The Lord talked to Hagar. Hagar began to use a new name for God. She said to him, “You are ‘God Who Sees Me.’” She said this because she thought, “I see that even in this place God sees me and cares for me!”
The next morning at dawn, the angels were trying to make Lot hurry. They said, “This city will be punished. So take your wife and your two daughters who are still with you and leave this place. Then you will not be destroyed with the city.”
Shechem was a city in the hill country of Ephraim. Jeroboam made Shechem a very strong city and lived there. Later he went to the city of Penuel [154] and made it stronger.
So the prophets took the bull that was given to them. They prepared it. They prayed to Baal [203] until noon. They prayed, “Baal, please answer us!” But there was no sound. No one answered. The prophets danced around the altar that they had built. {But the fire never started.}
I became very scared. I said, “Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure (good) enough to speak to God. And I live among people that are not pure enough to speak to God. {\cf2\super [66]} Yet I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful.”
“But, for my followers, goodness will shine on you like the rising sun. And it will bring healing power like the sun’s rays. You will be free and happy, like calves freed from their stalls. {\cf2\super [21]}
But I must not become too proud of the wonderful things that were shown to me. So a painful problem {\cf2\super [45]} was given to me. That problem is an angel from Satan (the devil). It is sent to beat me and keep me from being too proud.
But the Lord said to me, “My grace (kindness) is enough for you. When you are weak, then my power is made perfect in you.” So I am very happy to boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can live in me.
They said, ‘The Lord our God has shown us his Glory and his greatness! We heard him speak from the fire! We have seen today that it is possible for a person to continue living even after God speaks to him.
Then Gideon realized that he had been talking to the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon shouted, “Oh my Lord and Master! I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face!”
Gideon left the city of Succoth and went to the city of Penuel. Gideon asked the men of Penuel for food, just as he had asked the men of Succoth. But the men of Penuel gave Gideon the same answer that the men of Succoth had given.