World English Bible
- The children of Israel did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
- The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made themselves the dens which are in the mountains, the caves, and the strongholds.
- So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them.
- They encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza. They left no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey.
- For they came up with their livestock and their tents. They came in as locusts for multitude. Both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it.
- Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to the LORD.
- When the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of Midian,
- The LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel; and he said to them, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ’I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage.
- I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land.
- I said to you, “I am the LORD your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not listened to my voice.’”
- The LORD’s angel came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.
- The LORD’s angel appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
- Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
- The LORD looked at him, and said, “Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven’t I sent you?”
- He said to him, “O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
- The LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
- He said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.
- Please don’t go away until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you.” He said, “I will wait until you come back.”
- Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.
- The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” He did so.
- Then the LORD’s angel stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire went up out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. Then the LORD’s angel departed out of his sight.
- Gideon saw that he was the LORD’s angel; and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord GOD! Because I have seen the LORD’s angel face to face!”
- The LORD said to him, “Peace be to you! Don’t be afraid. You shall not die.”
- Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it “The LORD is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
- That same night, the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull, even the second bull seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it.
- Then build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold, in an orderly way, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”
- Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had spoken to him. Because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, he could not do it by day, but he did it by night.
- When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built.
- They said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” When they inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”
- Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it.”
- Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has broken down his altar!”
- Therefore on that day he named him Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar.”
- Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.
- But the LORD’s Spirit came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together to follow him.
- He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they also were gathered together to follow him. He sent messengers to Asher, to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
- Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,
- behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I’ll know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken.”
- It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
- Gideon said to God, “Don’t let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once. Please let me make a trial just this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.”
- God did so that night; for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
A Devotional for Thoughtful Readers
Judges 6:1-10
“Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD” (New
International Version).
Six short words, yet they open the fourth round of the cycle we have
watched since chapter 1: compromise → oppression → cry → rescue. In this
round the oppressor is Midian, a desert people who, according to
Egyptian texts and the Timnah copper-mines, criss-crossed the southern
trade routes with swift camels and keen eyes for easy plunder. Midian’s
yearly raids left Israel so stripped that they dug caves and threshing
floors in the hillsides—archaeologists still find these rock-cut
hideouts in the Shephelah.
Key idea
Sin does not merely offend God; it shrinks our horizon. A people once
promised “a land flowing with milk and honey” now measure life by how
well they can avoid being seen.
Cross-references
• Deuteronomy 28:47-48 (curse of foreign yoke)
• John 10:10 (the thief’s purpose vs. Christ’s)
Reflection
Where has fear made you small? Ask the Spirit to name the “Midian” that
keeps you in hiding—then name it aloud before God.
Judges 6:11-24
The Angel of the LORD (Hebrew malʾakh YHWH) sits under an oak at Ophrah and greets Gideon with the unlikely words, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior” (gibbôr ḥayil). In Hebrew, the phrase can mean a seasoned soldier—or, more broadly, a person of strong character. The irony is sweet: Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress, a cramped stone pit, to hide from Midian. God speaks promise, not present appearance.
Hebrew note
“Go in the strength you have” (v. 14) literally reads, “Go in this your
strength.” Many commentators (Calvin, Matthew Henry) take “this” to mean
the hidden courage God already sees. Others (e.g., Brueggemann) read it
as “the strength of My sending.” Both truths fit the gospel: God
supplies what He commands.
A brief Christological note
Church fathers from Justin Martyr onward often saw the Angel of the LORD
as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ—an early whisper that the
Deliverer Himself would one day step fully into human weakness.
Cross-references
• Exodus 3:7-12 (another reluctant deliverer)
• 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (strength in weakness)
Reflection
Imagine Christ calling you by a name that feels too large—“peacemaker,”
“servant,” “healer.” Sit with that name for a moment. What shifts
inside?
Judges 6:25-32
God’s first assignment for Gideon is local, even domestic: demolish his father’s altar to Baal and the sacred Asherah pole, then build a new altar to YHWH. Nighttime obedience shows Gideon’s fragility, yet it is obedience. Come dawn, scandal erupts, but Gideon’s father Joash voices a shrewd defense: “If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself.” Thus Gideon receives a second name, Jerub-Baal, “Let Baal contend.”
Cultural window
Asherah poles were wooden symbols of the Canaanite fertility goddess.
Excavations at Kuntillet ’Ajrud (8th c. BC) even show inscriptions
pairing “YHWH and his Asherah,” underscoring how easily Israel blended
covenant faith with local cults. Gideon’s act is not mere vandalism; it
is a covenant renewal ceremony.
Cross-references
• 1 Kings 18:20-39 (Elijah vs. Baal)
• 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 (separate from idols)
Reflection
Notice the order: inner call → break idols → public mission. Have you
asked God what “altar” in your own home, habits, or screen time needs
tearing down before bigger victories can come?
Judges 6:33-40
“The Spirit of the LORD came on Gideon” (v. 34). The Hebrew verb lāvash means “clothed.” It is as if God wears Gideon like a garment—an image both intimate and humbling.
Then comes the famous fleece. Twice Gideon asks for a sign: dew only on fleece, then dew only on ground. The narrative neither praises nor condemns him outright, yet later Scripture warns against demanding proofs (Matthew 12:39). Puritan commentator Matthew Poole calls Gideon’s request “a tremble of honest weakness.” God answers anyway—another splash of grace in Israel’s dry season.
Early Christian reading
Origen and later Augustine saw the wet-then-dry fleece as a picture of
Israel and the nations: first Israel alone is saturated with God’s
revelation, then the Gentile world receives the moisture while Israel
lies dry. Whether or not we follow the typology, the episode reminds us
that God’s patience often runs further than our faith.
Cross-references
• Luke 1:34-38 (Mary’s question vs. unbelief)
• James 1:5 (ask without doubting)
Reflection
The fleece was not magic but dialogue. What question, fear, or longing
do you need to lay out before God tonight?
Hymn suggestion
“God Moves in a Mysterious Way” (William Cowper, 1774). Its gentle
steady tune and lyrics about unseen purposes make it a fitting
soundtrack for Gideon’s story.
Lord of Peace,
You find us in hidden corners and call us by a name we hardly
recognize.
Clothe us with Your Spirit; strip us of the idols we defend;
Teach us to trust Your whisper more than the noise of our fears.
May Your shalom settle over our hearts, our homes, and our land,
through Jesus Christ, the True Deliverer.
Amen.