Judges 6:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

NIV: The LORD turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?'

NASB: And the Lord looked at him and said, 'Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?'

CSB: The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you! "

NLT: Then the Lord turned to him and said, 'Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!'

KJV: And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

NKJV: 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?”

One reason this appearance (Judges 6:11–13) of "the angel of the LORD" is thought to be a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ is that His name is shortened in this verse to "the Lord." The Being speaking to Gideon is now labeled using the same terminology reserved for God.

Gideon responded to the Angels' announcement—that the Lord was with him—with bitter skepticism. He struggled to believe that could be true, given what was happening to Israel (Judges 6:1–6). The Lord seems to ignore both Gideon's skepticism and his question. He simply tells Gideon to go. Once again, the Angel implies that Gideon is a powerful man (Judges 6:12), despite finding him hiding his food from raiders (Judges 6:11). This implies that the source of Gideon's strength is the very idea to which Gideon objected. When God is with someone, that person is mighty.

Gideon will respond to this call with hesitation and skepticism (Judges 6:17, 27, 36–40). Still, there is an irony in the way Gideon's observation about Israel's plight was immediately followed by a command from the Lord to go and fix it with the power of the Lord. Complaining to God about what's broken sometimes results in being recruited by God to take on responsibility for making the situation right.

Judges 6:11–27 begins in a town called Ophrah. There, the Angel of the Lord appears to a man named Gideon. The Lord calls Gideon mighty, despite his apparent lack of influence or power, and commands him to save Israel from Midian. After a display of power, God commands Gideon to tear down the town's altars to false idols, replacing them with an altar to Yahweh complete with a sacrifice of his father's bull. Gideon does so under the cover of darkness out of fear of his family and the townspeople.

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).