Judges 6:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Judges 6:11
And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
angel
מַלְאַ֣ךְmal.'Akh
H4397
a messenger · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
sat
וַיֵּ֙שֶׁב֙vai.Ye.shev
H3427
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
oak
הָֽאֵלָה֙ha.'e.Lah
H424
an oak or other strong tree · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Ophrah
בְּעָפְרָ֔הbe.'a.fe.Rah
H6084
Ophrah · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Joash
לְיוֹאָ֖שׁle.yo.'Ash
H3101
Joash · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
Abi-ezrite
אֲבִ֣י'a.Vi
H33
an Abiezrite or descendant of Abiezer · noun, gentilic masculine singular construct
son
בְּנ֗וֹbe.No
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Gideon
וְגִדְע֣וֹןve.gid.'on
H1439
Gidon · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
threshed
חֹבֵ֤טcho.Vet
H2251
to knock out or off · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
wheat
חִטִּים֙chi.Tim
H2406
wheat · noun, common masculine plural absolute
winepress
בַּגַּ֔תba.Gat
H1660
a wine-press (or vat for holding the grapes in pressing… · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
hide
לְהָנִ֖יסle.ha.Nis
H5127
to flit · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
from
מִפְּנֵ֥יmi.pe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Midianites
מִדְיָֽןmid.Yan
H4080
Midjan · proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Joshua 17:2 There was also a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh by their families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek,…
Hebrews 11:32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Sa…
Judges 13:3 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive,…
Judges 8:2 And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Ab…
Genesis 16:7 And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bar…
Genesis 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; a…
Judges 2:1-5 And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 6:11-24
It is not said what effect the prophet's sermon had upon the people, but we may hope it had a good effect, and that some of them at least repented and reformed upon it; for here, immediately after, we have the dawning of the day of their deliverance, by the effectual calling of Gideon to take upon him the command of their forces against the Midianites.
I. The person to be commissioned for this service was Gideon, the son of Joash, Jdg 6:14. The father was now living, but he was passed by, and this honour put upon the son, for the father kept up in his own family the worship of Baal (Jdg 6:25), which we may suppose this son, as far as was in his power, witnessed against. He was of the half tr…
AN ANGEL SENDS GIDEON TO DELIVER THEM. (Jdg 6:11-16)
there came an angel of the Lord--He appeared in the character and equipments of a traveller (Jdg 6:21), who sat down in the shade to enjoy a little refreshment and repose. Entering into conversation on the engrossing topic of the times, the grievous oppression of the Midianites, he began urging Gideon to exert his well-known prowess on behalf of his country. Gideon, in replying, addresses him at first in a style equivalent (in Hebrew) to "sir," but afterwards gives to him the name usually applied to God.
an oak--Hebrew, "the oak"--as famous in after-times.
Ophrah--a city in the tribe of Manasseh, about sixteen miles north of Jericho,…
And there came an angel of the Lord,.... This was not the prophet before mentioned, as Ben Gersom thinks, but an angel of God, as expressed, and not a created one, but the Angel of Jehovah's presence, the Word and Son of God, and who is expressly called Jehovah himself, Judges 6:14.
and sat under an oak; or stayed there a while, as Kimchi interprets it, seeing, according to his observation, angels are not said to sit, but stand:
which was in Ophrah, that pertaineth to Joash the Abiezrite; which shows that this Ophrah is different from a city of this name in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:23 for the oak that was in it, under which the angel sat, belonged to Joash an Abiezrite, a descendan…
The Church Fathers
When Gideon, the son of Joash, was beating the grain of wheat with a rod under an oak tree, he merited to hear an angel promise that he would deliver God's people from the power of their enemies. It is no wonder that he was chosen for a special grace, when by the predestined mystery of the future incarnation he was even then seated under the shade of the cross of holy and venerable wisdom. He was bringing the tangible grains of a fruitful field out of their concealment, separating choice holy men from the rubbish of useless chaff. Putting aside the superfluities of the old man and his actions by treating them with the rod of experienced truth, they are assembled in the church as in a winepress. The church is the winepress of the eternal fountain in which abounds the fruit of the heavenly vine.
When Jerubbaal, as we read, was beating out wheat under an oak, he received a message from God in order that he might bring the people of God from the power of strangers into liberty. Nor is it a matter of wonder if he was chosen for grace, seeing that even then, being appointed under the shadow of the holy cross and of the adorable Wisdom in the predestined mystery of the future incarnation, he was bringing forth the visible grains of the fruitful corn from their hiding places and was [mystically] separating the elect of the saints from the refuse of the empty chaff. For these elect, as though trained with the rod of truth, laying aside the superfluities of the old man together with his deeds, are gathered in the church as in a winepress. For the church is the winepress of the eternal fountain, since from it wells forth the juice of the heavenly Vine.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Abiezrite — Father of help, a descendant of Abiezer (Judg. 6:11, 24; 8:32).
Agriculture — Tilling the ground (Gen. 2:15; 4:2, 3, 12) and rearing cattle were the chief employments in ancient times. The Egyptians excelled in agriculture. And after the Israelites entered into the possession…
Angel — A word signifying, both in the Hebrew and Greek, a “messenger,” and hence employed to denote any agent God sends forth to execute his purposes. It is used of an ordinary messenger (Job 1:14: 1 Sam.…
Elm — Hos. 4:13; rendered “terebinth” in the Revised Version. It is the Pistacia terebinthus of Linn., a tree common in Palestine, long-lived, and therefore often employed for landmarks and in designating…
Gideon — Called also Jerubbaal (Judg. 6:29, 32), was the first of the judges whose history is circumstantially narrated (Judg. 6-8). His calling is the commencement of the second period in the history of the…
Joash — Whom Jehovah bestowed. (1.) A contracted form of Jehoash, the father of Gideon (Judg. 6:11, 29; 8:13, 29, 32). (2.) One of the Benjamite archers who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:3). (3.) One of…
Ophrah — A fawn. 1 Chr. 4:14. (1.) A city of Benjamin (Josh. 18:23); probably identical with Ephron (2 Chr. 13:19) and Ephraim (John 11:54). (2.) “Of the Abi-ezrites.” A city of Manasseh, 6 miles south-west…
Teil tree — (an old name for the lime-tree, the tilia), Isa. 6:13, the terebinth, or turpentine-tree, the Pistacia terebinthus of botanists. The Hebrew word here used (elah) is rendered oak (q.v.) in Gen. 35:4;…
Agriculture Or Husbandry · The Jews loved and followed — The Jews loved and followed
Call of Gideon to Be the Deliverer of Israel. - As the reproof of the prophet was intended to turn the hearts of the people once more to the Lord their God and deliverer, so that manner in which God called Gideon to be their deliverer, and rescued Israel from its oppressors through his instrumentality, as intended to furnish the most evident proof that the help and salvation of Israel were not to be found in man, but solely in their God. God had also sent their former judges. The Spirit of Jehovah had come upon Othniel, so that he smote the enemy in the power of God (Jdg 3:10). Ehud had put to death the hostile king by stratagem, and then destroyed his army; and Barak had received the comman…
The Aviezrite. One of the sons of Aviezer ben Gilod ben Menasheh.
His son Gidon. His father had been threshing, while he sifted. He told him, "Father, you are elderly. If the enemies come, you will never be able to escape. You leave, and I will thresh."
In the wine press. With beams of an olive press.
Kirjath-Jearim · General references — General references
Midianites · Gideon raised up against — Gideon raised up against
Oak Tree, The · The ancients often: Rested under — The ancients often: Rested under
Ophrah · Gi — Gi
Threshing · The place for: Sometimes beside the wine-press for concealment — The place for: Sometimes beside the wine-press for concealment
Wine Press · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
