Why Has This Befallen Us? - Judges 6:13

In the book of Judges we learned how, “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. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor”, and in chapter six and verse thirteen of Judges, we learn how Gideon asked, “Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us?”, where we read,

And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

The verse reads, “And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us?” The writer began with the words, “and Gideon” whose name means “‘hewer’ and was the youngest son of Joash of the Abiezites and the fifth judge of Israel who led the Israelites against the Midianites” “said unto him” or “uttered, declared, proclaimed and asked him, Jehovah God’s messenger”, “Oh my Lord” which means “O my, Gideon’s, master” “if the LORD be with us” or “whether and in case Jehovah who is the existing One and is the proper name for the One True God accompanies and is alongside us, the people of Israel”, “why then is all this befallen us” which means “for what reason and cause exists each, the whole and everything that has happened and come upon us, the people of Israel”? The writer shared how “Gideon” asked Jehovah God’s messenger if God was accompanying them for the reason all  their difficulties came upon them. 

The verse continues, “and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites” The writer added the words, “and where be all his miracles” which means “and in what place exists each, the whole and everyone of his, Jehovah God’s, surpassing, extraordinary and marvelous works and acts” “which our fathers told us of” or “that our, the people of Israel’s, male progenitors and ancestors recounted, reckoned and related to us, Israel” “saying” which means “uttering, declaring, proclaiming and asking”, “did not the LORD bring us up” or “was it not so that Jehovah who is the existing One and is the name of the One True God deliver and rescue us, Israel” “from Egypt” which means “separate and apart from Egypt whose name means ‘land of the Copts’ and is a country at the northeastern section of Africa, adjacent to Palestine, and through which the Nile flows”? “But now the LORD” or “however, notwithstanding, nevertheless and moreover at this time Jehovah who is the existing One” “has forsaken us” which means “has left and abandoned us, Israel”, “and delivered us” or “and set, put, granted and assigned us, the people of Israel” “into the hands of the Midianites” which means “to be under the power, might and authority belonging to the Midianites or Midian whose name means ‘strife’ and was a son of Abraham by Keturah and progenitor of the tribe of Midianites or Arabians”. The writer shared how “Gideon” questioned where all the extraordinary works were that Jehovah God performed like when He rescued the people of Israel from “Egypt”, yet at this time had turned them over to the people of Midian. 

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn how Gideon wanted to know from Jehovah God’s messenger the reason that the difficulties were happening to Israel. He recalled the stories about Jehovah God rescuing Israel from Egypt, however, at this point he felt like Jehovah God abandoned them and turned them over to the power and might of the “Midianite” people. We can imagine how these things concerned Gideon, Regardless of the concerns of “Gideon”, God was going to save the people of Israel. We shall see how in our next few verses. God is concerned for everyone, and because He wants a personal relationship with through His Son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and was raised from the dead after three days, when we yield to Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put His Holy Spirit within us to guide us into all truth and help us know that “all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose”. (See Romans 8:28)

Next time we learn how, “the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this your might”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".