the Jordan River, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

33Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

Note"Crossed over" means crossed the Jordan from the east. The Valley of Jezreel is the broad, flat, fertile plain cutting across northern Israel, the country's best grain land and the natural route for armies and caravans, which is why it was worth both raiding and defending.

34But the Spirit of the LORD took hold of Gideon. He blew a ram's horn, and the men of Abiezer came together and followed him.

34But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him.

NoteThe Hebrew says literally that the Spirit of the LORD "clothed itself with" Gideon. The ram's horn was the standard signal instrument, used to raise an alarm or call fighting men together; it carried for miles across open country.

35He sent messengers all through the tribe of Manasseh, and they also came together and followed him. He sent messengers to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

35And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

NoteAsher, Zebulun and Naphtali were the tribes settled in the north, closest to the Valley of Jezreel and so the ones most directly threatened.

36Gideon said to God, "If you are really going to rescue Israel through me, as you said you would,

36And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,

37then here is what I will do. I will put a piece of wool from a sheep on the threshing floor. If dew is on the wool only, and all the ground around it is dry, then I will know you will rescue Israel through me, as you said."

37Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

NoteA fleece is the whole coat of wool cut from a sheep in one piece. A threshing floor was a flat, exposed area of rock or packed earth, usually on a rise, where grain was beaten and winnowed. Because it was open on all sides, dew settled on it heavily and evenly overnight, which is what makes the test a test.

38And that is what happened. Gideon got up early the next morning, squeezed the wool together, and wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with water.

38And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

39Then Gideon said to God, "Please do not be angry with me. Let me speak just once more. Let me make just one more test with the wool. This time let the wool be dry and let dew be on all the ground."

39And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

NoteGideon's apology reflects the risk in asking a second time; the first result could be explained by wool's natural tendency to hold moisture, so the second test reverses the conditions.

40That night God did it. The wool alone was dry, and dew was on all the ground.

40And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.