Judges 7
7
1And Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, arose early, and all the people that were with him, and they encamped beside the spring Harod; and he had the camp of Midian on the north by the hill of Moreh in the valley. 2And Jehovah said to Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give Midian into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3And now proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is timid and afraid, let him go back and turn from mount Gilead. And there went back of the people twenty-two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 4And Jehovah said to Gideon, Still the people are many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for thee there, and it shall be, that of whom I shall say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I shall say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 5And he brought down the people to the water; and Jehovah said to Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down on his knees to drink. 6And the number of them that lapped, with their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men; and all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water. 7And Jehovah said to Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and give Midian into thy hand; and let all the people go every man to his place. 8And they took the victuals of the people in their hand, and their trumpets; and all the men of Israel he sent away, every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
9And it came to pass in that night, that Jehovah said to him, Arise, go down to the camp; for I have given it into thy hand. 10And if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the camp; 11and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterwards shall thy hand be strengthened, and thou shalt go down unto the camp. And he went down with Phurah his servant to the outside of the armed men that were in the camp. 12And Midian and Amalek and all the children of the east lay along in the valley as locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand upon the sea-shore for multitude. 13And Gideon came, and behold, a man was telling a dream to his fellow; and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley-bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it; and the tent lay along. 14And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, the man of Israel: God#GodHebrew: Elohim hath given into his hand Midian and all the host. 15And it came to pass when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshipped. And he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, Arise; for Jehovah hath given into your hand the camp of Midian.
16And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, and empty pitchers, and torches within the pitchers. 17And he said to them, Look on me, and do likewise; behold, when I come to the extremity of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. 18And when I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, ye also shall blow the trumpets around the whole camp, and shall say, For Jehovah and for Gideon! 19And Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came to the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch; and they blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. 20And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hand, and the trumpets in their right hand for blowing, and cried, The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon! 21And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried out, and fled. 22And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and Jehovah set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout the camp. And the host fled to Beth-shittah towards Zererah, to the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
23And the men of Israel were called together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian. 24And Gideon sent messengers throughout mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian, and take before them the waters unto Beth-barah, and the Jordan. And all the men of Ephraim were called together, and took the waters unto Beth-barah, and the Jordan. 25And they took two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb; and they pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.
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Judges 7: DARBY
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Judges 7
7
Gideon’s Shrinking Army
1Now, the Baal-Fighter (that is, Gideon) and his men rose early # 7:1 Or, if the Hebrew verb tsaphar was taken from a similar Arabic verb, one could translate it “they ran quickly.” and encamped by the Spring of Trembling. # 7:1 Or, in Hebrew, En-Harod, which means “spring of trembling.” It is identified as modern Ain Jalut. Ain Jalut means “the spring of Goliath.” From this vantage point, Gideon’s men could see the vast tents of the Midianite army. “Trembling Spring” speaks of the vulnerability of Gideon’s army before a superior fighting force. God will meet us in our place of trembling. The Midianites had encamped in the valley to the north, below Moreh. # 7:1 Moreh means “teacher.” God was indeed the teacher who taught Gideon to trust in him and who taught the Midianites that Yahweh is the true God. See John 14:26; 1 John 2:27. 2Yahweh spoke to Gideon: “You have too many in your army. If I give them victory over the Midianites, they might claim credit for themselves at my expense, thinking that they had won the victory on their own. # 7:2 See Ps. 115:1; Isa. 42:8. 3Announce to your men, ‘All who are trembling and afraid, hurry back home and leave Mount Gilead!’ ” # 7:3 Gideon likely struggled with fear. Gideon was in effect saying to the Israelites, “All of you with my problem, go home!” Fear neutralizes the power of God and causes us to focus on ourselves and our weakness. See Deut. 20:1–4, 8; 1 Sam. 14:6; 2 Cor. 3:5; 2 Tim. 1:7. So twenty-two thousand went back home, and only ten thousand stayed with Gideon.
4Then Yahweh spoke to Gideon again, “You still have too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will test them # 7:4 Or “purify them.” See John 15:3; Eph. 5:25–27. The Hebrew verb implies removing dross from a precious metal. God applied two tests to Gideon’s men. One was a test of their courage, and the other was a test of how they drank from the spring. Both tests revealed the qualities God is looking for in those he uses. We must be brave, and we must drink deeply from the “spring” of God’s grace. Also, with these two “tests,” we may reflect back on Gideon’s two tests of Yahweh. Yahweh proved faithful twice, and now Gideon must prove faithful twice. for you there. If I tell you a man should go with you, he will go. If I tell you a man should not go with you, he will not go.”
5So Gideon brought the soldiers down to the water, and Yahweh said to him, “Separate those who drink from their cupped hands and drink as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” 6Of the ten thousand men, only three hundred lapped water from their cupped hands; # 7:6 That is, they would scoop the water in their cupped hands first, then drink from their hands instead of putting their heads down into the water. This would have been in the sight of the enemy’s camp. Those drinking from their hands (see the five-fold ministry, Eph. 4:11) showed discipline and readiness in case of a surprise attack. These three hundred alert warriors would be the ones in Gideon’s army. The Midianites numbered Midianites numbered one hundred thirty-five thousand, which meant they outnumbered Gideon four hundred fifty to one. all the others knelt to drink.
7Then Yahweh told Gideon, “I will give you victory over the Midianites with the three hundred men who cupped their hands and drank. Tell everyone else to go home.” 8So Gideon sent all the Israelites home except the three hundred, who kept the supplies and shofars of those who had left. Now the Midianites were camped down below in the valley.
9That night Yahweh commanded Gideon, “Get up and attack the camp; I am giving you victory over the Midianites! 10But if you are afraid to engage them, # 7:10 God showed compassion for Gideon because Gideon had never led an army before nor attacked a fierce foe. first go down to the camp with your servant Purah. # 7:10 Purah can be seen as a type of the Holy Spirit, who accompanies us in all our ways. Purah means “he is fruitful” or “fruitful branch.” 11Listen to what they are saying, and then you will be brave and have the courage to attack.” # 7:11 Or “your hands will be strengthened.” So Gideon and his servant Purah went down and approached the outposts of the enemy camp. 12The Midianites, the Amalekites, and the desert tribesmen were spread out in the valley like a swarm of locusts. They had as many camels as there were grains of sand on the seashore.
13As soon as Gideon arrived, he heard an enemy soldier telling a friend about a dream. He was saying, “Well, I had a dream of this huge commotion in our camp. I dreamed a round loaf of barley bread came whirling into our camp and leveled a tent. It hit the tent so hard it turned it upside down, and the tent collapsed on the ground.” # 7:13 The barley loaf symbolized Israel’s army that would invade and conquer the Midianites. The body of Christ is also that one loaf (see 1 Cor. 10:17), rolling down Mount Zion to destroy the tents of wickedness (the kingdoms of this world). See Dan. 2; 7; Rev. 11:15. Elisha multiplied twenty barley loaves to feed one hundred people with bread left over (see 2 Kings 4:42–44). Jesus multiplied five barley loaves (see John 6:9–13) and fed more than five thousand! The whirling barley loaf is a picture of Christ in us, who multiplies his life and power in believers today.
14His friend interpreted the dream and said, “Your dream symbolizes the sword of the Israelite, Gideon son of Joash! # 7:14 It is fascinating that Gideon overheard the Midianite dream interpreter speaking his name and the name of his father. Not only does God know your name, but so does the enemy, for you are a son or daughter of God! Gideon used this fear tactic when he instructed his three hundred men to shout both the name of Yahweh and the name of Gideon. It was the Lord who gave this plan to Gideon. It can’t mean anything else! God has given him victory over Midian and our whole army!” # 7:14 God gave a heathen man a dream, and he gave the interpretation to his friend. God has a thousand ways to deliver us and bring us victory.
Gideon Defeats Midian
15When Gideon heard about the man’s dream and what it meant, he fell to his knees and worshiped Yahweh. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Come on, it’s time to strike! Yahweh is giving you victory over the Midianite army!” 16He divided his three hundred men into three groups and gave each man a shofar and a clay jar hiding a torch inside it. 17He told them, “Follow me! When I get to the edge of the camp, watch me closely and do exactly what I do. 18When my group and I blow our shofars, then you blow yours all around the camp and shout, ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon!’ ”
19-20Just before midnight, # 7:19–20 Or “In the beginning of the middle watch.” This implied that the night was divided into three watches of about four hours each. The middle watch would have begun around 11:00 p.m. In the time of Jesus, the Jews apparently adopted the Roman system of four night watches. after the changing of the Midianite guard, Gideon and his hundred men came to the outskirts of the camp. Then each of the three groups blew the shofars and broke the clay jars that hid the torches inside. # 7:19–20 The shofars represent our prophetic message of power and grace to conquer. We “sound the shofar” each time we proclaim the Word of the Lord. The clay jars (pitchers) represent us. We are but clay vessels, who must be broken open so that Christ, our burning torch inside, can display his light. See 2 Cor. 4:6–12. They held their torches in their left hands, the shofars in their right, and shouted a thunderous battle cry, “A sword # 7:19–20 In effect, the “sword” was their shout and the shining torch. Without even a sword, Israel won a great victory by trusting in God’s power, not their own. Their shouting and shofars would have stampeded the camels of the Midianites and caused havoc in their camp. This is perhaps the first instance of psychological warfare in history. (See M.A. Linebarger, Phycological Warfare [New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1954].) for Yahweh and for Gideon!” 21Each man held his position surrounding the camp. And the entire enemy army was shocked awake by the thunderous noises of Gideon’s army! They all panicked and fled, yelling as they ran away!
22When they sounded their three hundred shofars, Yahweh made the enemy troops turn against each other with their own swords. The Midianites fled toward Zarerah as far as Beth Shittah, # 7:22 Beth Shittah means “house of the scourge” or “house of acacia trees.” as far as the outskirts of the town of Abel Meholah # 7:22 Abel Meholah means “meadow of the dance.” It is the birthplace of Elisha (see 1 Kings 19:16). near Tabbath.
23Gideon called to arms men from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, and both parts of Manasseh, and they rallied and pursued the Midianites. 24Then Gideon sent messengers through the entire hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Join us in the fight against the Midianites. Deny them access to the River Jordan and the streams as far as Beth Barah, and prevent them from crossing over.” The men of Ephraim came together, and they held the River Jordan and the streams as far as Beth Barah. # 7:24 Beth Barah means “house of the crossing [ford].” John baptized the people at this location (“the place of the crossing of the Jordan River,” John 1:28). 25They captured the two Midianite chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb. They executed Oreb at Oreb Rock and Zeeb at Zeeb Winepress. # 7:25 Oreb means “raven,” and Zeeb means “wolf.” The places where the Ephraimites killed the Midianite chiefs became landmarks. Oreb Rock reminds us of the rock where Gideon presented Yahweh his offering, which the fire consumed. Zeeb Winepress reminds us of where Gideon was threshing his wheat. While the Ephraimites continued to pursue the Midianites, they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now east of the Jordan.
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