Judges 6: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Israel does evil again, and God hands them over to Midian for seven years; raiders strip their crops and livestock until Israel cries out, and a prophet reminds them of the exodus and their disobedience. The angel of the LORD comes to Gideon while he is hiding wheat from the Midianites and commissions him to save Israel, confirming it with fire from a rock. That night Gideon tears down his father's altar to Baal, and when the town demands his death his father Joash tells them to let Baal defend himself. As the Midianites and their allies camp in the Valley of Jezreel, Gideon calls out troops and asks God for two signs with a wool fleece, which God gives.

Claim by Claim

1. 6:1
   • The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
   • The LORD gave them into the hand of Midian.
   • They were in Midian's hand for seven years.
2. 6:2
   • The hand of Midian was strong against Israel.
   • Because of Midian the Israelites made for themselves hiding places in the mountains.
   • They also made caves.
   • They also made strongholds.
3. 6:3
   • Whenever Israel sowed seed, Midian would come up.
   • Amalek would also come up.
   • The people of the east would also come up.
   • They came up against Israel.
4. 6:4
   • They encamped against the Israelites.
   • They destroyed the produce of the land.
   • Their destruction reached as far as Gaza.
   • They left no sustenance in Israel.
   • They left no sheep.
   • They left no ox.
   • They left no donkey.
5. 6:5
   • They came up with their livestock.
   • They came up with their tents.
   • They came in numbers as great as locusts.
   • They and their camels were without number.
   • They came into the land to ruin it.
6. 6:6
   • Israel was brought very low because of Midian.
   • The Israelites cried out to the LORD.
7. 6:7
   • The Israelites cried out to the LORD on account of Midian.
8. 6:8
   • The LORD sent a man who was a prophet to the Israelites.
   • The prophet said to them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says.
   • The LORD said he brought them up from Egypt.
   • The LORD said he brought them out of the house of slaves.
9. 6:9
   • The LORD said he delivered them from the hand of Egypt.
   • The LORD said he delivered them from the hand of all who oppressed them.
   • The LORD said he drove those oppressors out from before them.
   • The LORD said he gave them the oppressors' land.
10. 6:10
    • The LORD said he told them, I am the LORD your God.
    • The LORD said he told them not to fear the gods of the Amorites.
    • The LORD said they are living in the land of the Amorites.
    • The LORD said they did not obey his voice.
11. 6:11
    • The angel of the LORD came.
    • The angel sat under the terebinth tree that was in Ophrah.
    • The terebinth belonged to Joash the Abiezrite.
    • Gideon was Joash's son.
    • Gideon was beating out wheat in a winepress.
    • Gideon was doing this to hide the wheat from Midian.
12. 6:12
    • The angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon.
    • The angel said to him, The LORD is with you.
    • The angel addressed him as a mighty man of valor.
13. 6:13
    • Gideon said to him, Please, my lord.
    • Gideon asked, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us.
    • Gideon asked where all his wonders are.
    • Gideon said their fathers had told them of those wonders.
    • Gideon said their fathers said the LORD brought them up from Egypt.
    • Gideon said that now the LORD has abandoned them.
    • Gideon said the LORD has given them into the palm of Midian.
14. 6:14
    • The LORD turned to Gideon.
    • The LORD said, Go in this strength of yours.
    • The LORD said Gideon would save Israel from the hand of Midian.
    • The LORD asked, Have I not sent you?
15. 6:15
    • Gideon said, Please, my lord.
    • Gideon asked with what he could save Israel.
    • Gideon said his clan is the weakest in Manasseh.
    • Gideon said he is the youngest in his father's house.
16. 6:16
    • The LORD said to him, I will be with you.
    • The LORD said Gideon would strike Midian as one man.
17. 6:17
    • Gideon said, If I have found favor in your eyes.
    • Gideon asked him to make a sign for him.
    • The sign was to show that it was he who was speaking with Gideon.
18. 6:18
    • Gideon asked him not to depart from that place until Gideon returned to him.
    • Gideon said he would bring out his gift.
    • Gideon said he would set it before him.
    • He said, I will stay until you return.
19. 6:19
    • Gideon went in.
    • Gideon prepared a young goat.
    • Gideon prepared unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour.
    • Gideon put the meat in a basket.
    • Gideon put the broth in a pot.
    • Gideon brought it out to him under the terebinth.
    • Gideon presented it.
20. 6:20
    • The angel of God said to him, Take the meat and the unleavened cakes.
    • The angel said to lay them on that rock.
    • The angel said to pour out the broth.
    • Gideon did so.
21. 6:21
    • The angel of the LORD stretched out the tip of the staff that was in his hand.
    • The angel touched the meat and the unleavened cakes.
    • Fire went up from the rock.
    • The fire consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes.
    • The angel of the LORD went away from Gideon's sight.
22. 6:22
    • Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD.
    • Gideon said, Alas, Lord GOD.
    • Gideon said the reason was that he had seen the angel of the LORD face to face.
23. 6:23
    • The LORD said to him, Peace to you.
    • The LORD said, Do not fear.
    • The LORD said, You shall not die.
24. 6:24
    • Gideon built an altar there to the LORD.
    • Gideon named it The LORD Is Peace.
    • To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25. 6:25
    • That same night the LORD said to Gideon to take his father's bull.
    • The LORD said to take the second bull, seven years old.
    • It is unclear whether one bull or two bulls are meant.
    • The LORD said to tear down the altar of Baal that belonged to his father.
    • The LORD said to cut down the Asherah pole that was beside it.
26. 6:26
    • The LORD said to build an altar to the LORD his God on top of this stronghold.
    • The altar was to be built in a proper arrangement, though what the arrangement is remains unclear.
    • The LORD said to take the second bull.
    • The LORD said to offer it as a burnt offering.
    • The offering was to use the wood of the Asherah pole he would cut down.
27. 6:27
    • Gideon took ten men from his servants.
    • Gideon did as the LORD had told him.
    • Gideon feared his father's household.
    • Gideon feared the men of the city.
    • Because of that fear he did not do it by day.
    • He did it by night.
28. 6:28
    • The men of the city rose early in the morning.
    • The altar of Baal had been torn down.
    • The Asherah pole beside it had been cut down.
    • The second bull had been offered up on the altar that was built.
29. 6:29
    • They said to one another, Who did this thing?
    • They investigated and searched.
    • They said that Gideon son of Joash did this thing.
30. 6:30
    • The men of the city said to Joash, Bring out your son so that he may die.
    • They said the reason was that he tore down the altar of Baal.
    • They said the reason was that he cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
31. 6:31
    • Joash said to all who stood against him, Will you contend for Baal?
    • Joash asked, Will you save him?
    • Joash said whoever contends for Baal shall be put to death by morning.
    • Joash said that if Baal is a god, let him contend for himself.
    • Joash said the reason is that someone tore down Baal's altar.
32. 6:32
    • On that day he called Gideon Jerubbaal.
    • The name was given with the words, Let Baal contend against him.
    • The reason given was that Gideon tore down Baal's altar.
33. 6:33
    • All Midian gathered together.
    • Amalek gathered with them.
    • The people of the east gathered with them.
    • They crossed over.
    • They camped in the valley of Jezreel.
34. 6:34
    • The spirit of the LORD clothed itself with Gideon.
    • Gideon blew the ram's horn.
    • Abiezer was called out to follow him.
35. 6:35
    • Gideon sent messengers throughout all Manasseh.
    • Manasseh also was called out to follow him.
    • Gideon sent messengers to Asher.
    • Gideon sent messengers to Zebulun.
    • Gideon sent messengers to Naphtali.
    • They came up to meet them.
36. 6:36
    • Gideon said to God, If you are going to save Israel by my hand, as you have said.
37. 6:37
    • Gideon said he was placing a fleece of wool on the threshing floor.
    • Gideon said the test was whether dew would be on the fleece alone.
    • Gideon said all the ground was to be dry.
    • Gideon said that then he would know that God would save Israel by his hand, as God had said.
38. 6:38
    • It happened that way.
    • Gideon rose early the next morning.
    • Gideon pressed the fleece together.
    • Gideon wrung dew out of the fleece.
    • The dew filled a bowl with water.
39. 6:39
    • Gideon said to God, Do not let your anger burn against me.
    • Gideon said he would speak only this once.
    • Gideon asked to test with the fleece only this once.
    • Gideon asked that it be dry on the fleece alone.
    • Gideon asked that there be dew on all the ground.
40. 6:40
    • God did so that night.
    • It was dry on the fleece alone.
    • There was dew on all the ground.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

6:1

"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.

6:2

The "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.

6:3

The 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.

6:4

Gaza 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.

6:5

Locust 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.

6:8

A prophet was someone who carried a message from God to the people. He spoke God's words out loud, often starting with "the LORD says this."

6:10

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

6:11

The 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.

6:12

The 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.

6:13

"Our fathers" means grandparents and great-grandparents from long ago.

6:14

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

6:15

Israel 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.

6:17

Asking for a sign meant asking for something visible to prove the messenger was genuine. It was a normal request in these stories, not an insult.

6:18

The 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.

6:19

An 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.

6:21

Meat 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.

6:22

Gideon'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.

6:23

"Peace be unto thee" was a kind, everyday greeting. It meant "may all be well with you."

6:24

Naming 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.

6:25

Baal 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.

6:26

The 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.

6:27

Servants were workers who lived and worked in a rich family's house.

6:31

Joash'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.

6:32

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

6:33

"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.

6:34

The 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.

6:35

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

6:37

A 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.

6:38

In that dry land, almost no rain falls in summer. Dew settling overnight was the water plants lived on, so everyone knew how dew behaved.

6:39

Gideon'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.