Joash

11Then an angel of the LORD came. He sat down under an oak tree in the town of Ophrah. The tree belonged to Joash, a man from the family of Abiezer. His son Gideon was beating wheat down inside a winepress. He was hiding it from the Midianites.

And 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.

NoteAn angel is a messenger sent from God. Wheat is beaten to knock the seeds loose from the dry stalks. People usually did that outside, on a windy hill. A winepress was a pit cut down into rock for squashing grapes. Gideon worked down inside it so nobody could see him.

12The angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon. He said, "The LORD is with you, you brave and strong man."

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

13Gideon said, "Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Our fathers told us about the wonderful things he did. They said the LORD brought us up out of Egypt. But now he has left us. He has handed us over to Midian."

And 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.

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

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

And 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?

15Gideon said, "Please, sir, how can I save Israel? My family is the weakest one in the tribe of Manasseh. And I am the youngest in my family."

And 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 made of big family groups called tribes. Manasseh was the name of one of them.

16The LORD said to him, "I will be with you. You will beat the Midianites as easily as beating one man."

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

17Gideon said, "If you are pleased with me, show me a sign. Then I will know it is really you talking with me."

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

NoteA sign was something you could see that proved a promise was real.

18"Please do not go away until I come back. I want to bring you a gift and set it in front of you." The LORD said, "I will wait until you come back."

Depart 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.

NoteBringing food to an important guest was a way to show honor.

19Gideon went inside and cooked a young goat. He made flat bread with no yeast from a big sack of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought it all out to the angel under the oak tree and set it down.

And 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.

NoteYeast makes bread puff up. Bread with no yeast stays flat and is quick to make. The King James says "an ephah of flour." That was about twenty pounds, enough bread for many people. Broth is the water the meat cooked in, like soup.

20The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the bread. Put them on this rock. Then pour out the broth." Gideon did it.

And 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.

21The angel held out the walking stick in his hand. He touched the meat and the bread with the tip. Fire jumped up out of the rock and burned it all up. Then the angel of the LORD was gone.

Then 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.

NoteA staff is a long walking stick. Shepherds and travelers carried one everywhere.

22Now Gideon knew that he had seen the angel of the LORD. He said, "Oh no, Lord GOD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!"

And 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.

NotePeople back then believed that seeing God close up would kill them. That is why Gideon was so afraid.

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

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

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

24So Gideon built an altar there for the LORD. He named it Jehovah-shalom, which means "The LORD is peace." It still stands in Ophrah today, in the land of the family of Abiezer.

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

NoteAn altar was a table built of stones. People burned gifts on it for God. Back then people often gave a place a name that told what happened there.

25That same night the LORD said to Gideon, "Take your father's young bull, and the second bull that is seven years old. Pull down your father's altar to the god Baal. Cut down the tall wooden pole beside it."

And 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 a god that the peoples around Israel prayed to. They believed he sent rain to make their crops grow. The tall wooden pole stood for a goddess named Asherah. Poles like that were often set up beside Baal's altar.

26"Then build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this stronghold, a strong safe place. Build it the right way. Take the second bull and burn it there as a gift. Use the wood from the pole you cut down."

And 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.

NoteBurning an animal on an altar was the usual way to give God a gift. The smoke rose up, and the gift belonged to God.

27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the LORD said. But he was afraid of his family and the men of the town. So he did it at night instead of in the daytime.

Then 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.

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

28The men of the town got up early in the morning. They saw that Baal's altar was pulled down. The pole beside it was cut down. The second bull had been burned on a new altar.

And 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 asked each other, "Who did this?" They asked around carefully. Then they said, "Gideon, the son of Joash, did it."

And 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 here. He must die. He pulled down Baal's altar and cut down the pole beside it."

Then 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.

31Joash said to the angry crowd, "Are you going to argue for Baal? Are you going to rescue him? Anyone who argues for him will be put to death this morning. If Baal is really a god, let him argue for himself. It was his own altar that was pulled down."

And 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.

NoteTo "plead" means to speak up for someone, the way a lawyer does. Joash is saying Baal should stick up for himself.

32So that day they gave Gideon the name Jerubbaal. It means "Let Baal argue with him." They said this because Gideon pulled down Baal's altar.

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

29Jerubbaal son of Joash, which was another name for Gideon, went home and lived there.

And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.

NoteJerubbaal was a nickname Gideon got earlier in the story. It means something like, let Baal argue with him.

30Gideon had seventy sons of his own, because he had many wives.

And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.

NotePowerful leaders back then often had many wives and huge families. A big family made a man look strong, almost like a king.

31He also had a woman in Shechem who lived with him like a wife, but with less honor. She had a son, and Gideon named him Abimelech.

And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.

NoteThe name Abimelech means, my father is king. That name matters a lot in the next chapter.

32Gideon son of Joash died when he was very old. He was buried in his father Joash's grave, in Ophrah, the town of the Abiezrites.

And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

NoteFamilies were often buried together in one cave or rock tomb. Being buried with your father was a comfort and an honor.