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 6:37

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 ⁶  is dry, then I will be sure ⁷  that you will use me to deliver Israel, ⁸  as you promised.”

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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 “all the ground.”

⁷ tn Or “know.”

⁸ tn Heb “you will deliver Israel by my hand.”