Hakim-hakim 6:11-16

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  6:12 The Lord’s messenger appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, courageous warrior!” 6:13 Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, ⁶  but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster ⁷  overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, ⁸  ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 6:14 Then the Lord himself ⁹  turned to him and said, “You have the strength. ¹⁰  Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! ¹¹  Have I not sent you?” 6:15 Gideon ¹²  said to him, “But Lord, ¹³  how ¹⁴  can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” ¹⁵  6:16 The Lord said to him, “Ah, but ¹⁶  I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army.” ¹⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 6:33-40

Gideon Summons an Army and Seeks Confirmation

6:33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east ¹⁸  assembled. They crossed the Jordan River ¹⁹  and camped in the Jezreel Valley. 6:34 The Lord’s spirit took control of ²⁰  Gideon. He blew a trumpet, ²¹  summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. ²²  6:35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh and summoned them to follow him as well. ²³  He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him.

6:36 Gideon said to God, “If you really intend to use me to deliver Israel, ²⁴  as you promised, then give me a sign as proof. ²⁵  6:37 Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it ²⁶  is dry, then I will be sure ²⁷  that you will use me to deliver Israel, ²⁸  as you promised.” 6:38 The Lord did as he asked. ²⁹  When he got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece, and enough dew dripped from it to fill a bowl. ³⁰  6:39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. ³¹  Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.” ³²  6:40 That night God did as he asked. ³³  Only the fleece was dry and the ground around it was covered with dew.

[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.”

[6:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “But my lord.”

[6:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “all this.”

[6:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “saying.”

[6:14]  ⁹ sn Some interpreters equate the Lord and the messenger in this story, but they are more likely distinct. In vv. 22-23 the Lord and Gideon continue to carry on a conversation after the messenger has vanished (v. 21).

[6:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Go in this strength of yours.”

[6:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the hand of Midian.”

[6:15]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gideon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:15]  ¹³ tn Note the switch to אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”). Gideon seems aware that he is speaking to someone other than, and superior to, the messenger, whom he addressed as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”) in v. 13.

[6:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with what.”

[6:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in my father’s house.”

[6:16]  ¹⁶ tn Or “certainly.”

[6:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “You will strike down Midian as one man.” The idiom “as one man” emphasizes the collective unity of a group (see Judg 20:8, 11). Here it may carry the force, “as if they were just one man.”

[6:33]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east.”

[6:33]  ¹⁹ tn The words “the Jordan River” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:34]  ²⁰ tn Heb “clothed.”

[6:34]  ²¹ tn That is, “mustered an army.”

[6:34]  ²² tn Heb “Abiezer was summoned after him.”

[6:35]  ²³ tn Heb “and he also was summoned after him.”

[6:36]  ²⁴ tn More literally, “you are about to deliver Israel by my hand.”

[6:36]  ²⁵ tn The words “then give me a sign as proof” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:37]  ²⁶ tn Heb “all the ground.”

[6:37]  ²⁷ tn Or “know.”

[6:37]  ²⁸ tn Heb “you will deliver Israel by my hand.”

[6:38]  ²⁹ tn Heb “And it was so.”

[6:38]  ³⁰ tn Heb “dew dripped from the fleece – a bowl full of water.”

[6:39]  ³¹ tn Heb “Let your anger not rage at me, so that I might speak only this once.”

[6:39]  ³² tn Heb “let the fleece alone be dry, while dew is on all the ground.”

[6:40]  ³³ tn Heb “God did so that night.”