Chapter 6 of Sefer Shoftim opens a new chapter in the history of Israel: the subjugation under Midian and the rise of Gideon son of Yoash. The entire chapter is a lesson in divine providence: how a nation that fails to recognize that sin is the cause responds, and how the Holy One, blessed be He, raises up a savior from a young and lowly man, whose sole merit is honoring his father and pleading in defense of Israel. With God's help we will proceed according to the order of the pesukim in light of the Malbim's commentary, gathering along the way the words of Chazal and the commentators.
וַיַּעֲשׂוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה וַיִּתְּנֵם יְהֹוָה בְּיַד־מִדְיָן שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים׃ - And the children of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem, and Hashem gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years.
Let us notice the change in wording. Until now it always said "and the children of Israel continued to do what was evil," a language of addition, since sin accumulated upon sin. Here Rashi says that it does not write "and they continued," and the reason is that there was an erasure of sins: in the Song of Devorah that we saw in the previous chapter the sins were erased. And since that is so, here begins an entirely fresh start: "and the children of Israel did what was evil" - from here they begin to sin anew, and for this "Hashem gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years."
וַתָּעׇז יַד־מִדְיָן עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִפְּנֵי מִדְיָן עָשׂוּ לָהֶם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַמִּנְהָרוֹת אֲשֶׁר בֶּהָרִים וְאֶת־הַמְּעָרוֹת וְאֶת־הַמְּצָדוֹת׃ - And the hand of Midian prevailed over Israel; because of Midian the children of Israel made for themselves the tunnels that are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.
The hand of Midian grows stronger, attacking again and again, more and more, until Israel was forced to make hiding places for themselves. "Strongholds" are fortresses, places where one could be saved from the hand of Midian. And what is the difference between a tunnel and a cave? The Malbim brings two explanations. One explanation: a tunnel is like a cave, except that it has an opening above through which "nehara" enters, that is, light, and hence its name. Another explanation: a tunnel is not a type of cave at all, but rather torches. And why did they need torches? To signal. When Midian would arrive, they had to inform their companions that the danger was approaching, and just as in earlier times they would raise beacons and light torches, and everyone would understand the sign and drive away the flocks, the cattle, and the produce from the raiders.
וְהָיָה אִם־זָרַע יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעָלָה מִדְיָן וַעֲמָלֵק וּבְנֵי־קֶדֶם וְעָלוּ עָלָיו׃ וַיַּחֲנוּ עֲלֵיהֶם וַיַּשְׁחִיתוּ אֶת־יְבוּל הָאָרֶץ עַד־בּוֹאֲךָ עַזָּה וְלֹא־יַשְׁאִירוּ מִחְיָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וְשֶׂה וָשׁוֹר וַחֲמוֹר׃ - And it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midian and Amalek and the people of the east would come up against them. And they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.
"They would come up against it" - against the sowing that they had sown. "And they would encamp against them" - here, says the Malbim, they now encamp against the people themselves. When they come up against the sowing they destroy the produce of the land, and when they encamp against the people themselves they leave no sustenance in Israel, for they would take everything: both the animals fit for eating and the working animals - sheep, ox, and donkey. And the Radak explains "and they would destroy the produce of the land" - the crops that were still grass, before their ripening was complete, and the trees they would cut down and fell in order to destroy, while the sheep, ox, and donkey they would take for themselves.
כִּי הֵם וּמִקְנֵיהֶם יַעֲלוּ וְאׇהֳלֵיהֶם וּבָאוּ כְדֵי־אַרְבֶּה לָרֹב וְלָהֶם וְלִגְמַלֵּיהֶם אֵין מִסְפָּר וַיָּבֹאוּ בָאָרֶץ לְשַׁחֲתָהּ׃ - For they and their livestock would come up, and their tents, and they would come like locusts in multitude, and they and their camels were without number, and they came into the land to ruin it.
"For they and their livestock would come up" - coming up against the sowing, and just as the locust consumes everything, so they and their livestock came "like locusts in multitude" to consume everything. And what is "and their tents"? The Malbim says that this refers back to the people themselves: on one side they came against what they had sown, and on the other side against the people of Israel themselves, to take plunder and to rob. And both, whether they or their camels, were without number. "And they came into the land to ruin it" - the main purpose of their coming was to ruin.
וַיִּדַּל יִשְׂרָאֵל מְאֹד מִפְּנֵי מִדְיָן וַיִּזְעֲקוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־יְהֹוָה׃ וַיְהִי כִּי־זָעֲקוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־יְהֹוָה עַל אֹדוֹת מִדְיָן׃ - And Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian, and the children of Israel cried out to Hashem. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to Hashem on account of Midian.
Israel was brought low before Midian and cried out to Hashem. But over what did they cry? Did they return in repentance? The next pasuk comes to clarify this. The Malbim says: "And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to Hashem on account of Midian" - know that the entire cry was not over their sin. It was not a cry of "what did we do improperly that brought the men of Midian upon us," but rather a cry of grievance: why does this evil befall us? They did not recognize at all that the sin is the cause, and that everything happening to them comes as a result of their evil deeds. And since this was so, there was no choice: a prophet had to be sent to make them aware of their error and set their path straight.
וַיִּשְׁלַח יְהֹוָה אִישׁ נָבִיא אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָנֹכִי הֶעֱלֵיתִי אֶתְכֶם מִמִּצְרַיִם וָאֹצִיא אֶתְכֶם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים׃ - And Hashem sent a man, a prophet, to the children of Israel, and he said to them: So says Hashem, the God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt and I brought you out of the house of bondage.
Who is this prophet? Chazal say that it was Pinchas. He came to rebuke them and to inform them that what they are receiving now is nothing but a punishment for their corrupt deeds. And why does the verse emphasize "a man, a prophet"? The Malbim says: since immediately afterward we see that the Holy One sends an angel, the verse therefore emphasizes that here it is not an angel but a man, a prophet.
His rebuke is built claim upon claim. "I brought you up from Egypt" - with signs and wonders, and from this you should have recognized the greatness of Hashem and accepted the awe of His exaltedness. "And I brought you out of the house of bondage" - and if I actually took you out of slavery, you should acknowledge the kindness: Hashem saved you from the house of bondage, and remember that you are a servant to Hashem. And how, after all He did for you, did you go and serve idolatry?
וָאַצִּל אֶתְכֶם מִיַּד מִצְרַיִם וּמִיַּד כׇּל־לֹחֲצֵיכֶם וָאֲגָרֵשׁ אוֹתָם מִפְּנֵיכֶם וָאֶתְּנָה לָכֶם אֶת־אַרְצָם׃ - And I delivered you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and I drove them out from before you and gave you their land.
A further claim: "And I delivered you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all who oppressed you" - if I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors, remember that you always need this deliverance, and if so, you still need the Master of the World. How did you go to rebel against Him? And further: "And I drove them out from before you and gave you their land" - did you not consider for a moment why I drove them out and gave you their land? Because the Emorite had filled the measure of his iniquity, because they walked in those same corrupt ways that you are walking in now. I gave you the land because they rebelled against Me - so that you should rebel against Me? It was not for this that I gave you their land, and not for this that I drove them out from before you.
וָאֹמְרָה לָכֶם אֲנִי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם לֹא תִירְאוּ אֶת־אֱלֹהֵי הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם יוֹשְׁבִים בְּאַרְצָם וְלֹא שְׁמַעְתֶּם בְּקוֹלִי׃ - And I said to you: I am Hashem your God, do not fear the gods of the Emorite in whose land you dwell; but you did not listen to My voice.
I said to you, I am Hashem your God, do not fear and serve the gods of the Emorite - those very ones whom I drove out from before you - and you did not listen to My voice. And behold, now you will understand why the evil has come upon you.
וַיָּבֹא מַלְאַךְ יְהֹוָה וַיֵּשֶׁב תַּחַת הָאֵלָה אֲשֶׁר בְּעׇפְרָה אֲשֶׁר לְיוֹאָשׁ אֲבִי הָעֶזְרִי וְגִדְעוֹן בְּנוֹ חֹבֵט חִטִּים בַּגַּת לְהָנִיס מִפְּנֵי מִדְיָן׃ - And an angel of Hashem came and sat under the oak which was in Ofrah, that belonged to Yoash the Avi-ezrite, while Gideon his son was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from Midyan.
The angel of Hashem does not turn directly to Gideon, but sits under the oak. This is puzzling: does an angel need to rest? You have a message for Gideon, go over and tell him! And indeed there are several explanations of this. One explanation: it comes to hint that the Holy One, blessed be He, is close to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth, but this first requires an awakening from below, that the initiative begin with us and that we ask. Therefore the angel of Hashem comes and sits under the oak as one waiting, waiting for Gideon to turn to him.
A further explanation: Chazal say that he lingered there until he found a merit for him, and only afterward appeared to him. And by what merit did he finally appear to him? Yoash his father was beating out wheat, that is, threshing it. Their way was to thresh with animals or with sticks with which they beat, and here, since they had to work quickly and nimbly in order to manage to hide it from Midyan, they could not linger with threshing by animals, and therefore they made do with beating the wheat with sticks, and by this they separated the chaff from the kernels. Gideon said to him: My father, you are old, go into your house and I will beat in your place, for if the Midyanites come you have no strength to flee and you will not manage to escape from them. Better that you go into the house and I will do your work. The angel said: You have fulfilled the mitzvah of honoring one's father, you are worthy that My children be redeemed through you. Hear what merit Gideon had, that he honored his father. And immediately "the angel of Hashem appeared to him."
The Malbim explains the order of matters: after the prophet rebukes them, the angel of Hashem comes to save them, as it is written "in all their affliction He was afflicted," and immediately afterward "and the angel of His presence saved them," an angel was sent to bring the salvation. And here it is an angel, in contrast to what we saw earlier, "and Hashem sent a man, a prophet," where the one rebuking was a man.
And what is "that belonged to Yoash"? The Malbim brings two explanations. It is possible that the oak, that is, the tree, belonged to Yoash. And it is possible that it refers to Ofrah, that Ofrah belonged to Yoash. Ofrah is a place name, and since there was another Ofrah in the territory of Binyamin, as appears in Yehoshua chapter 18 verse 23, the verse comes to define it: Ofrah that belonged to Yoash the Avi-ezrite, the city in which Yoash the father of Gideon dwelt.
"While Gideon his son was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from Midyan." The Malbim says: know that the divine abundance rests only upon those prepared for it. Whoever prepares himself with some preparation, the divine abundance will rest upon him, and even if a person prepares himself only a little, he will merit through Hashem's blessing an abundant and immense flow. But in any case some preparation is needed, an awakening from below is needed, some effort on our part, in the sense of "open for Me an opening like the eye of a needle," and then the Holy One, blessed be He, will open an opening like the entrance of a hall, through which carriages and wagons enter.
And what was needed here? Two things. First, a small merit, in the sense of "one who comes to purify himself is assisted," and this merit Gideon had, the merit of honoring his father, "while Gideon his son was beating out wheat in the winepress." And second, might, for the Holy One, blessed be He, was destined to rest upon him a spirit of might by which he would defeat Midyan, and this too he had, "to hide it from Midyan," here was a strong man capable of spiriting away the property from before Midyan. If so, there is here merit and there is here might, there is preparation, and upon its basis the Holy One, blessed be He, can pour out merit without limit and might without limit.
וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו מַלְאַךְ יְהֹוָה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו יְהֹוָה עִמְּךָ גִּבּוֹר הֶחָיִל׃ - And the angel of Hashem appeared to him and said to him: Hashem is with you, mighty man of valor.
By the power of this merit the angel reveals himself to him and informs him "Hashem is with you," you have the merit of honoring your father. "Mighty man of valor," by the power of that might of "to hide it from Midyan," you are already worthy that Hashem pour out upon you might in the sense of a mighty man of valor, an immense and abundant flow of might in order to fight against Midyan.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו גִּדְעוֹן בִּי אֲדֹנִי וְיֵשׁ יְהֹוָה עִמָּנוּ וְלָמָּה מְצָאַתְנוּ כׇּל־זֹאת וְאַיֵּה כׇל־נִפְלְאֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר סִפְּרוּ־לָנוּ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ לֵאמֹר הֲלֹא מִמִּצְרַיִם הֶעֱלָנוּ יְהֹוָה וְעַתָּה נְטָשָׁנוּ יְהֹוָה וַיִּתְּנֵנוּ בְּכַף־מִדְיָן׃ - And Gideon said to him: Please, my lord, if Hashem is with us, then why has all this befallen us? And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Hashem bring us up from Egypt? But now Hashem has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midyan.
Our Sages comment on "which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Hashem bring us up from Egypt" - it was Pesach. Gideon said to him: last night my father read me the Hallel, and I heard my father saying "When Israel went out of Egypt." We have heard of so many miracles, so many signs, so many wonders, and so much divine kindness, yet now He has abandoned us, and we see no signs and miracles as He did for our fathers. So Gideon argues from both sides: if our fathers were righteous, then I have a righteous father, do it for me by his merit, do it for us by the merit of our fathers. And if you say our fathers were wicked, for when they left Egypt they were still idol worshippers, then they were wicked and Hashem did miracles for them for free, so let Him do signs and wonders for us for free as well. Where are all His wonders?
The Malbim explains these matters in their depth. Gideon thought the trouble had come upon them because of hester panim, the hiding of the divine face. There is a reality in which the Holy One, blessed be He, says "And I will surely hide My face from them," and then we are cast under the hand of chance: if by the hand of chance rain is due to fall, it falls, and if not, it does not, not through providence but through hiding of the face. And so it is written "And he shall say on that day, Are not these evils come upon me because my God is not among me?" This is what Gideon said: "and Hashem is with us" - is there really no hiding of the face here but rather individual providence, and the Holy One, blessed be He, is with us? "why then is all this befallen us" - how can it be that everything happening to us appears as though by chance, as though He has forsaken us and does not watch over us? "and where are all His wondrous deeds" - for when Hashem watches over us there are wonders: the moment the enemy oppresses us, he is struck down. Amalek came against us, wiped out. The Egyptians afflicted us, ten plagues. They pursued us, the splitting of the Sea. Where are the wonders our fathers told us of? We see none of them, and this is proof that Hashem has abandoned us and does not watch over us with individual providence.
And if you should say it is all because of our evil deeds, "Did not Hashem bring us up from Egypt" - Hashem raised us up from the impurity of Egypt when we were sunk in idolatry. And when Moshe came to take us out he told us "Draw out and take you a lamb," four days before the Exodus, and our Sages expounded: withdraw your hands from idolatry. So even then we were not fully worthy. How then can it be that now, after we have already become His people and after He gave us the Torah, "but now Hashem has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hand of Midian"? This is proof that the Holy One, blessed be He, has left us to the hand of chance and hidden His face from us.
וַיִּפֶן אֵלָיו יְהֹוָה וַיֹּאמֶר לֵךְ בְּכֹחֲךָ זֶה וְהוֹשַׁעְתָּ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִכַּף מִדְיָן הֲלֹא שְׁלַחְתִּיךָ׃ - And Hashem turned to him, and said, Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian: have I not sent you?
What changed here in "And Hashem turned to him"? The Malbim says: until now the angel had spoken with him, and now Hashem turns to him with speech that is on the level of prophecy. The angel is only a medium that precedes the divine speech, as we saw with Yehoshua at Yericho, where an angel spoke with him first and only afterward did the Holy One, blessed be He, speak with him. "Go in this your might" - with that same strength by which he drove off Midian, in which we saw there was valor, and through this strength He will pour upon him endless abundance. When the Holy One, blessed be He, sees that Gideon is pained and distressed over the removal of Hashem's providence from us, and the matter storms within his heart, He tells him: you are the man ready for salvation, you are the spiritual man through whom I will pour a great spiritual abundance to save all of Israel.
Notice: Gideon does not speak about his private problems. He does not say Master of the Universe, see that my father was forced to flee, see that I am forced to do my work stealthily and in hiding. He speaks about the problems of all Israel. From this you see Gideon's true pain and the stuff from which he is fashioned, the stuff of leaders. A leader always speaks about the problems of the community and not about his private troubles.
And what is "Go in this your might"? The holy Ari brings in Likutei Torah on Sefer Shoftim the words of our Sages, "Yeruba'al in his generation was as weighty as Moshe in his generation." This means that within Gideon there was a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu. The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: go in this your might, in the might of Moshe Rabbeinu that is within you. Yeruba'al is Gideon, and by the power of that spark of Moshe you shall save Israel. And we see that Gideon indeed had the power of Moshe, for Moshe too always taught advocacy on behalf of Israel, and Gideon here likewise teaches advocacy: Master of the Universe, what can be demanded of this people, You hide Your face from them, and it is no wonder they worship idols. And one may say there is a further hint here: "this your might," the word "this," for we find "for this Moshe, the man, we know not what has become of him" - the expression "this" attaches to Moshe.
Our Sages say: the Holy One, blessed be He, told him, by your life, you taught advocacy on behalf of My children, you are worthy that I speak with you, and immediately "And Hashem turned to him, and said, Go in this your might." And what is "this your might" according to this? By the power of the advocacy you taught on behalf of My children. It emerges that we have learned two things here: why he merited that Hashem speak with him personally, and why the salvation would come through him, and both stem from the power of teaching advocacy. Both the personal speech with the Master of the Universe, and the mission on which he was sent to save the community.
The Zohar says in the Omissions of the Zohar, page 254: Rabbi Yehoshua said, what did Noach see that he did not ask mercy for his generation? He said in his heart, perhaps I myself will not escape, for it is written "for you have I seen righteous before Me in this generation" - that is, relative to the generation, I am saved because I am better than they, but if they too were righteous perhaps I would no longer be worthy of being saved. Rabbi Elazar said: even so he should have asked mercy for the world. And why? Because it is pleasing to the Holy One, blessed be He, that a person speak good of His children. And how do you know this? From Gideon son of Yoash, who was neither worthy nor the son of a worthy man, and shortly we will see how unworthy his father was, for he fattened a bull for idolatry for years. Why then did he merit? Because he spoke good of Israel, and the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him "Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian." What is "in this your might"? By the power of the advocacy you spoke on behalf of My children.
The Mesillat Yesharim says likewise in chapter 19, in explaining the parts of chassidut: behold, you will see that Gideon was told "Go in this your might" because he taught advocacy on behalf of Israel, for the Holy One, blessed be He, loves none but the one who loves Israel, and the more a person increases his love for Israel, the more the Holy One, blessed be He, increases His love for him. These are the true shepherds of Israel in whom the Holy One, blessed be He, greatly delights, who give themselves for His flock, and seek and strive for their welfare and good in every way, and always stand in the breach to pray for them and to nullify harsh decrees against them and to open upon them the gates of blessing. And he brings a wonderful parable: to what is the matter comparable? To a father who loves no one more than the one he sees loving his children with a faithful love, and this is something to which nature itself testifies. Whom do we love? The one who loves our children. The one who appears to love our children with a faithful love, him we will love most, upon him we will bestow, to him we will give, toward him we will open our affection. So too, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: whoever loves My children, I love him. And Gideon, who taught advocacy on behalf of My children, nothing is more precious than this in My eyes.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו בִּי אֲדֹנָי בַּמָּה אוֹשִׁיעַ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל הִנֵּה אַלְפִּי הַדַּל בִּמְנַשֶּׁה וְאָנֹכִי הַצָּעִיר בְּבֵית אָבִי׃ - And he said to him: Please, my lord, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the poorest in Menasheh, and I am the youngest in my father's house.
The Malbim explains that at first Gidon thought the salvation would come through natural means, since the command came by way of an angel, and an angel is more connected to the workings of nature. As it is written, "Behold, I send an angel before you," and Moshe Rabbeinu understood that the Holy One, blessed be He, was telling him that from then on the leadership of Israel would be through an angel, and he said before Him: I do not want this, "If Your Presence does not go, do not bring us up from here." I do not want natural leadership, but miraculous leadership, the leadership of the Holy One, blessed be He, with individual providence. And since Gidon thought the first revelation came through an angel, he assumed the leadership would be natural. If so, how will we defeat Midian in the natural way? For that one needs a large populace, whereas "my clan is the poorest in Menasheh" - our group is the lowliest in Menasheh. And how can I become a leader whom people will heed, when "I am the youngest in my father's house," and since when does one take orders from the youngest? According to the Radak, "Please, my lord" here is used in the mundane sense, for in his view Gidon still does not grasp that the one speaking with him is the Master of the world, and he thinks this is a prophet, and therefore he says "my lord" in the sense of my masters.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו יְהֹוָה כִּי אֶהְיֶה עִמָּךְ וְהִכִּיתָ אֶת־מִדְיָן כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד׃ - And Hashem said to him: For I will be with you, and you shall strike Midian as one man.
According to the Malbim, since the concern was that this might be a natural salvation requiring strength and an army and a great man capable of rallying everyone, the Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: "For I will be with you" - this will be a miraculous salvation, and so miraculous that you will strike Midian as though they were all one man. You are not fighting an army of tens and hundreds of thousands, as we will see later, but rather as though they were all a single man. The Radak explains differently: He said to him "in the name of Hashem, for I will be with you" - meaning, I am a prophet of Hashem and I come on His mission, and are you not certain that I am an angel of Hashem? Know that I come in the name of Hashem, and everything I tell you is not from my own mind but from Him, may He be blessed.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אִם־נָא מָצָאתִי חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ וְעָשִׂיתָ לִּי אוֹת שָׁאַתָּה מְדַבֵּר עִמִּי׃ - And he said to him: If now I have found favor in your eyes, then make me a sign that it is you who are speaking with me.
According to the Radak and the Metzudat David, Gidon is still not certain whether this is an angel of Hashem or a prophet coming with direct prophecy, and therefore he asks for a sign. Perhaps this is merely a man making promises - how can I rely on this to gather an army, go to the people and tell them to rebel against Midian and go to war?
But the Malbim raises a difficulty: what is meant by "make me a sign that it is you who are speaking with me"? Do you not see that I am speaking with you? The sign should have been about the fulfillment of the promise, that you will defeat them all, not about the very act of speaking! Therefore the Malbim brings two explanations, both of them wondrous.
The first explanation: Gidon knows that the speech is from God, only he is in doubt whether it is direct speech from God or speech through an intermediary. If the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself is speaking with him, it is a sign that there will be a miraculous salvation here, one that requires neither a large populace nor a great army nor might, for nothing restrains Hashem from saving whether by many or by few. But if the speech is by means of an angel, it is a sign that the salvation too will be by the power of an angel, that is, salvation by way of natural means, through a large populace and hard warfare. And this is what Moshe Rabbeinu said: "If now I have found favor in Your eyes... let my Lord go among us," "for how then shall it be known that I have found favor in Your eyes, is it not by Your going with us" - we do not want an angel, who is close to nature and whose salvation is natural, but the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, and then there will be a salvation above nature.
And how will this be tested? Through the offering. Gidon says: I will make a test. If you are merely a messenger, you will not accept my offering as a sacrifice, for "one who sacrifices to a god shall be destroyed, save to Hashem alone," and it is forbidden to offer sacrifices to angels and forbidden for an angel to accept a sacrifice. And so the angel said to Manoach: "If you make a burnt offering, offer it up to Hashem." Therefore I will bring an offering and see what he does: if he refrains from taking it, or if he eats it in the manner of eating and does not use it as a sacrifice, I will know this is a messenger angel. But if he accepts it as an offering and does not eat it, but rather it functions as a sacrifice, it is a sign that this is not an angel, for an angel does not accept sacrifices, but rather this is Hashem Himself in His essence with His name within Him, and then there is no sacrificing to other gods, nor to the forces of nature, nor to angels, God forbid, but rather a sacrifice to Hashem. And if so, the salvation will be miraculous.
The second explanation: it is possible that Gidon knows with certainty that the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself is speaking with him, and he has no doubt about it. So why does he nevertheless request a sign? The Malbim says: know that the promises that come through a prophet for good never turn back under any circumstances. If the Holy One, blessed be He, told the prophet to inform the people that such and such abundance would come upon them, there is no possibility that the abundance will be withheld, and even if the people act wickedly and turn their way to evil, what the Holy One, blessed be He, promised He will fulfill. And this is what is stated: "that which the prophet speaks in the name of Hashem and the thing does not happen and does not come to pass, that is the thing that Hashem did not speak." And the Rambam says that this is how one tests a prophet: a prophet comes and states a prophecy - who says that you are a true prophet? If he said there would be a war in two days, this proves nothing, for it is possible that he is a true prophet and the Holy One, blessed be He, had mercy and did not bring the war. Therefore one tests him with good promises: he will promise a good thing, and if it is fulfilled as he said, he is a true prophet, and if not, he cannot claim that Hashem saw that you were doubting and therefore reversed His word. There is no such thing: promises for good are always fulfilled.
But here the Malbim adds a piece of knowledge: all of this applies when the prophecy is directed to the community. A good promise to the community is never nullified. But a good promise to an individual - it is quite possible that the individual will corrupt his ways and no longer be worthy of it. Indeed, Yaakov Avinu feared "lest sin cause it," that perhaps he was no longer worthy of that good promise. And what can lock in the promise and guarantee it as an absolute promise even for an individual? The Rambam says: if a sign and a wonder come together with the promise, know that the matter will certainly be fulfilled even if it is a promise to an individual. An example of this is the Covenant Between the Parts, where there was a great darkness and a fire descended - a sign and a wonder that were done together with the promise, and therefore even though the promise was to Avraham alone, the matter will not change.
And this is the meaning of "make me a sign that You are speaking with me." Gidon says: Master of the World, You are speaking with me, a single individual, and I am not a messenger to the people. Since this is so, it is possible that what You are telling me now will be nullified tomorrow, and You will say to me, Gidon, you did not live up to the expectations and I have decided to cancel the mission. How can I organize an army and set out when I am not certain the promise will be fulfilled? Perhaps sin will cause it, perhaps circumstances will cause it and the good promise toward me will not be fulfilled, because I am an individual. And what will assure me that it will indeed be fulfilled? The sign. According to this, the language of the verse is wonderful: it is not that the sign is about the fact that You are speaking with me, but rather the sign is needed because You are speaking only with me, and I am an individual. Therefore I need a sign to guarantee that the promise will be realized and that no change in my merits will alter it.
אַל־נָא תָמֻשׁ מִזֶּה עַד־בֹּאִי אֵלֶיךָ וְהֹצֵאתִי אֶת־מִנְחָתִי וְהִנַּחְתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ וַיֹּאמַר אָנֹכִי אֵשֵׁב עַד שׁוּבֶךָ׃ וְגִדְעוֹן בָּא וַיַּעַשׂ גְּדִי־עִזִּים וְאֵיפַת־קֶמַח מַצּוֹת הַבָּשָׂר שָׂם בַּסַּל וְהַמָּרַק שָׂם בַּפָּרוּר וַיּוֹצֵא אֵלָיו אֶל־תַּחַת הָאֵלָה וַיַּגַּשׁ׃ - Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my offering and set it before You. And He said, I will stay until you return. And Gidon came and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an eifah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought it out to Him under the oak and presented it.
Gidon asks that He not move from there until he returns, and the angel replies: I will stay until you return. Let us note what he prepares - an offering that contains "an eifah of flour, unleavened cakes." From here we learn that it was Pesach. And that day was the day of the waving of the omer, as we will see later in the dream, "and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbling into the camp of Midyan," so the day was the sixteenth of Nissan. This is also proven from what we saw earlier, that Gidon said "last night my father recited the Hallel to me," so it was the first day of Chol HaMoed Pesach.
And the Malbim says: note, according to the first explanation Gidon was in doubt whether the angel would accept the offering in the manner of an olah to Hashem, or would eat it as a messenger angel. A messenger angel may eat, but would not raise it up in fire as the acceptance of an olah, for one does not offer sacrifices to angels. Therefore Gidon prepared something suitable both for eating and for burning: broth in a pot and meat in a basket, things fit both to be offered up on the altar and to be eaten, and now he would see what would be done with them - whether they would be burned as a sacrifice or eaten in the manner of human beings.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים קַח אֶת־הַבָּשָׂר וְאֶת־הַמַּצּוֹת וְהַנַּח אֶל־הַסֶּלַע הַלָּז וְאֶת־הַמָּרַק שְׁפוֹךְ וַיַּעַשׂ כֵּן׃ וַיִּשְׁלַח מַלְאַךְ יְהֹוָה אֶת־קְצֵה הַמִּשְׁעֶנֶת אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדוֹ וַיִּגַּע בַּבָּשָׂר וּבַמַּצּוֹת וַתַּעַל הָאֵשׁ מִן־הַצּוּר וַתֹּאכַל אֶת־הַבָּשָׂר וְאֶת־הַמַּצּוֹת וּמַלְאַךְ יְהֹוָה הָלַךְ מֵעֵינָיו׃ - And the angel of God said to him, Take the meat and the unleavened cakes and set them on this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. And the angel of Hashem put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes, and fire rose up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes, and the angel of Hashem departed from his sight.
How does "the angel of God" turn into "the angel of Hashem"? The Malbim explains: according to what was clarified, an angel does not take sacrifices, for "one who sacrifices to gods shall be destroyed, save to Hashem alone." Therefore the statement "place the meat and the unleavened cakes on the rock" was said by a messenger angel, and so he is called "the angel of God" and not by the name of Havayah. But afterward, when the sacrifice needed to be raised up in flame, it says "and the angel of Hashem put forth" - for the Name is within him, and as it were He Himself takes the offering. For if the angel had burned the sacrifice, it would turn out that I offered a sacrifice to an angel, and it is forbidden for the angel to accept and forbidden for me to offer. And we have already spoken about the fact that the name "Elokim" does not appear in any act of the sacrifices in the Torah, and whenever the act of the sacrifice is mentioned, the name Havayah is mentioned. In this there is proof that this is not a messenger angel but the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, Himself - and if so, the salvation is not natural but miraculous, and with this Gidon's mind was set at ease.
וַיַּרְא גִּדְעוֹן כִּי־מַלְאַךְ יְהֹוָה הוּא וַיֹּאמֶר גִּדְעוֹן אֲהָהּ אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה כִּי־עַל־כֵּן רָאִיתִי מַלְאַךְ יְהֹוָה פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים׃ - And Gidon saw that he was the angel of Hashem, and Gidon said, Alas, my Lord Hashem, for I have seen the angel of Hashem face to face.
When it becomes clear to Gidon that this is not an angel of God in the sense of a messenger, but the angel of Hashem with whom the Holy One, blessed be He, is present as it were, he begins to fear. For it is said, "for no man shall see Me and live." If it were an angel of God, I saw only a messenger, but if I saw a revelation of divinity within the angel - then I am about to die. And it is written in the Sifra on Vayikra: in their lifetime they do not see, but at their death they see the Shechinah, as it says "for to Me every knee shall bow." Therefore he feared that this might indicate death.
And especially, says the Malbim, if you follow the other commentators who explained that his doubt was not whether this was a prophet or an angel, like the doubt Manoach's wife had, then his line of thought was this: a person can see a prophet of Hashem, but an angel of Hashem, which is separate and spiritual, it cannot be that a physical human being, a creature of clay, would see one. So when can he? Before his death, because of the added spirit a person has close to his passing. A person before his death is capable of seeing other things. People have heard from all kinds of individuals before their passing, especially from great people, who say that so and so from the world of truth has come to greet them, and from all such examples we understand that in the final moments a person has an added measure of spirit. He is already about to be stripped away from the body, and therefore is capable of seeing things abstracted from the body, even angels. Therefore he said: if I have seen, that is a sign that I am about to depart from the world, for if not, how could a person clothed in matter see a spiritual divine being?
וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ יְהֹוָה שָׁלוֹם לְךָ אַל־תִּירָא לֹא תָּמוּת׃ - And Hashem said to him: Peace be with you, do not fear, you shall not die.
What does "peace be with you" mean? It would have been enough to say "you shall not die." The Malbim explains: when there is peace among the foundations of the body, it is a sign that a person is living properly and well, and when there is no peace among them, that is a danger of death. If so, "peace be with you" means that you will have a long life without any concern.
The explanation is simple: the body functions in harmony, and only in this way is it able to operate. If each of the body's organs were selfish, a person would long since have died. The heart would work only for itself, the lungs only for themselves, and so on. Who would circulate blood to the whole body? Who would supply oxygen to the whole body? And if the hands worked only for themselves, and the mouth ate and nourished only itself, how would a person survive? We survive by virtue of the peace among all the foundations of the body, all of them working in harmony. And when there is a lack of harmony, a state of disintegration begins. The moment the soul leaves the body, disintegration begins throughout the body: the heart no longer works and no longer gives strength onward, the lungs no longer supply oxygen, and gradually the body reaches complete disintegration, decay, and breaks apart into its components.
Therefore, in saying "peace be with you," He informs him: death will not be yours. Death is separation, and for you there is no separation but peace among the foundations of the body. This is also what was promised to Pinchas: "Behold, I give him My covenant of peace." What did Pinchas receive? Pinchas is Eliyahu, who did not die, and where is this hinted at in the blessing? In peace. Death is the separation of the body, and when peace is promised to you, it means the body will remain whole without separation. That same covenant of peace is also the reason you saw the angel. Therefore "do not fear, you shall not die": your matter is in a state of wholeness, and that is why you were able to see an angel, for one who reaches purification and wholeness can see angels. The requested promise is that you will have neither death of the body nor death of the soul, for on the contrary, by this you have realized that your sins have been forgiven; you were able to see an angel and you still exist, and this shows that you are on a high level. As it is written, "Peace, peace to the far and to the near, says Hashem," and Chazal say that He put "to the far" first, this refers to the baal teshuva who comes from afar, so the verse speaks of a person who merits forgiveness of sins. So too here: you reached a high level of purification, and you received a blessing of peace through which you were able to see an angel, and therefore you will not die and nothing will happen to you.
וַיִּבֶן שָׁם גִּדְעוֹן מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה, וַיִּקְרָא לוֹ יְהוָה שָׁלוֹם, עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה עוֹדֶנּוּ בְּעָפְרָת אֲבִי הָעֶזְרִי׃ - And Gideon built there an altar to Hashem, and called it Hashem-is-peace; to this day it still stands in Ofrah of the Aviezrites.
After Gideon sees that the Holy One, blessed be He, performed a wonder in this place, he understands that there is holiness here, and therefore it is precisely there that he builds an altar. But the words "and called it Hashem-is-peace" are one of the verses whose reading is undecided: one can read "and Gideon called it: Hashem is peace," and one can read "and Hashem called the altar: peace." Who did the calling here, Hashem or Gideon? And what was the name of the altar, "peace" or "Hashem is peace"?
The Malbim says that according to the plain meaning it was the Holy One, blessed be He, who called it "peace." And what does this mean? The people of Gideon's city were idol worshippers, and as we will soon see, this comes to expression in a very tangible way. Gideon feared they would prevent him from building an altar to Hashem, for idol worshippers would not agree to see him building an altar to the Blessed Name. And this was a well founded fear: later we will see that he builds another altar and they demolish it for him. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, calls this altar "peace": nothing will happen to it, this altar will stand in peace, the people of the city will not demolish it. And indeed "to this day it still stands in Ofrah of the Aviezrites."
The second explanation is that it was Gideon who called the altar "Hashem is peace." There is a request and a prayer here: may Hashem grant us peace (from the expression "set the pot"). Gideon recognizes that the Holy One, blessed be He, is peace, that peace is His. The name Havayah is the name that threads through and connects all the worlds together, from above, from the Infinite One, blessed be He, and from the thin line that the Infinite emanated, down to below, all encompassed by the name Havayah. As it is written, "He makes peace in His heights," and He is called the King to whom peace belongs, and Chazal say that He Himself, His very name, is called peace. It is also known that the halacha states one may not mention the word "peace" (shalom) in a bathhouse, and there is a discussion about what the law is when it is a proper name and one is calling to his friend, but ordinarily one does not mention "shalom" in a bathhouse, because "shalom" is a divine name. So Gideon, as it were, says: the Holy One, blessed be He, who makes peace in all the worlds, will make peace upon us.
וַיְהִי בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ יְהוָה: קַח אֶת פַּר הַשּׁוֹר אֲשֶׁר לְאָבִיךָ וּפַר הַשֵּׁנִי שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים, וְהָרַסְתָּ אֶת מִזְבַּח הַבַּעַל אֲשֶׁר לְאָבִיךָ וְאֶת הָאֲשֵׁרָה אֲשֶׁר עָלָיו תִּכְרֹת׃ - And it came to pass that same night, that Hashem said to him: Take your father's young bull, and the second bull of seven years, and tear down the altar of the Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it.
Let us notice something puzzling: regarding the first bull it says only "take," and it does not say what to do with it. But regarding the second bull, which they raised for seven years, there is an explicit command to bring it up as a burnt offering.
The Malbim explains: Gideon built the altar by day, and did not offer a sacrifice upon it, out of fear of the men of the city. They were all idol worshippers, and they would not tolerate seeing him offer sacrifices. Therefore he decided to leave the offering for the night, when the men of the city would be asleep, as it says later, "וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרֵא... מֵעֲשׂוֹת יוֹמָם וַיַּעַשׂ לָיְלָה" ("And it came to pass, because he feared... to do it by day, that he did it by night"). But he had a doubt: what should he offer? A ram, a sheep, or a kid? To this came the answer: "take your father's young bull" - period. Here the answer ends. Your father's private bull is what you shall offer. And from here on begins an entirely new command.
The second bull, says the Malbim, did not belong to the father but to the men of the city, a bull that had already been fattened for seven years for idol worship, and further on we will see confirmation of this. Both the Ralbag and the Malbim point out that "seven years" recalls the seven years at the beginning of the chapter, during which Midian ruled over Israel, and this is not coincidental. The Ralbag says: the seven years teach that already from the beginning of Midian's rule over us they began to worship idols. This bull was not something ordinary that was turned into an object of idol worship; rather, from the outset it was designated for idol worship. And therefore it says "פר השור" (the young bull of the ox) - a bull that comes from the ox, meaning a second generation, and since it is a second generation this proves that it was prepared for idol worship from the start, designated for offering to idols from the womb.
The Rama of Fano, in his work "Gilgulei Neshamot," letter pei, explains the matter of Gideon's bull. He too wonders: if it says "bull" (par), why "ox" (shor), and if "ox," why "bull"? And what is the meaning of the definite article in "פר הַשּׁוֹר אשר לאביך" (your father's bull of the ox)? And above all: further on we will see that several transgressions according to the rules of halacha were committed here, and all by the instruction of a sage. What is the reason that the Holy One, blessed be He, commands such a thing?
The Rama of Fano says something wonderful: Gideon came from the tribe of Menashe. Menashe was the firstborn of Yosef, and Yosef married Osnat, the daughter of Shechem son of Chamor, who was born of Dinah, and Potiphera raised her and gave her to Yosef as a wife. It turns out that if we wish to know who Menashe's grandfather was, the answer is Shechem son of Chamor. It is not pleasant to say, and in matchmaking one does not publicize that name, but rather says that he is a great-great-grandson of Yosef HaTzaddik; yet one could also consider him a great-great-grandson of Shechem son of Chamor. And what needed to be done? To rectify him. And how is he rectified? Through his descendants. Gideon, who comes from Menashe, who in essence comes from Shechem son of Chamor, has the task of rectifying him. And how? Shechem son of Chamor was reincarnated in the ox, and now Gideon takes this ox and offers it, even in matters that go beyond the bounds of halacha, because there is a purpose and a lofty aim here: to rectify Shechem son of Chamor.
And according to this, Gideon's words become clear: "הִנֵּה אַלְפִּי הַדַּל בִּמְנַשֶּׁה וְאָנֹכִי הַצָּעִיר בְּבֵית אָבִי" ("Behold, my family is the poorest in Menashe, and I am the youngest in my father's house"). "Alpi" is from the expression "shegar alafecha" (the offspring of your cattle), which can also mean a donkey, and he asks, as it were: how did a donkey turn into an ox? For I come from Yosef, of whom it is said "the firstborn of his ox is his glory," so how is it that suddenly I must rectify a donkey? The ox is connected to the sacrifice, "and I am the youngest in my father's house," and I must rectify my whole family. And therefore it specifically says "פר הַשּׁוֹר" with the definite article, to tell you that the donkey was here transformed into an ox so that it could be rectified and brought to its rectification.
וּבָנִיתָ מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ עַל רֹאשׁ הַמָּעוֹז הַזֶּה בַּמַּעֲרָכָה, וְלָקַחְתָּ אֶת הַפָּר הַשֵּׁנִי וְהַעֲלִיתָ עוֹלָה בַּעֲצֵי הָאֲשֵׁרָה אֲשֶׁר תִּכְרֹת׃ - And build an altar to Hashem your God on top of this stronghold, in the ordered arrangement, and take the second bull and offer it up as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.
From what shall he build the altar? From the stones of the altar of the Baal that he is tearing down. Notice the wording: "and tear down" (veharasta), and not "and demolish" (venitzta), and we will soon understand the reason for the emphasis. He takes the stones of the altar that he tears down, and from them he builds an altar to Hashem.
And what does "on top of this stronghold, in the ordered arrangement" mean? For "ma'aracha" is the wood that is arranged on top of the altar, "and arrange the wood," so how does one build an altar on the ma'aracha? The Malbim explains: here there was already a first altar, which Gideon had built earlier and upon which he offered the first bull. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: now dismantle the altar of idol worship that they built for their own use, and build a new altar on top of the first altar. The first altar is the stronghold, it is the strong one, and upon it you shall build the second altar. And the second bull you shall bring up as a burnt offering. And from where shall the wood come? From the Asherah, which is a tree that was designated for idol worship: cut it down and from it prepare wood to offer a sacrifice to Hashem.
All of this to teach: do not rely on your asherah, do not rely on your altar, do not rely on your ox. All of them must be offered to Hashem. Salvation will not come from all this nonsense, but specifically from Hashem. He took all of these in order to show that there is no substance in idol worship.
Notice how important this message was, that it came at the expense of several very severe halachic problems, of the kind that Chazal define as a "temporary directive" (hora'at sha'ah). First, who permitted taking wood of the asherah and using it for the altar, wood that had been designated for idol worship? Second, who permitted taking an ox that had been fattened and designated for idol worship and offering it to Hashem? Third, Gideon was from the tribe of Menashe and not a kohen, so who permitted him to bring an offering? Fourth, he offered it outside the Mishkan, which is shechutei chutz. And fifth, who permitted offering a sacrifice at night? At night there are no offerings at all, only the fats burned on the altar, and in the Beit HaMikdash the afternoon offering is the completion, upon which all offerings are completed, and in the morning they begin anew. All these matters were a temporary directive from Hashem, and Gideon acted according to a command, but ordinarily you should know that these things are forbidden. And according to the Malbim, the message was so important: to know that all of the Baal and all of the asherah are worthless, that there is nothing but Hashem alone, and then you will see how salvation comes from Him.
וַיִּקַּח גִּדְעוֹן עֲשָׂרָה אֲנָשִׁים מֵעֲבָדָיו וַיַּעַשׂ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלָיו יְהוָה, וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרֵא אֶת בֵּית אָבִיו וְאֶת אַנְשֵׁי הָעִיר מֵעֲשׂוֹת יוֹמָם וַיַּעַשׂ לָיְלָה׃ - So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as Hashem had spoken to him, and it was, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, that he did it by night.
Gideon feared even his father's household, for his father was the one who fattened the bull for idol worship. With whom did they deposit the bull, with whom did they know it was in good hands? With Gideon's father. And it is astonishing to see the paradox: Gideon says "last night my father recited the Hallel to me." The father had no problem reciting the Hallel to his son and telling him of the awesome deeds of Hashem who took us out of Egypt, and at that very same time he has a bull for idol worship that he has been fattening for seven years. Such duality, living in inner contradiction, and it did not trouble them. Later we will see the kindnesses of Hashem, that Gideon's father, who had good roots, quickly grasped the matter and turned toward the Master of the Universe like Gideon, but the rest of the people were apparently more entrenched in idol worship and remained attached to it afterward as well, as will become clear later on.
And why did he take ten men? The Ralbag gives one reason: sanctification of Hashem's name is done in public, and public (parhesia) means ten, as we say "he desecrated Shabbat in public," before ten of Israel. Gideon wants to make a sanctification of Hashem's name here, and therefore brings ten men, so that there be the framework of a sanctification of Hashem's name. And the Malbim adds another reason: he had to offer the first bull on the first altar, and afterward build an altar on the arrangement, and all this is much labor that would take time, and the concern was that the work would extend until morning. From the outset the command was to do it at night, but this is so much work that he might finish only by noon. Therefore he took ten men to help him, so that he would finish before dawn broke.
וַיַּשְׁכִּימוּ אַנְשֵׁי הָעִיר בַּבֹּקֶר וְהִנֵּה נֻתַּץ מִזְבַּח הַבַּעַל, וְהָאֲשֵׁרָה אֲשֶׁר עָלָיו כֹּרָתָה, וְאֵת הַפָּר הַשֵּׁנִי הֹעֲלָה עַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ הַבָּנוּי׃ - The men of the city rose early in the morning, and behold, the altar of the Baal was shattered, and the asherah that was upon it was cut down, and the second bull was offered up on the altar that had been built.
Here the Radak has a different explanation regarding the first bull. The Radak asks: we do not find that Gideon did anything with the first bull, so why did Hashem command him to take it? And he does not explain like the Malbim that the first bull was offered on the first altar, but rather that the purpose was to take it away from them. Since the bull had been designated to be offered to idol worship, he took it from them so that they would not offer it, and the offering was with the second bull that had been raised for seven years.
And the Malbim asks: why is it written here "shattered" (nutatz), whereas Gideon was commanded "you shall demolish" (veharasta) and indeed demolished rather than shattered? He explains that there is a difference: "to demolish" is to dismantle the structure, like a person who takes apart a brick house block by block and sets them aside, and the next day builds from them something new or even that same house. But "to shatter" means to crumble into fragments, to take a hammer and break into pieces. The men of the city came and saw that fragments remained of their altar, fragments of mortar and whatever was left, and they understood that surely it had been shattered. They did not know that Gideon had not shattered it but demolished it, in order to use the stones to build the second altar that Hashem had commanded him. And regarding their error it is written "and behold, the altar of the Baal was shattered": that is what they were certain of, but in fact Gideon had only demolished it.
And regarding the words "and the second bull was offered up," the Malbim explains that "ve'et" here is like "ve'im" (and with), as in "Yaakov came, each man and his household," which means with Yaakov. That is, the asherah that was upon it was cut down, and with the second bull the asherah and the bull were offered up upon the altar that had been built.
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אַנְשֵׁי הָעִיר אֶל יוֹאָשׁ: הוֹצֵא אֶת בִּנְךָ וְיָמֹת, כִּי נָתַץ אֶת מִזְבַּח הַבַּעַל וְכִי כָרַת הָאֲשֵׁרָה אֲשֶׁר עָלָיו׃ וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹאָשׁ לְכֹל אֲשֶׁר עָמְדוּ עָלָיו: הַאַתֶּם תְּרִיבוּן לַבַּעַל, אִם אַתֶּם תּוֹשִׁיעוּן אוֹתוֹ? אֲשֶׁר יָרִיב לוֹ יוּמַת עַד הַבֹּקֶר, אִם אֱלֹהִים הוּא יָרֶב לוֹ כִּי נָתַץ אֶת מִזְבְּחוֹ׃ - The men of the city said to Yoash: Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah that was beside it. And Yoash said to all who stood against him: Would you contend for Baal, or would you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.
They rise in the morning, see the surprise, and immediately flare up: who did this? They investigate and inquire, and discover it was Gideon son of Yoash. Bring him out and we will kill him, for he tore down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah. And Yoash's reply is full of doublings: "contend" and "save," "put to death by morning" and "if he is a god let him contend for himself." What is he actually saying to them?
The Malbim explains: Yoash argues on both sides of the possibility. If you think Baal has the power to avenge his own honor, only that he does not want to get involved in quarrels, that this Baal is a man of peace who does not love wars, to this Yoash says: "Would you contend for Baal?" One who does not want to quarrel, would you make a quarrel on his behalf? He has no interest in quarrels, so why are you fighting for him? And on the other hand, this is an utterly false claim, and about that Yoash says "if he is a god, let him contend for himself": are you a god? How can you stay silent when your altar is torn down? Is there such a thing as "he does not want to quarrel"? Someone tears down your altar and you sit quietly?
And if you say that he does want to contend but cannot, and we are the agents who carry it out for him, to this Yoash says: "Would you save him?" For he cannot save himself. They came and destroyed his altar, took from him, dismantled it, and he is unable to save himself, and you will save him? Moreover: "whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning." If he really could contend with whoever harmed him, let him rise and do something, and by now, by morning, the one who tore down his altar, took the ox, and cut down the Asherah should already have died. If he had any power, Gideon would surely not be alive now. So do you not understand that this god is no god at all? He has no power and no substance in him.
וַיִּקְרָא לוֹ בַיּוֹם הַהוּא יְרֻבַּעַל לֵאמֹר: יָרֶב בּוֹ הַבַּעַל כִּי נָתַץ אֶת מִזְבְּחוֹ׃ - And on that day he called him Yeruba'al, saying: Let Baal contend with him, because he has torn down his altar.
So that everyone would know that Baal is nothingness, Yoash calls his son "Yeruba'al," meaning: let Baal contend with him. And where is Baal? Let him come and contend with him, let him come and strike Gideon. He tore down your altar, why are you silent? Rather, from this you see that Baal is nothingness. We will also see this name later on, when the text wishes to say that the Holy One, blessed be He, sent salvation, it says "and He sent... Yeruba'al and Bedan" - Yeruba'al is Gideon, and Bedan is Shimshon, as we will see later. These names are additional appellations for those same people.
And here we have reached the very purpose for which the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded this whole course of action: to sever them from idolatry. And once they detached themselves from idolatry, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: now I can grant salvation, now I am ready to grant salvation. What was needed? That everyone come and argue and see that there is no substance to Baal, "let Baal contend for himself" - and he can do nothing, and if so, it is all nothingness. At this stage the people of Israel are ready to receive Hashem's salvation.
And as we have said more than once about what is stated after all the troubles that will come before the arrival of Mashiach: "On whom do we have to lean? On our Father in Heaven." And we asked: was there previously someone else for us to lean on? Rather, the meaning is that even beforehand we had no one to lean on, but we thought there was. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: when will the redemption come? When you too reach the conclusion that "on whom do we have to lean? On our Father in Heaven." And so too here: you have reached the conclusion that Baal will not save, that he does not save even himself, and he will save me? If you have reached this conclusion, now there is room for the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself to come and save you.
וְכָל מִדְיָן וַעֲמָלֵק וּבְנֵי קֶדֶם נֶאֶסְפוּ יַחְדָּו, וַיַּעַבְרוּ וַיַּחֲנוּ בְּעֵמֶק יִזְרְעֶאל׃ וְרוּחַ יְהוָה לָבְשָׁה אֶת גִּדְעוֹן וַיִּתְקַע בַּשּׁוֹפָר וַיִּזָּעֵק אֲבִיעֶזֶר אַחֲרָיו׃ - And all Midian and Amalek and the people of the East gathered together, and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Yizre'el. And the spirit of Hashem clothed Gideon, and he blew the shofar, and Aviezer was rallied behind him.
Midyan, Amalek, and the people of the east gather together and encamp in the valley of Yizreel, preparing for war against Israel. "And the spirit of Hashem clothed Gideon," says the Malbim, meaning a spirit of might. As the Rambam writes in the Guide for the Perplexed, the first level of prophecy is that a spirit of might from Hashem, the spirit of God, rests upon a person in order to save the entire nation. This is the spirit that clothes Gideon, and he blows the shofar, the blast expressing the gathering and assembling of the people. "And Aviezer was called out after him" - these are his family and the people of his city, who hear first and come first.
וּמַלְאָכִים שָׁלַח בְּכָל מְנַשֶּׁה וַיִּזָּעֵק גַּם הוּא אַחֲרָיו, וּמַלְאָכִים שָׁלַח בְּאָשֵׁר וּבִזְבֻלוּן וּבְנַפְתָּלִי וַיַּעֲלוּ לִקְרָאתָם׃ - And he sent messengers throughout all of Menashe, and they too were called out after him, and he sent messengers to Asher, to Zevulun, and to Naftali, and they came up to meet them.
"Menashe" means the entire tribe of Menashe, and afterward he sends messengers to all the places, that they should come and go up to fight against Midyan.
וַיֹּאמֶר גִּדְעוֹן אֶל הָאֱלֹהִים: אִם יֶשְׁךָ מוֹשִׁיעַ בְּיָדִי אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ׃ הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי מַצִּיג אֶת גִּזַּת הַצֶּמֶר בַּגֹּרֶן, אִם טַל יִהְיֶה עַל הַגִּזָּה לְבַדָּהּ וְעַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ חֹרֶב, וְיָדַעְתִּי כִּי תוֹשִׁיעַ בְּיָדִי אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ׃ - And Gideon said to God: If You will save Israel by my hand as You have spoken, behold, I am placing the fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there will be dew on the fleece alone and dryness on all the ground, then I will know that You will save Israel by my hand as You have spoken.
וַיְהִי כֵן, וַיַּשְׁכֵּם מִמָּחֳרָת וַיָּזַר אֶת הַגִּזָּה, וַיִּמֶץ טַל מִן הַגִּזָּה מְלוֹא הַסֵּפֶל מָיִם׃ - And it was so; he rose early the next day and wrung out the fleece, and squeezed dew from the fleece, a bowlful of water.
On the simple level: Gideon wants a sign that Hashem will be with him, and so he places a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If dew falls on the fleece alone and not on the ground, this is a sign that something not in the way of nature has happened here, and from this he will understand that Hashem is with him. In the morning "he wrung out the fleece," meaning he squeezes it, and extracts from it a full bowl of water. The test succeeded.
וַיֹּאמֶר גִּדְעוֹן אֶל הָאֱלֹהִים: אַל יִחַר אַפְּךָ בִּי וַאֲדַבְּרָה אַךְ הַפָּעַם, אֲנַסֶּה נָּא רַק הַפַּעַם בַּגִּזָּה, יְהִי נָא חֹרֶב אֶל הַגִּזָּה לְבַדָּהּ וְעַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ יִהְיֶה טָּל׃ - And Gideon said to God: Let not Your anger burn against me, and let me speak just this once; let me test, please, just this once with the fleece: let there be dryness on the fleece alone, and on all the ground let there be dew.
וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים כֵּן בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא, וַיְהִי חֹרֶב אֶל הַגִּזָּה לְבַדָּהּ וְעַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ הָיָה טָל׃ - And God did so that night; there was dryness on the fleece alone, and on all the ground there was dew.
This time he asks for the opposite: that the fleece be dry and all the ground wet. Here we must first raise a question: it is written "You shall not test Hashem," so how does Gideon test Hashem? Let us bring the words of Rav Saadia Gaon in his work "Emunot VeDeot," appendix, chapter two, which addresses the very matter of testing. He asks about the verse "and test Me now in this," for the Torah says to test Hashem as to whether He will grant you abundance in the merit of tithes, and how does this settle with "do not test." He answers that testing can take two forms. The first form: to test the ability of the Creator, whether or not He is capable of the matter. "I want to see whether Hashem is able or not able" - and this is what is forbidden, as it says in Tehillim, "and they tested God in their heart, can God set a table in the wilderness." To subject the Holy One, blessed be He, to tests and examinations is a lack of faith, it is heresy.
The second form: a person examining his standing before the Creator. How do I stand before the Master of the world? What is my situation before the Holy One, blessed be He, do I have special merit with Him or not? When he acknowledges that Hashem is able to do that act, and only asks whether he himself is worthy of it, this is permitted. You are not examining Hashem's abilities but your own condition. And so it was with Gideon: "If You will save Israel by my hand" - am I suitable? Am I sufficiently upright and righteous that You will save through me? "Let me test, please, this once with the fleece" - and the test is not to examine Hashem but my standing before Hashem. And about this it is said, "and test Me now in this."
Now let us delve deeper: what was the first test, and why was it insufficient? The Malbim explains: Gideon saw that this generation was not worthy of salvation, for they were idol worshipers. And even though the people of his own city, after the entire episode of the altar, had already abandoned the Baal, the people of his city are not all of Israel. The rest of the tribes were still worshiping idols, and as we will see later in the process of sifting, how many knees bowed to the Baal, meaning it was a very large number of people. If so, there are no merits for this war. Gideon said: if the Holy One, blessed be He, is sending me to fight and to succeed, this must be on account of my own merit, and therefore I want to check what my standing is before the Holy One, blessed be He. How does my account stand with Him, in the minus or in the plus? Is my small merit enough to save Israel, since the people of Israel have no merits?
And why did he ask for two signs? The Malbim explains: at first he thought that dew settles more on the ground, since the ground is cold, and moisture accumulates more on something cold. You take a frozen bottle out of the freezer, and after a few minutes there is a puddle beside it. The ground cools at night, and surely there would be dew on it. "I do not want to check whether there will be dew on the ground, but whether there will be dew on the fleece," for the fleece is warm by nature and is not a cold thing, and if there is dew on it, this is a sign and a wonder that the matter is not natural.
Therefore in the first sign it says "and he wrung out the fleece": the main wonder was that the dew did not evaporate but remained in the fleece until the morning. True, says the Malbim, the fleece is supposed to receive dew, for if dew falls on the whole earth it falls on it too, but why should it remain? By morning it should have evaporated. And behold he rises in the morning and manages to wring out a full bowl of water, and this is truly a sign and a wonder. And in the second wonder he asks for the opposite: that the fleece be dry and the ground wet, for the main wonder there is that the fleece did not draw any dew to it at all, that from the start there was dryness on it, which is impossible, for when dew falls on the whole earth how would the fleece remain dry from the outset? This is a sign that is above the way of nature.
What is the inner meaning of the request? The Malbim says: "dew" signifies abundance, as in "I will be as dew to Israel," "for my head is filled with dew." Gideon wants to know if he is worthy of the descent of dew, whether he is the worthy and fitting person on whose account abundance would come down. And therefore he presents the fleece specifically on the threshing floor: there the angel appeared to him, and there the angel had already found merit for him, that he honored his father and mother and argued in defense of Israel, and the whole episode began from the threshing floor. Therefore he says: I present the fleece on the threshing floor, to see if this merit is enough, whether dew would fall on this fleece, whether there is room here for the flow of spiritual abundance. "If there be dew on the fleece alone, and upon all the ground dryness" - all the ground is the people of Israel, who are dry and parched and have no merits and have no dew, and the only one who has dew and merits is I.
And the Sages note precisely: notice that when the matter is fulfilled, the verse does not mention that his request was fulfilled in full. His request was dryness on the ground and dew in the fleece, and when it says that it was fulfilled, only that there was much dew in the fleece is mentioned, and no dryness on the ground is mentioned, meaning there was both this and that. If so, where is the sign and the wonder? The Malbim explains according to the Sages: there is a covenant made with dew that it is never held back, and therefore the request that the ground be dry was not fulfilled. And the wonder was that he wrung out a bowl of water from the fleece, an enormous quantity that is not natural and not logical.
And the Malbim adds: the Holy One, blessed be He, promised Gideon two things. The one, that He would save Israel through him. The second, that He would save through him alone. For it was possible through him with a large multitude, but Hashem tells him that the salvation would be through him alone, with a small group, and this is a miracle above nature. To fight in this way with a small group is not logical, for the Midianites were a mighty and enormous multitude, as we will see later, and there must be here a miracle that departs entirely from the way of nature, and we will see just how astoundingly the miracle departed from the way of nature. Therefore the first sign was to know that Hashem would save the people through him, and the second sign was to know that it would be with few men and by way of a miracle above nature.
The Malbim notes further: the language of "trial" does not appear in the first request. There it says "behold, I set the fleece of wool," and there is no "let me test." Only in the second request does it say "let me test, please." What is the difference? There is a difference between a trial and an examination. A trial means to check whether the person being tried is worthy of standing at a higher level, as in "and God tested Abraham" - can you withstand higher temperatures, even in a very difficult trial. And therefore "nisayon" (trial) is from the word "nes" (banner), which is something high, like a pole on which a flag is hung, "raise a banner toward Zion." A trial means: let us check whether you can reach a higher level. And this is exactly what Gideon asks: "let me test" - I want to see whether I am meant to be raised upon a banner, to a higher level.
And the Malbim notes further: "and God did so that night" - the name Elokim is not mentioned in the first wonder, there it only says that he rose in the morning and found the fleece full of dew. And here the name Elokim is mentioned, since the second wonder was the finger of God, something entirely unnatural. That the fleece be completely dry at a time when dew is never held back, and on the contrary the fleece is supposed to absorb water, how is this possible? And from this Gideon understood that Hashem would perform for him a miracle above nature.
And the Malbim adds that there is here also a hint to the character of the miracle. In the first wonder the dew is only on the fleece, to symbolize that the people have no merits, that they, as it were, would do nothing and only I do. And in the second wonder there is dryness on the fleece and dew on all the ground, meaning they would do and I would not. And so it indeed came to pass in practice: at first Gideon defeated the camp of Midian alone, dew only on the fleece, and afterward "and all the men of Israel cried out and pursued," and in the end they were victorious without him, the conclusion of the victory was through them, all the ground dew and the fleece dry. So the parable was ultimately fulfilled one hundred percent.
It is worth mentioning the approach of the Rambam, even though it is not widely accepted, and this is his method in explaining many verses. The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, part 2, chapter 42, says that the entire test Gideon performed with the fleece took place in a dream, in a prophetic vision as he spoke with Hashem, and that he did not actually get up and examine it in practice. He explains other matters in the Torah this way as well, such as the angels who came to visit Avraham, who according to him were not actual angels but rather the whole event occurred in a dream. But as noted, this is a very unaccepted view in the interpretation of the verses, and I have already elaborated on this in my work "BeMishnat HaChalomot," and whoever wishes may study it there.
Before concluding the chapter, let us mention one more thing that the Rama MiPano writes in "Gilgulei Neshamot," letter dalet. He brings a Gemara in Taanit, page 9b, about Rav Daniel bar Ketina, who had a garden, and every day he would go and tour it and check what was lacking and what was needed. He would stand and say: this bed needs water, and this bed does not need it, it already has enough water. And the Gemara says that it happened according to his declaration: over the place about which he said it needed water, rain would fall, and over the bed about which he said it did not need any, none fell. This is part of the secret of what is written in Zechariah, "שאלו מה' מטר בעת מלקוש, ה' עושה חזיזים ומטר גשם ייתן להם לאיש עשב בשדה" - "Ask rain of Hashem at the time of the latter rain, Hashem makes thunderclouds and gives them showers of rain, to each man grass in the field," and "חלקה אחת תמטר" - "one portion would be rained upon," meaning that on one portion there would be rain and on another portion there would not.
And who was that Rav Daniel bar Ketina? The reincarnation of the soul of Gideon son of Yoash. And here Gideon asks for dryness upon the fleece, and afterward dew upon the fleece alone, and just as with the first act so with the last: just as he declares, here rain falls and here it does not, exactly as he requested regarding the fleece, so precisely was it fulfilled regarding his field.
The entire chapter is the preparation of the vessels for salvation. Gideon builds an altar to "Hashem Shalom," receives at night the command to take his father's bull and destroy the altar of the Baal, to build an altar to Hashem from its stones, and to offer up the bull that had been fattened seven years for idolatry upon the wood of the Asherah. All of this included several prohibitions that were a temporary directive, because the message was critical: all of the Baal and the Asherah are vanity, and there is no salvation except from Hashem alone. The Rama MiPano teaches that a hidden rectification was also accomplished here, the rectification of Shechem son of Chamor, from whom Gideon descended through Menasheh. And when the men of the city rise up and demand his life, his father Yoash sets them straight upon the truth: a god who is unable to fight his own battle and cannot save himself is no god at all. And once they reached the conclusion that one must rely on nothing but our Father in Heaven, salvation could now be granted. Then the spirit of Hashem clothes Gideon, he sounds the shofar and gathers the tribes, and he asks for two signs with the fleece, not in order to test the ability of the Creator but in order to test his own standing before the Creator, as Rav Saadia Gaon says: is his merit alone sufficient to save a generation that has no merits, and will the salvation come by way of a miracle with few men. And the two signs also allude to the character of the future miracle: the beginning with him alone, and the conclusion at the hands of all Israel.