Judges 6:16

‘ And Yahweh said to him, “I will surely be with you, and you will smite the Midianites as one man.” '

God's reply was that Gideon should consider the odds. He would be there with him. Thus it would be Gideon and Yahweh against Midian, ‘two' against ‘one', ‘one God and one man' against ‘one man'. And He assured him that His presence with Gideon was guaranteed. The men of Midian and Amalek and of the East may seem numberless, but to Yahweh they were merely ‘as one man'. And one of His blows would be sufficient to dispense with them all. Thus Gideon's status was irrelevant.

“I will be with you.” Compare Exodus 3:12, where the evidence that Yahweh was with Moses would be found in the acceptance of his worship ‘on this mountain' (compare also Joshua 1:5). Thus Yahweh would be with him as ‘the I am', the One Who was always there. Gideon then seizes on this to ask a similar sign, let Yahweh accept his offering and reveal Himself in fire again as he had to Moses.

“And Yahweh said to him.” As so often the Angel of Yahweh becomes Yahweh Himself speaking to man. The Angel is Yahweh's presence in veiled form (Judges 6:22), although intercommunication between the Angel and Yahweh is sometimes revealed (Zechariah 1:13).