Chapter
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Judges 6:12

ESV And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
NIV When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, 'The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.'
NASB And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, 'The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.'
CSB Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, "The Lord is with you, valiant warrior."
NLT The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, 'Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!'
KJV And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

What does Judges 6:12 mean?

The Angel of the Lord, God's representative on earth, has arrived at a small town in Israel. Ophrah is in the territory of Manasseh, and this Angel comes to deliver a message. Gideon, son of a relatively wealthy man, is quietly and secretively processing grain in the crowded space of a winepress, attempting to hide it from foreign invaders (Judges 6:1–5).

The Angel of the Lord—who seems to have an entirely ordinary appearance—now shows himself to Gideon and offers a strange greeting: "The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor." In the Old Testament, "men of valor" are potent warriors, such as David (1 Samuel 16:18), generals like Naaman (2 Kings 5:1) or soldiers (Joshua 8:3; 2 Chronicles 17:17). Here, that grand description is applied to a man doing a servant's work as quietly as possible, hoping not to have his food stolen by an enemy.

There's more than mere irony in this statement. The reference is almost sarcastic: Gideon is not only hiding when he's called, but he will continue to express hesitation and insecurity even as God continues to call him to action (Judges 6:17, 27, 36–40). Beyond dry humor, the Angel's lofty description of Gideon also expresses a reality unseen and obscured from a human perspective. The Lord addresses Gideon as he soon will be (Judges 7:24), not as he is in the moment; God speaks of what He knows, not of what fallible people see.

Another ironic twist is that Gideon's obvious anxiety is a reason to consider him a man of valor. That he routinely obeys—despite what seems to be intense insecurity—implies a greater faith than those who feel no fear, at all.
Expand
Expand
Expand
What is the Gospel?
Download the app: