Judges 6

Judges 6:1 The Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of Yahveh. So Yahveh gave them to Midian’s hands seven years,

Judges 6:2 and they overpowered Israel. Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

Judges 6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the Qedemites came and attacked them.

Judges 6:4 They encamped against them and devastated the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, not a sheep, ox, or donkey.

Judges 6:5 You see, the Midianites came up with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to devastate it.

Judges 6:6 So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to Yahveh.

Judges 6:7 When the Israelites cried out to Yahveh because of Midian,

Judges 6:8 Yahveh sent a prophet to them. He said to them, “This is what Yahveh God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery.

Judges 6:9 I rescued you from the hand of Egypt and the hand of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

Judges 6:10 I said to you: I am Yahveh your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey me.'”

Judges 6:11 The agent of Yahveh came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites.

Judges 6:12 Then Yahveh’s agent appeared to him and said, “Yahveh is with you, capable warrior.”

Judges 6:13 Gideon said to him, “Excuse me, my lord, if Yahveh is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his miracles that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t Yahveh brought us out of Egypt? ‘ But now Yahveh has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

Judges 6:14 Yahveh turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and rescue Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”

Judges 6:15 He said to him, “Excuse me, Lord, how can I rescue Israel? Notice, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.”

Judges 6:16 “But I will be with you,” Yahveh said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

Judges 6:17 Then he said to him, “If I have found favor with you, give me a sign that it is you who are speaking with me.

Judges 6:18 Please only leave this place once I return to you. Let me bring my gift and place it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.”

Judges 6:19 So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

Judges 6:20 The agent of God said to him, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, place it on this stone, and pour the broth on it.” So he did that.

Judges 6:21 The agent of Yahveh extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the agent of Yahveh vanished from his eyes.

Judges 6:22 When Gideon realized that he was the agent of Yahveh, he said, “Oh no, Lord Yahveh! I have seen the agent of Yahveh face to face!”

Judges 6:23 But Yahveh said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid because you will not die.”

Judges 6:24 So Gideon built an altar to Yahveh there and called it Yahveh Is Peace. It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites today.

Judges 6:25 On that very night Yahveh said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then, tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

Judges 6:26 Build a well-constructed altar to Yahveh your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood from the Asherah pole you cut down.”

Judges 6:27 So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as Yahveh had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.

Judges 6:28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, they noticed Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built.

Judges 6:29 They said to each associate,  “Who did this?” After they made a thorough investigation, they said, “Gideon, son of Joash, did it.”

Judges 6:30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

Judges 6:31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you argue Baal’s case for him? Would you rescue him? Whoever argues his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his case because someone tore down his altar.”

Judges 6:32 That day, he was called Jerubbaal because Joash said, “Let Baal argue with him,” because he tore down his altar.

Judges 6:33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and Qedemites gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Jezreel Valley.

Judges 6:34 The Breath of Yahveh enveloped Gideon, and he blew the ram’s horn, and the Abiezrites rallied behind him.

Judges 6:35 He sent agents throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent agents throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him.

Judges 6:36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will rescue Israel by my hand, as you said,

Judges 6:37 Notice, I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the land is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by my strength, as you said.”

Judges 6:38 And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water.

Judges 6:39 Gideon then said to God, “Don’t let your nose burn angrily with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the land.”

Judges 6:40 That night, God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the land.

Judges 6 quotes:

“Introduced with the recurring frame that describes Israel’s rise and fall in covenantal terms (vv. 1-7), the cycle of stories about Gideon, like tales of Ehud, Deborah, and the other judges, describes Israel’s oppression, in this case by Midianite enemies, Israel’s resistance, and the underdogs’ victory with the help of a protective God. Chapter 6 describes the initiation of the hero in a theophany that shares much with the encounter between Samson’s parents and a divine messenger. The initiation is followed by Gideon’s bold act of subversion. This act leads to his gaining a new heroic name and is followed by “the sign of the fleece,” the divinely sent sign—another traditional motif in the biography of biblical heroes.”

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 89.

Judges 6 links:

Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, July 5, 2023
putting out the fleece
where did all the spirits go?

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library