Hakim-hakim 2:1

Confrontation and Repentance at Bokim

2:1 The Lord’s angelic messenger ¹  went up from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, “I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land I had solemnly promised to give to your ancestors. ²  I said, ‘I will never break my agreement ³  with you,

Hakim-hakim 6:11-12

Gideon Meets Some Visitors

6:11 The Lord’s angelic messenger ⁴  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ⁵  was threshing ⁶  wheat in a winepress ⁷  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ⁸  6:12 The Lord’s messenger appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, courageous warrior!”

[2:1]  ¹ sn See Exod 14:19; 23:20.

[2:1]  ² tn Heb “the land that I had sworn to your fathers.”

[2:1]  ³ tn Or “covenant” (also in the following verse).

[6:11]  ⁴ tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive.

[6:11]  sn The Lord’s angelic messenger is also mentioned in Judg 2:1.

[6:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Now Gideon his son…” The Hebrew circumstantial clause (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + predicate) breaks the narrative sequence and indicates that the angel’s arrival coincided with Gideon’s threshing.

[6:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “beating out.”

[6:11]  ⁷ sn Threshing wheat in a winepress. One would normally thresh wheat at the threshing floor outside the city. Animals and a threshing sledge would be employed. Because of the Midianite threat, Gideon was forced to thresh with a stick in a winepress inside the city. For further discussion see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 63.

[6:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “Midian.”