Ophrah

Gideon was at the time engaged in threshing wheat by the wine press to hide it from the Midianites, where they would not find it.

In Judges 6:11, "And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was at Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites." All of a sudden, the angel of God appeared and told him that he was the man chosen to be delivered all of God's people.

Read about it in Judges 6:12 down to verse number 16.

"And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

Think about this for a moment.

Here was Gideon, a timid, unknown young man, threshing wheat, and suddenly the Lord called him to a great task.

In verse 11 and 12, "And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was at 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 thee, thou mighty man of valour." I have noticed that...

I'm gonna start reading to us from Judges 6 verse 11.

"Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree, which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the wine press, in order to hide it from the Midianites.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, 'The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.' Gideon said to him, 'Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his miracles which our fathers has told us about, saying, "Did not the Lord bring us out from Egypt?" But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.' Then the Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.

Have I not sent you?' Oh, he said to him, 'Oh my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.' And the Lord said to him, 'Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.' Then he said to him, 'If I have, um, now found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.

Do not fear.

You shall not die." So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it The Lord Is Peace.

To this day, it is still in Ophrah.

So we're reading this story of Israel, right? We, we, we're, we're introduced where Gideon is hiding.

Look at what Judges 6:11-12 says.

"Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, and his son Gideon was beating wheat in the winepress instead of the threshing floor, to hide it from the Midianites.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, 'The Lord is with you, O brave man.' But Gideon said to him, 'Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us? And where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us about when they said, "Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?" But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of the Midianites.'" I also read verse 13.

So Gideon was hiding instead of being on the threshing floor.

Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

Moreover, the fleet of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophrah, brought from Ophrah a very great amount of almog wood and precious stones.

And the king made of the almog wood supports for the house of the Lord, and for the king's house, also lures and harps for the singers.

No such almog wood has come or been seen to this day.

The 70 pieces of silver Abimelech used to hire these men.

Verse 5: "Then he went to his father's house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal," Gideon.

"Seventy men on one stone.

But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, was left, for he hid himself." Oh, that, that verse should put a pit in your stomach.

They gave him 70 silver coins from the temple of Baal-Bareth, which he used to hire some reckless troublemakers who agreed to follow him.

He went to his father's home at Ophrah, and there on one stone they killed all seventy of his half-brothers, the sons of Gideon.

But the youngest brother, Jotham, escaped and hid.

Then all the leading citizens of Shechem and Beth Milo called a meeting under the oak beside the pillar at Shechem and made Abimelech their king.