Judges 6:11-24

The call of Gideon. Sequel of 2 6a

11. the angel of the Lord i.e. Jehovah Himself in manifestation; see on Judges 2:1. Closely parallel are the appearances in Judges 13:3-23 and Genesis 18 J; the Angel or Messenger appears in human form, and in the end is recognized as Jehovah; cf. also Genesis 16:7-14 J, Genesis 32:24-30 J (cf. Hosea 12:4 f.), Exodus 3:2-6 E. Here the Angel shews himself in the guise of a -traveller unknown," resting under a tree, with a staff in his hand. Both here and in ch. 13 the thought and language contain much in common with the narratives of J in the Pentateuch.

the oak Marg. terebinth, Hebr. "çlâh; it is better to keep the rendering oakfor the Hebr. "allâh, "allôn. The terebinth or turpentine tree bears a resemblance to the oak, but it grows singly, not in clumps. The terebinth at Ophrah was no doubt a sacred tree, hence the Angel appeared under it; for the same reason Jehovah appeared -among the terebinths of Mamre" Genesis 18:1; cf. Genesis 13:18 J. Sacred trees are still to be met with in Palestine (Curtis, Primitive Sem. Religion To-day, pp. 90 ff.).

in Ophrah called O. of the Abiezritesin Judges 6:24; Judges 8:32, to distinguish it from the Benjamite Ophrah Jos 18:23, 1 Samuel 13:17. The town probably lay to the S. of the Great Plain and not far from Shechem (ch. 9), but the site is unknown. The tree, not Ophrah, was the property of Joash; in the parallel account, Judges 6:25, it is the local altar which belonged to him. Abiezer was a clan of Manasseh, Numbers 26:30; Joshua 17:2.

the winepress where the grapes were trodden. It was a tank or trough (Hebr. gath) excavated in the rock, and connected by a drain with the wine vat(Hebr. yeḳebJudges 7:25), into which the juice ran. As the threshing-floor (Judges 6:37) was always situated in an exposed place, Gideon had to use the winepress in order to escape notice, and there the corn could only be -beaten out" with a stick in small quantities at a time; cf. Ruth 2:17.