Jehovah said to him, Peace be unto thee: fear not; thou shalt not die. And Gideon built there an altar to Jehovah, and called it Jehovah-shalom. (Judges 6:23-24)
Divine Titles (3)
JEHOVAH-SHALOM—In the times of the Judges we read of the Midianites sorely oppressing the children of Israel. When they cried in their distress to the Lord, He sent a prophet with a comforting message. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, a young man, threshing wheat by the winepress to hide it from the marauding Midianites. The Angel of the Lord, Jehovah Himself, astonished the young man by saying, “Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor” (Judg. 6:12). Forthwith He commissioned him to be the deliverer of Israel from the yoke of the Midianites. Gideon, seeing that the One that spoke with him was the Angel of the Lord, asked for a sign, which was granted.
Gideon prepared a kid of the goats and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. These he presented to the heavenly Visitor, who touched them with the point of His staff, whereupon fire rose out of the rock, consuming the flesh and the cakes, and the Angel of the Lord disappeared out of his sight. When Gideon discovered that the heavenly Visitor was the Angel of the Lord, he was in consternation. The Lord calmed his spirit, “Peace be unto thee: fear not; thou shalt not die. And Gideon built there an altar to Jehovah, and called it JEHOVAH-SHALOM [The Lord send peace]” (Judg. 6:23-24).
Can we not carry this into the New Testament, and bless God for the peace of God, which passes all understanding, garrisoning our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus? Consequently when our minds dwell on what is honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report we can count on the God of peace being with us (Phil. 4:4-9).
A. J. Pollock