Biblion Bible Commentary
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The Least in My Father's House
Judges 6:11-24
11 Yahweh’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. · WEB
God greets a frightened man hiding in a wine press as a mighty man of valor, and answers his objections not with arguments but with a promise and a fire.
His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites Judges 6:11.
Threshing is done in the open, on a high floor where wind can carry the chaff. Doing it in a sunken wine press is hopelessly inefficient and completely concealed — which tells the reader everything about the man's circumstances and his state of mind before he speaks.
"Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor!" Judges 6:12.
The greeting does not describe anything visible. A man hiding grain in a pit is called a mighty man of valor, and God is addressing what he intends rather than what he finds — the same way Abram was named a father of nations before he had a son Genesis 17:5 Romans 4:17.
"Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of?" Judges 6:13.
Gideon argues with the greeting, and his complaint is honest enough to be worth stating plainly: he has heard the stories and cannot reconcile them with the caves. The prophet had just answered this Judges 6:8–9, and the answer had not reached him. Note that his objection is theological rather than personal, and Scripture does not rebuke him for it — the psalms ask the same question Psalms 44:1 Psalms 77:9.
"Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven't I sent you?" Judges 6:14.
No argument is offered. The reply is a commission, and haven't I sent you is made the whole basis of it.
"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" Judges 6:15.
The second objection, and now it is personal: the weakest clan, and the least member of it. The pattern is old — Moses asked who am I Exodus 3:11, Jeremiah pleaded youth Jeremiah 1:6 — and the answer is always the same shape, not a correction of the self-assessment but a promise: surely I will be with you Judges 6:16.
"If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me" Judges 6:17.
He asks for proof, and it is granted without reproach. He brings a meal — a young goat and cakes from an ephah of flour, a considerable quantity for a man in a famine caused by raiders. It is laid on a rock at the visitor's instruction, and fire went up out of the rock and consumed it Judges 6:21.
"Alas, Lord Yahweh! Because I have seen Yahweh's angel face to face!" Judges 6:22.
His reaction to the sign is terror, on the assumption that seeing God is fatal Exodus 33:20 Judges 13:22. The reply is three short sentences of reassurance Judges 6:23, and the altar he builds takes its name from the first of them: Yahweh is Peace Judges 6:24. A frightened man's first act of worship names God after the thing he most needed to hear.
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