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.
The strength of Gideon to which the Angel referred (Judges 6:14) was what God’s promised presence and commission guaranteed (Judges 6:14; Judges 6:16). Gideon did not disbelieve the Angel as much as he failed to understand how he could be God’s instrument of deliverance. He was the youngest and therefore the least esteemed in his father’s household. Furthermore his family was a comparatively insignificant one in Manasseh (Judges 6:15). Gideon was looking for natural signs of leadership, but God was promising supernatural enablement.