Episode 431 - Request a visit from the angel of the Lord

<p>The story of Gideon</p> <p><a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/judges/6?11">Jgs 6:11-24a</a></p> <p>The angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth in Ophrah<br> that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite.<br> While his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press<br> to save it from the Midianites,<br> the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said,<br> “The LORD is with you, O champion!”<br> Gideon said to him, “My Lord, if the LORD is with us,<br> why has all this happened to us?<br> Where are his wondrous deeds of which our fathers<br> told us when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’<br> For now the LORD has abandoned us<br> and has delivered us into the power of Midian.”<br> The LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have<br> and save Israel from the power of Midian.<br> It is I who send you.”<br> But Gideon answered him, “Please, my lord, how can I save Israel?<br> My family is the lowliest in Manasseh,<br> and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house.”<br> “I shall be with you,” the LORD said to him,<br> “and you will cut down Midian to the last man.”<br> Gideon answered him, “If I find favor with you,<br> give me a sign that you are speaking with me.<br> Do not depart from here, I pray you, until I come back to you<br> and bring out my offering and set it before you.”<br> He answered, “I will await your return.”</p> <p>So Gideon went off and prepared a kid and a measure of flour<br> in the form of unleavened cakes.<br> Putting the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot,<br> he brought them out to him under the terebinth<br> and presented them.<br> The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and unleavened cakes<br> and lay them on this rock; then pour out the broth.”<br> When he had done so,<br> the angel of the LORD stretched out the tip of the staff he held,<br> and touched the meat and unleavened cakes.<br> Thereupon a fire came up from the rock<br> that consumed the meat and unleavened cakes,<br> and the angel of the LORD disappeared from sight.