Judges 6:7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, 8 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. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
We have already seen the overall plot of the book of Judges: Israel failed to fully enter the land and drive out the idolatry around them; the idolatrous people infected them more than they influenced them; they found themselves in bondage all over again and God had to send a deliverer. God was speaking to them differently. He is now speaking mostly through prophets and the Angel of the Lord. The people were listening so poorly that we find, like Gideon in this account, their respond is "Who are You talking to?" Many know the rest of this account, but if you do not, read on through chapter 8 and you will find the power of God revealed, as Gideon and his people learn to listen to God and obey His voice.
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