Judges 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 

Judges 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.

1 tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

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

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.

3 tn Heb “beating out.”

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.

5 tn Heb “Midian.”

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.”