Bible Strands
Judges 6:27
So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he did it by night rather than in the daytime.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Gideon acts on the Lord’s command delivered in the preceding verse, preparing to destroy Baal’s altar and the Asherah pole. The narrative occurs at night, immediately following the divine instruction and before the city’s morning discovery.
The words — The Hebrew וַ/יַּ֕עַשׂ (va/i.Ya.'as) translates literally as "and he did," emphasizing the execution of the command. The phrase כַּ/אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּ֥ר (ka./'a.Sher di.Ber) means "just as he had spoken," directly linking Gideon’s action to the prior divine utterance.
The thread — Obedience to divine speech appears in John 2:5, where Mary instructs servants to follow Jesus’ word, and 1 Thessalonians 2:4, which contrasts pleasing men with pleasing God who examines motives. The pattern of acting on spoken instruction also echoes Deuteronomy 4:1’s charge to follow statutes to live.
Why it lands — The text records Gideon’s compliance alongside his fear, noting he acted secretly to avoid his father’s household and the city’s men. A reader must confront the tension between immediate obedience and concealed action when facing social or familial opposition.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
Cross-references
- John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”
- 1 Thessalonians 2:4 Instead, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, not in order to please men but God, who examines our hearts.
- Deuteronomy 4:1 Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
- Psalms 112:5 It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely, whose affairs are guided by justice.
- Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
- John 3:2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.”
- John 15:14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.
- Galatians 1:16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,