6:12–13. The idiom rāʾâ (Niphal) ʾel (someone) occurs frequently in Scripture, overwhelmingly about sudden appearances of God or angels (exceptions at Gen 46:29 and Lev 13:19). The lore about such supernatural beings is that they can choose when to be seen by mortals.17 We recall the story of Balaam who had a donkey with better sense for angels than did this particular prophet (Num 22). How long the angel sat under his tree watching Gideon as he threshed wheat in a winepress is not told