Discovery BoxJudges 6:11 
Context6:11 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 6:19
Context6:19 Gideon went and prepared a young goat, 6 along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food 7 to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.
Judges 9:48
Context9:48 He and all his men 8 went up on Mount Zalmon. He 9 took an ax 10 in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it 11 on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” 12
1 tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.
sn The
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 “a kid from among the goats.”
7 tn The words “the food” are not in the Hebrew text (an implied direct object). They are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
8 tn Heb “his people.”
9 tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.
10 tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.
11 tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”
12 tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”
