Ophrah

In the Bible

In the Old Testament, the name "Ophrah" refers to two different places and one person.

• Ophrah, Gideon's hometown: A town belonging to the Abiezrites, a clan of the tribe of Manasseh (Judges 6:11, 24). Joash, the father of Gideon, lived there.
• Ophrah of Benjamin: Joshua 18:23 lists it among the towns allotted to the tribe of Benjamin in the time of Joshua. First Samuel 13:17 records that one company of Philistine raiders "turned unto the way that leadeth to Ophrah."
• A personal name: First Chronicles 4:14 names Ophrah as a son of Meonothai, a descendant of Judah.

Setting of the Gideon Narrative

Key scenes of Judges 6–9 take place at Ophrah.

• The angel of the LORD appeared under the oak at Ophrah and called Gideon, who was threshing wheat by the winepress. Gideon built an altar there and named it "Jehovah-shalom" (the LORD is peace). The text notes that "unto this day it is yet in Ophrah" (Judges 6:11–24).
• That night Gideon tore down his father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. When the townspeople sought to kill him for this, his father Joash defended him. On this occasion Gideon received the name "Jerubbaal" ("Let Baal plead against him") (Judges 6:25–32).
• After defeating Midian, Gideon made an ephod from the gold of the spoils and placed it in Ophrah. All Israel worshiped it, and the text states that it "became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house" (Judges 8:27).
• When Gideon died, he was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah (Judges 8:32). Afterward his son Abimelech went to his father's house at Ophrah and killed his seventy brothers upon one stone. Only Jotham, the youngest, survived by hiding (Judges 9:5).

Background

The Hebrew name is ʿOphrah, commonly interpreted as related to a word meaning "fawn" or "young deer." The exact location of Gideon's Ophrah is unknown. Many place it in Manassite territory near the Jezreel Valley, but several candidate sites have been proposed, and scholars do not agree. Ophrah of Benjamin is thought to have been located northeast of Bethel. Some scholars identify it with "a city called Ephraim" in John 11:54.

Significance in Scripture

Judges portrays Ophrah as a place with two faces. On the one hand, it is where God called Gideon and where Baal worship was overthrown. On the other, it is where the worship of the ephod began and where Abimelech murdered his brothers. This contrast reflects the course of the period of the judges, summarized in the words "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). The place name Ophrah does not appear in the New Testament, though Hebrews 11:32 counts Gideon among those who lived by faith.

Interpretive Issues

• The angel of the LORD: Many Reformed and evangelical interpreters regard the angel of the LORD who appeared at Ophrah as a preincarnate appearance of Christ. Other interpreters understand the figure as an angel sent by God. The text refers alternately to the angel and to the LORD (Judges 6:12, 14).
• The nature of the ephod: Views differ on the ephod Gideon made. Some see it as modeled on the high priest's garment; others regard it as an instrument for inquiring of God's will or as an image that became an object of worship. The text does not describe its form.
• Distinguishing the two Ophrahs: Gideon's Ophrah lay in the territory of Manasseh, while the Ophrah of Joshua and 1 Samuel lay in the territory of Benjamin. The two are generally regarded as different places.