And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
There came an angel of the Lord. The Vulgate renders it, the Lord (himself). He appeared in the character and equipments of a traveler (Judges 6:21), who sat down in the shade to enjoy a little refreshment and repose, and, entering into conversation on the engrossing topic of the times-the grievous oppression of the Midianites-began urging Gideon to exert his well-known prowess on behalf of his country. Gideon, in replying, addresses him at first in a style equivalent (in Hebrew) to 'sir,' but afterward gives to him the name usually applied to God.
An oak - Hebrew, the oak, as famous in after-times.
Ophrah - a city in the tribe of Manasseh, about 16 miles north of Jericho, in the district belonging to the family of Abiezer (Joshua 17:2).
His son Gideon threshed wheat by the wine-press. This incident tells emphatically the tale of public distress. The small quantity of grain he was thrashing, indicated by his using a flail instead of the customary treading of cattle-the unusual place, near a wine-press, under a tree, and on the bare ground, not a wooden floor, for the prevention of noise-all these circumstances reveal the extreme dread in which the people were living. 'So now, as the Bedouins come from beyond Jordan every year, just after the winter rains are over, when the grain is springing up, the people in Palestine do not venture to cultivate more land than they hope to be able to protect.' (Rogers' 'Domestic Life in Palestine,' p. 177).