Judges 6:17

_AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, OH MY LORD, WHEREWITH SHALL I SAVE ISRAEL? BEHOLD, MY FAMILY IS POOR IN MANASSEH, AND I AM THE LEAST IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

11-24 Gideon was a man of a brave, active spirit, yet in obscurity through the times: he is here stirred up to undertake something great. It was very sure that the Lord was with him, when his Angel was with him. Gideon was weak in faith, which made it hard to reconcile the assurances of the presence of God with the distress to which Israel was brought. The Angel answered his objections. He told him to appear and act as Israel's deliverer, there needed no more. Bishop Hall says, While God calls Gideon valiant, he makes him so. God delights to advance the humble. Gideon desires to have his faith confirmed. Now, under the influences of the Spirit, we are not to expect signs before our eyes such as Gideon here desired, but must earnestly pray to God, that if we have found grace in his sight, he would show us a sign in our heart, by the powerful working of his Spirit there, The Angel turned...

Verse Judges 6:17. _SHOW ME A SIGN_] Work a _miracle_, that I may know that thou hast wisdom and power sufficient to authorize and quality me for the work....

A SIGN - If the Angel ate of Gideon’s present it would be a conclusive proof of the reality of the vision. (Compare John 21:9; Luke 24:37; Acts 10:41.) It would also be a token of God’s goodwill to Gideon. Compare Genesis 18:3....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 6:11 AN ANGEL, etc. Rather, the _angel of the Lord_,_ _otherwise called "the angel of his presence" (Isaiah 63:9). In Judges 6:14, Judges 6:16, Judges 6:23, for _the angel of the Lord _we have simply _the Lord _(see Judges 2:1, note). AN OAK. Rather _the oak_, or _terebinth_,_ _as it should be rendered. It was doubtless a well-known tree still standing in th

AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, IF NOW I HAVE FOUND GRACE IN THY SIGHT, c. Or seeing he had, as appeared by his salutation of him as a man of might, by the work he gave him a commission to do, and by the promise of assistance and success: THEN SHOW ME A SIGN THAT THOU TALKEST WITH ME in the name of God, as a messenger sent by him, whether an angel or a man; for who he was as yet Gideon was not clear in it, and that what he had said was truth, and would be certainly fulfilled; and which Gideon might desire, not so much, or at least not only for his own sake, and the confirmation of his faith, for which he is renowned, as that he might be able to satisfy others that he had a commission from God, by a messenger of his, to attempt the deliverance of Israel....

4. FOURTH DECLENSION: UNDER MIDIAN AND GIDEON, TOLA AND JAIR CHAPTER 6 _ 1. Israel's suffering from Midian (Judges 6:1)_ 2. Their repentance and the divine answer (Judges 6:7) 3. Gideon, the deliverer, chosen (Judges 6:11) 4. The restored worship (Judges 6:25) 5. The gathering for the conflict (Judges 6:33) 6. The sign of the fleece (Judges 6:36) After Deborah and Barak the land had fifty years' rest, and when again they did

JUDGES 6:11. On the angel of Yahweh see Judges 2:1; Genesis 16:7 *. For oak read terebinth. While the primitive Semites were animists, the Israelites came to associate Yahweh's own presence with sacred trees (p. 100, Genesis 18:1). Judges 6:12. With the assurance Yahweh is with thee _cf._ the faith grandly expressed in the name Immanuel, God is with us (Isaiah 7:14). On hearing the words Yahweh is with _thee_, Gideon replies, Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with _us_ (u

THOU TALKEST. Supply Figure of speech _Ellipsis_ (App-6) thus: "Thou [art Jehovah Who] talkest"....

_The call of Gideon_. Sequel of 2 6a 11. _the angel of the Lord_ i.e. Jehovah Himself in manifestation; see on Judges 2:1. Closely parallel are the appearances in Judges 13:3-23 and Genesis 18 J; the Angel or Messenger appears in human form, and in the end is recognized as Jehovah; cf. also Genesis 16:7-14 J, Genesis 32:24-30 J (cf. Hosea 12:4 f.), Exodus 3:2-6 E. Here