The impression that Gideon is rather alienated from the Lord is strengthened by the use of God’s two names in Judges 6:34–40. In Judges 6:34, the Tetragrammaton is used: The Spirit of the Lord [Yahweh] clothed Gideon. But in Judges 6:36–40, Gideon appeals to Elohim (the Hebrew word for God). The narrator apparently recognizes the incongruity of the situation by deliberately referring to God by the generic designation Elohim rather than his personal covenant name Yahweh. Apparently Gideon has difficulty distinguishing between Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, and God in a general sense.¹