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Judges 6 · a question people ask

Gideon asked, "If the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?" (6:13). Does the chapter answer him?

In the text

Gideon puts it plainly: "Oh, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of" (6:13), and "But now the LORD has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian" (6:13). The LORD's answer doesn't take up the why. "The LORD looked at him, and said, “Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven’t I sent you?”" (6:14) (tap save). The chapter had already given a reason, before Gideon asked: "The children of Israel did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years" (6:1), and the prophet had said, "But you have not listened to my voice" (6:10). The chapter doesn't say whether Gideon heard the prophet. Gideon's words "delivered us into the hand of Midian" (6:13) agree with 6:1, and in Hebrew delivered is the same verb in both verses. What the LORD adds is a sending (6:14) and a promise: "Surely I will be with you" (6:16).

The verses

“The children of Israel did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.”
Judges 6:1 · World English Bible
“The LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel; and he said to them, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage. I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land. 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 listened to my voice.’””
Judges 6:8-10 · World English Bible
“Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.” The LORD looked at him, and said, “Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven’t I sent you?””
Judges 6:13-14 · World English Bible
“The LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.””
Judges 6:16 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Judges 6

Judges 6: The least in my father's house

When Israel cried, the LORD first sent a prophet, whose words end as the angel's did at Bochim: "But you have not listened to my voice" (6:10). Then the LORD's angel called a man hiding his wheat a "mighty man of valor" (6:12), and to "I am the least in my father’s house" (6:15) the LORD answered with the three Hebrew words he said to Moses at the bush: "Surely I will be with you" (6:16).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions