Judges 6:11-24 - Seeing the Angel of the LORD

Judges 6:11-24

Gideon

11 Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

14 Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

16 And the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

17 Then 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. 18 Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.”

And He said, “I will wait until you come back.”

19 So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. 20 The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.

21 Then the Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.

22 Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face.”

23 Then the LORD said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” 24 So 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.

Gideon was called by the Angel of the LORD who sat waiting under a tree for him while Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites and not in the open the field where he should have been able to if the nation was not under oppression.  He was hiding his labor to survive and to avoid being robbed of their food.  Then he heard, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” from the Angel of the LORD.  This divine messenger represents the divine response to the cry of Israel for deliverance and Gideon was being called as a judge and deliverer to be God’s answer as one known and respected by the people to lead them against the enemy.  This man did not question the call but asked why God’s had allowed their suffering and subjugation to happen when the stories told of His past mighty works to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt and forsaken them all, and deliver them into the hands of the Midianites.  The response was from the LORD who said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”  This is a divine appointing of God and he was given the authority and power to deliver his people, a picture and type of Jesus the Christ who would ultimately come to deliver all His people whom He calls and pass judgment over their adversaries (Revelation 12:17) in the end when we are all rescued and enter our inheritance in the true promised land.  We are similarly called to rescue the perishing with the gospel of God’s power and authority (Matthew 28:18, 19-20) out of the enslavement (Romans 6:17-18, 22, 23) to sin where we need never more to fear oppression for worship of the Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.  Like Gideon, we need to understand that our position or influence is not why we have been called to this great task seemingly above our ability, but it the choice and calling of God to deliver His chosen by the foolishness of the (1 Corinthians 1:18, 21) message preached and the weak messengers made strong in His might (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10) to accomplish the task of the gospel with the equipping of the spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10) of His word and faith in the message and work of the Son of God as the ultimate Messenger and Deliverer.  The message of the Lord is the power (Romans 1:16) to deliver men and women from sin’s hold that enslaves us.  His covenant promise of eternal life in His Christ is far more certain and fearful than the fire that consumed the offering of Gideon in this account; we have a greater peace when we hear, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die” like that man did, for we have the promise made more certain with the sacrificial death and proof by His resurrection from death to life (John 5:24) as our hope and anchor that secures us to Him by the New Covenant in His lifeblood covering our sins forever.  He Himself is our altar of worship in this covenant, He who is called The Lord is Peace (Romans 5:1, Ephesians 2:14), YHWH Shalom.  We who have seen Christ have seen the Messenger and Judge who is our Deliverer, the savior of the world,and have been entrusted with His message of deliverance, the gospel of peace!