The angel of Yahweh came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
Gideon could not understand why the Israelites were suffering as they were, if Yahweh was indeed with His people (Judges 6:13; cf. Deuteronomy 31:17). He failed to realize that their condition was the result of their abandoning God, not His abandoning them.