Judges 6:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.

NIV: he sent them a prophet, who said, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

NASB: that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery.

CSB: the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said to them, "This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery.

NLT: the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt.

KJV: That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

NKJV: that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage;

Israel has finally cried out to Yahweh for help (Judges 6:6). The oppression by the Midianites and their allies from the east of the Jordan has crushed Israel's spirits as well as their supplies of food and livestock. Only once they reach that state of complete despair do they recognize their need for God's intervention. Now they will wait for God to raise up a deliverer as He has done in the past (Judges 2:11–19) to free them from the oppression of the Midianites.

However, God's first step in this cycle is not to send a rescuer. Rather than immediately calling someone like Ehud (Judges 3:15), Shamgar (Judges 3:31), or Barak (Judges 4:4–6), He sends a prophet. The role of a prophet—or prophetess, as in the case of Deborah—is different from that of a warrior judge or deliverer. A prophet is a person God uses to deliver a message to His people. Before God sends a deliverer to save Israel from Midian, He has a few things to say to them.

This unnamed messenger from God begins to deliver a scathing reminder to the Israelites. Perhaps he stayed in one place and waited for people to come to him. Perhaps he traveled around declaring the Word of the Lord. Whatever the method, his message was familiar. God was reminding His people how He had powerfully provided for them in the past.

This history lesson starts with Egypt, from which Israel was miraculously rescued from harsh slavery (Exodus 12:51). It's not that the people did not know the story; they had not forgotten the past. They had forgotten to remain faithful to the God who had rescued them from hundreds of years of slavery to the Egyptians. This deliverance came with many powerful miraculous signs (Exodus 3:20).

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).