Judges 6:15, commentary and pictures

This verse belongs to the account of God raising up a helper to deliver Israel from Midian after apostasy and oppression, as part of Israel's repeated cycle of backsliding, chastisement, confession, and rescue. Its setting is when Israel did evil and was delivered into the hand of Midian for seven years, with the Amalekites and the desert peoples joining in ravaging the land from Jordan to the Philistine plain, stripping harvests and forcing Israel into walled towns and caves. This continued until the people heeded reproof, confessed their sins, and God raised up a helper for them.

Gideon was from a division of Manasseh that held no leading position, though the household of Joash was known for courage and integrity, and he was called to deliver Israel from Midian. He was taken from humble work threshing wheat at the threshing floor to become God's instrument for delivering Israel. In the verse he answers the call to save Israel by stressing his lack of standing and ability, that his clan is poor and insignificant in Manasseh and he is the least in his father's house.

By asking how he could save Israel he expresses his sense of personal unfitness as an unlikely deliverer. His low position and sense of insufficiency did not prevent God from choosing him, for God saw his integrity and courage and moral courage, his distrust of self, and his willingness to listen, obey, and follow divine guidance. The verse shows that God's work does not depend on human rank, intellect, or influence, and that He can use humble and apparently weak people to accomplish His purposes. It shows that God can use humble people who distrust their own strength and rely on Him, joining their weakness to His might and their lack of wisdom to His wisdom.