Judges 6:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.

NIV: I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

NASB: And I rescued you from the hands of the Egyptians, and from the hands of all your oppressors, and I drove them out from you and gave you their land,

CSB: I rescued you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

NLT: I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land.

KJV: And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;

NKJV: and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.

Israel has cried out to the Lord to save them from the oppression of the Midianites (Judges 6:1–7). Before sending another deliverer, however, the Lord has sent a prophet to deliver a message to His people (Judges 6:8). The Lord wants to remind them of all He has done for them in the past. Forgetting the importance of these events is what led Israel to fail in their conquest of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 20:16–18). It's also what led them to their current subjugation under foreign enemies.

God's reminder included how He rescued them from Egypt (Exodus 12:51). He is the one who freed them from abusive slavery in Egypt. Through powerful miracles (Exodus 3:20), God delivered them from the Egyptians. He also led them into Canaan and gave them victory over the wicked people there (Judges 1:1–4). God had also been the One who freed Israel from her earlier oppressions (Judges 2:11–19). He is the one ever and always responsible for moving them from oppression to freedom, from slavery to independence, from suffering to salvation.

Even more than that, the Lord reminds His people that He drove out the nations before them and gave them the land He had promised. They took from nations under God's judgment exactly what God had always intended for them. The implication is this: God has been good to the Israelites by using His unlimited power for their benefit (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4–5).

The people of Israel may not have forgotten the stories, but they have failed to be faithful to the God who provides and saves.

Judges 6:1–10 begins, once again, with Israel's descent into evil (Judges 2:11–14). God turns them over to the Midianites, who invade every year with their allies from the east. These raids take Israelite crops and livestock. God's people cry out for help after seven years. Before sending a deliverer, the Lord first appoints an unnamed prophet to deliver a message. He reminds them that He is the one who freed them from their enemies and gave them their land. They suffer now because they have not obeyed His voice.

Israel follows the sad pattern of the book of Judges, and once again turns to evil and idols. God turns them over to the Midianites. These foreign raiders spend the next seven years invading and consuming Israel's crops and livestock. Israel cries for help to the Lord. His first step is to send a prophet to remind them of God's goodness and their disobedience. The Lord then appears to Gideon, commanding him to save Israel because God will be with him. Gideon obeys God's command to tear down a Baal altar and build one to Yahweh in its place. He calls his countrymen to follow him and asks for signs from God.

The book of Judges contains a series of stories with a common theme: Israel falls into sin, suffers, and is rescued by God, only to fall once again (Judges 1—2). The next phase in Israel's downward spiral comes after 40 years of peace, won by Deborah and Barak (Judges 4—5). Israel is punished for sin through the Midianites. After seven years, the Israelites cry out for help. The Lord appears to Gideon, challenging the timid man to lead the battle against Israel's oppressors. Empowered by the Spirit, Gideon calls for his people to follow him, but still asks the Lord for signs. Gideon's successful campaigns are depicted in chapters 7 and 8.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).