{"id":1107,"date":"2010-03-07T13:00:16","date_gmt":"2010-03-07T18:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielgoepfrich.com\/?p=1107"},"modified":"2022-10-24T19:17:01","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T23:17:01","slug":"thoughts-on-judges-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/thoughts-on-judges-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Judges 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re reading through Judges at Oak Tree Church<\/a>, and I\u2019m posting some observations from my daily readings here within a day or two after the reading. I\u2019d love for you to join in the discussion.<\/p>

Thoughts on Judges 6<\/h3>

Some of my observations in this chapter revolve around the identity of \u201cthe LORD\u2019s angelic messenger\u201d or \u201cthe angel of the LORD\u201d again because it is fascinating to see God\u2019s Son at work in this world, long before he became \u201cJesus\u201d.<\/p>

Gideon said to him, \u201cPardon me, but if the LORD is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, \u2018Did the LORD not bring us up from Egypt?\u2019 But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.\u201d<\/em> Judges 6:13 NET<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>

This is a valid question \u2013 \u201cWhere is God?\u201d. The answer for Israel at this time was simply this: \u201cGod didn\u2019t move; you left him.\u201d<\/p>

Gideon\u2019s second question is similar to Habakkuk\u2019s (3:2<\/a>) \u2013 \u201cWhat happened to the God who did all of the cool stuff from the old stories? I want to see that power again today.\u201d<\/p>

Then the LORD himself turned to him and said, \u201cYou have the strength. Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! Have I not sent you?\u201d Gideon said to him, \u201cBut Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.\u201d The LORD said to him, \u201cAh, but I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army.\u201d Gideon said to him, \u201cIf you really are pleased with me, then give me a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me. Do not leave this place until I come back with a gift and present it to you.\u201d The LORD said, \u201cI will stay here until you come back.\u201d<\/em> Judges 6:14-18 NET<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>

This seems to me to be a very clear reference that \u201cthe angel of the LORD\u201d is \u201cthe LORD himself\u201d (the Hebrew simply says, \u201cthe LORD said\u201d). It seems that Gideon is still carrying on the conversation with the messenger from the preceding verses, but we are clued in on the fact that he is actually God himself \u2013 a pre-Jesus appearance of the Son of God.<\/p>

When Gideon realized that it was the LORD\u2019s messenger, he said, \u201cOh no! Master, LORD! I have seen the LORD\u2019s messenger face to face!\u201d The LORD said to him, \u201cYou are safe! Do not be afraid! You are not going to die!\u201d Gideon built an altar for the LORD there, and named it \u201cThe LORD is on friendly terms with me.\u201d To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.<\/em> Judges 6:22-24 NET<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>

It\u2019s obvious that Gideon knew that \u201cthe LORD\u2019s messenger\u201d was not an ordinary angel, or he wouldn\u2019t have been afraid for his life because he saw him. He realized he had just had a personal encounter with God.<\/p>

What did you see in these verses? What was important to you in Judges 6 that I did not see?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re reading through Judges at Oak Tree Church, and I\u2019m posting some observations from my daily readings here within a day or two after the reading. I\u2019d love for you to join in the discussion. Thoughts on Judges 6 Some of my observations in this chapter revolve around the identity of \u201cthe LORD\u2019s angelic messenger\u201d or \u201cthe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[96,95],"class_list":["post-1107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other","tag-habakkuk","tag-judges"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"gutentor_comment":2,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"widget-thumbnail":false,"rpwe-thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Daniel Goepfrich","author_link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/author\/dgoepfrich\/"},"uagb_comment_info":2,"uagb_excerpt":"We\u2019re reading through Judges at Oak Tree Church, and I\u2019m posting some observations from my daily readings here within a day or two after the reading. I\u2019d love for you to join in the discussion. Thoughts on Judges 6 Some of my observations in this chapter revolve around the identity of \u201cthe LORD\u2019s angelic messenger\u201d or \u201cthe…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}