Hakim-hakim 6:11

Gideon Meets Some Visitors

6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger ¹  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ²  was threshing ³  wheat in a winepress ⁴  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ⁵ 

Hakim-hakim 6:24

6:24 Gideon built an altar for the Lord there, and named it “The Lord is on friendly terms with me.” ⁶  To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Hakim-hakim 8:27

8:27 Gideon used all this to make ⁷  an ephod, ⁸  which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites ⁹  prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it ¹⁰  there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Hakim-hakim 8:32

8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very ¹¹  old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Hakim-hakim 9:5

9:5 He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, ¹²  the seventy legitimate ¹³  sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, ¹⁴  because he hid.

[6:11]  ¹ tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

[6:11]  sn The Lord’s angelic messenger is also mentioned in Judg 2:1.

[6:11]  ² tn 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]  ³ tn Heb “beating out.”

[6:11]  ⁴ sn 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “Midian.”

[6:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “The Lord is peace.” Gideon’s name for the altar plays on the Lord’s reassuring words to him, “Peace to you.”

[8:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “made it into.”

[8:27]  ⁸ sn In Exod 28:4-6 and several other texts an ephod is described as a priestly or cultic garment. In some cases an ephod is used to obtain a divine oracle (1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). Here the ephod is made of gold and is described as being quite heavy (70-75 lbs?). Some identify it as an idol, but it was more likely a cultic object fashioned in the form of a garment which was used for oracular purposes. For discussion of the ephod in the OT, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 236-43, and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 349-52.

[8:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).

[8:27]  ¹⁰ tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “good.”

[9:5]  ¹² tn Heb “his brothers.”

[9:5]  ¹³ tn The word “legitimate” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “remained.”