Deeper Commentary
Jdg 7:1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon-
"Gideon" is the word used for the command to cut down the idols of
the land (Dt. 7:5; 12:3). It seems Gideon was named this after he cut down
the pagan grove on his family property, and his father then also called
him "Jerubbaal", 'let Baal content [for himself]'. We see here how men
came to be called by various names which reflected their life experiences.
This is why often people have a number of different names in the Hebrew
Bible.
And all the people who were with him rose up early-
There is a much repeated characteristic of God's servants: that they
'rose up early in the morning' and did God's work. In each of the
following passages, this phrase is clearly not an idiom; rather does it
have an evidently literal meaning: Abraham (Gen. 19:27; 21:14; 22:3);
Jacob (Gen. 28:18); Job (1:5); Moses (Ex. 8:20; 9:13; 24:4; 34:4); Joshua
(Josh. 3:1; 6:12; 7:16; 8:10); Gideon (Jud. 6:38; 7:1). This is quite an
impressive list, numerically. This can be a figure for being zealous (Ps.
127:2; Pr. 27:14; Song 7:12; Is. 5:11; Zeph. 3:7). God Himself rises up
early in His zeal to save and bring back His wayward people (Jer. 7:13,25;
11:7; 25:3,4; 26:5; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14,15; 44:4). Yet the above examples
all show that men literally rose up early in their service to God; this
was an expression of their zeal for God, in response to His zeal for us.
I'm not suggesting that zeal for God is reflected by rising early rather
than staying up late; but it wouldn't be too much to suggest that if we
are men of mission, we won't waste our hours in bed. Get up when you wake
up.
And encamped beside the spring of Harod-
"Harod" means trembling, and may have been named after the trembling
of Gideon and the people (:3). Constantly he is portrayed as weak in faith
and fearful, and yet not giving up and going forward in the path given to
him.
And the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of
Moreh, in the valley-
Moreh was the name of a Canaanite, so the continuing place name
reflects how it had not been conquered by the Israelites and renamed as it
should have been. We have the persistent impression of strength despite an
environment of such weakness, and this we respect about Gideon.
"Moreh" means "oracle". The vision given to the Midianites was that oracle.
Jdg 7:2 Yahweh said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many
for Me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast against
Me saying, ‘My own hand has saved me’-
In all Israel's great military victories, there was some element of
God's hand (e.g. hailstones, earthquake) to stop them thinking that their
own strength alone had saved them. And this is major theme in God's
working with us. Gideon had earlier argued that his "thousand" in Manasseh
was diminished or reduced (see on Jud. 6:15 My family is the poorest
in Manasseh =
My thousand is the most diminished). But he was to learn that
this was the kind of "strength" which he was to go against the Midianites
with. And when he does, he finds that his strength is greatly diminished
again, twice; from 32,000 to 10,000, and then from 10,000 to 300. But this
theme of diminishing his strength had begun when his "thousand" was
diminished.
This passage
is alluded to in 1 Cor.
1:26-29, where Paul
explains that for this same
reason God has chosen "not many" to bring about
His way of
salvation, through a small remnant of weak
people bringing to nothing the mighty things. This
would equate Gideon's 300 with the true believers of both natural and
spiritual Israel.
Jdg 7:3 Now therefore announce to the people, ‘Whoever is fearful and
trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead’. Twenty-two
thousand of the people returned and ten thousand remained-
This was strictly according to the law of Moses, which required
commanders to invite their fearful soldiers to leave before conflict (Dt.
20:8). "Thousand" may refer to a military unit; see on Jud. 6:15.
32,000
were reduced to 10,000, and 10,000 to 300. The proportion of reduction the
second time was far greater than the first time; about two thirds of the
men returned, i.e. about 30% remained. But then just 3% remained. And
overall, only about 1 % of the force was required by God. There would have
been thousands of troops moving away from the front, rather embarrassed to
tell the villages they passed through that they had moved away from the
front because they were fearful. To turn their backs before their enemies
was one of Israel's curses for disobedience to the covenant. So the whole
thing was set up to show them that indeed they had been disobedient to the
covenant, and God was gently punishing them for this. And
condemnation, turning backs before enemies, is in fact ultimately self
inflicted by the condemned.
"Mount Gilead" is hard to understand. There may have been a Mount Gilead on the western side of Jordan, but it is not mentioned anywhere else. "Gilead" and "Gilboa" differ by one letter in Hebrew. Perhaps Gideon was to undo Saul's defeat, and was encamped on Mount Gilboa. Or we could read maher, 'in haste', for mehar, "from the mount", giving the sense "let him return in haste to Gilead" i.e. go home.
Jdg 7:4 Yahweh said to Gideon, The people are still too many. Bring them
down to the water and I will test them for you there. Those of whom I tell
you, ‘This one shall go with you’ shall go, and those of whom I tell you,
‘This one shall not go with you’ shall remain-
"The water" was presumably the spring of Harod, meaning "trembling"
(:2,3). Those who apparently weren't trembling were to be tested as to
whether they were weak enough to be used for the great salvation God was
to achieve. Only Gideon was aware, it seems, of this basis for reducing
the people further. It was a very personal move from God to him, to yet
further reduce his trust in human strength. In the eyes of
all his commanders and men, Gideon's behaviour at this point was bizarre
and bound to lose them the battle. It says a lot for him that he went
ahead with the idea.
Jdg 7:5 So he brought down the people to the water and Yahweh said to
Gideon, Each one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, set
him by himself; likewise each one who bows down on his knees to drink-
"Laps" is yalok, the very sound a dog makes when drinking.
Only Gideon at this point knew the basis upon which he was dividing his
men. It would have taken him some time to pass by ten thousand men
[although "thousand" may mean a military subdivision rather than 1,000]
and pick out the 300 who lapped. At the time, he may have had no idea why
this was being made so significant. Quite possibly it isn't
significant, it was just a way of severing a majority of odd thinkers and
awkward, counter instinctive non-logical behavers from amongst the
majority. For this is a big theme of the story. Those who drunk in a more
natural and normal manner are described as acting like dogs. Even though
it has been well observed that "humans are in fact
physically incapable of lapping water like dogs,
in that the human tongue is not flexible enough to make the cupshaped form
necessary to raise water into the mouth". So the likeness to a dog is
pointed and is making a point, that they were acting in a crude way. By
behaving 'normally'. Perhaps bowing on the knees recalled
idol worship, and the more sensitive would not have done this.
The word is used in 1 Kings 19:18 for those who bowed the knee to
Baal. Those who
lapped were acting like despised dogs. And it is by the dogs, like 'Caleb'
[= 'dog'] who followed Yahweh faithfully [as a dog does a man], that God
would save His people. Those who acted like dogs were the ones used,
lapping like a dog laps, rather than drinking from cupped hands as men
usually do.
The difficulty is that a dog laps on all fours. The majority also knelt down but used their cupped hands to get the water. So it is problematic to assume that some refused to kneel down because of the association between kneeling and idolatry. Both categories used their hands; those who lapped still put their hands to their mouths (:6). “Lap with the tongue from the water as the dog laps” and “lap putting their hands to their mouth” appear contradictory. Dogs don't lap from their hands / paws.
One solution is to see two groups spoken of here. Those who cupped their hands and then lapped water out of their hands; and those who lapped direct from the water as a dog laps. Or it could be that the lappers lapped out of their cupped hands whilst crouching [as a dog does], but not kneeling.
The LXX offers: "Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water as the dog laps, set him apart and everyone who crouches on his knees to drink set him by himself. And it was: the total number of lappers with their tongue was 300 men and all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water". This removes the issue of “lap putting their hands to their mouth”.
We can translate "likewise" as 'even...' or 'that is to say' [same construction in Gen. 4:4; Ex. 24:12; 25:12; 1 Sam. 17:40; 28:3], so the group spoken of in :5 are one and the same- those who were not chosen. They lapped as a dog laps, bowing down on their knees to get the water into their hands but lapped the water from their hands. A two legged being has to bow down on his knees to drink. But the other group in :6, the 300 who were chosen, drunk not as a dog drinks. They drank with their hands to their mouths. Which is exactly not how a dog drinks. They did not act as if lapping like a dog. So we would translate: "Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water as the dog laps, set him apart, that is to say everyone who crouches on his knees to drink” [Those thus set apart were those rejected]. Now the number of the lappers with their hand to their mouth was 300 men, whereas all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water [as dogs lap]". So the difference was between those who used their hands, and those who used their tongues. Those who used their hands were the hands chosen to be God's hand (:7).
Jdg 7:6 The number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their
mouth, was three hundred men, but all the rest of the people got down on
their knees to drink-
Gideon's faith would have been fully stretched. Although the exact
round number, 300, would have confirmed to him that this indeed was what God
intended.
Jdg 7:7 Yahweh said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped I will
save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other
people go, each to his own place-
They were not to be kept as some kind of reserve force, they were to
be sent home. The demand for faith was total, and we are sometimes put in
similar positions, where we have only faith in God and all possibility of
human help has been removed.
135000 Midianites had faced Gideon's 300 men (Jud. 8:10). That works out at precisely 450 of the enemy for every one of Gideon's men. And it cannot be coincidence that Elijah describes himself as facing off as one man of God against 450 prophets of Baal on Carmel (1 Kings 18:22). Despite his arrogance and spiritual weakness, Elijah learned the lesson from Gideon's courageous example. This is how the Bible becomes a living word, the history is not dead but alive, because it has been carefully selected by God to show us that man is not alone, God is with us, no circumstance we face is in essence unique; others have trodden this path before.
This is why we so need each other; and we need to get to know each other and to share our stories in detail. The parts of the body of Christ are made for each other.
Jdg 7:8 So the three hundred men took food and their trumpets, and he sent
all the rest of them to their tents; and the camp of Midian was beneath
him in the valley-
We expect to read of warriors taking weapons in their hands. But
instead they take food and trumpets. Again we see how God's strategy is
totally different to human strategy. It would have been a fair test of
their faith to continue with an apparently bizarre plan which had no human
hope of success. The spiritually minded would have recalled the conquest
of Jericho with trumpets. "Their trumpets" would have been those of the
300 trumpeters amongst the 10000 men. They handed over their trumpets,
perhaps each platoon of around 33 men had a trumpeter amongst them.
Originally, perhaps the 32,000 had 300 trumpeters amongst them. And he
handed his trumpet to one of the 300.
AV: "And he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men", using the same word as in :11 for "strengthened". Perhaps Gideon strengthened their faith in the intention of God to use them to save Israel from such overwhelming odds.
Jdg 7:9 The same night Yahweh said to him, Arise, go down into the camp;
for I have delivered it into your hand-
The Israelite troops were mustered on a hill with a commanding view,
so that they would see the vast army of their enemies. And now Gideon was
told to go down to them, clinging on to his faith in those words that "I
have delivered it into your hand", maybe repeating them over and over.
Jdg 7:10 But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down
to the camp-
God knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. He sets an ideal
standard that He knows we can reach- in Gideon's case, to go down to the
camp of the enemies. But He knew Gideon's weakness and so by grace delayed
the plan for a day, to allow Gideon to get more support for his weak
faith. Rather like He didn't send Israel on the direct route to Canaan,
lest they see war and lose heart. We can therefore never complain that we
are forced by overpowering circumstance into lack of faith. God knows our
levels and will not test us beyond that which we can bear, but will make a
way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13). This is a wonderful promise, and it removes
any excuse of 'circumstantial ethics' for our lack of response to God's
challenges to faith.
Jdg 7:11 and you will hear what they say. After that your hands will be
strengthened to go down into the camp. Then he went down with Purah his
servant to the outskirts of the armed men who were in the camp-
See on :12. Purah, 'boast of Yah', would have been one of Gideon's
servants who bravely helped him cut down the altar of Baal and the
Ashtaroth on another night not so long ago. See on :10; the same phrase
for strengthening hands is used of how God graciously strengthened the
hands of Lot to leave Sodom (Gen. 19:16), when he like Gideon had some
faith but not enough to rise up to the simple command to 'go out' as
commanded by God.
Gideon had strengthened the 300 men (see on :8), but clearly his own faith needed strengthening. He would have strengthened them whilst himself doubting. This is absolutely true to real human experience. The record has every psychological and spiritual credibility.
Jdg 7:12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the children of the east
lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude, and their camels were
without number, as the sand which is on the seashore for multitude-
The same description is used of Saul's Philistine enemies in 1 Sam.
13:5. Gideon was Saul's hero-see on 1 Sam. 14:28,31.
Saul
tried to externally imitate Gideon when he prohibited the men to eat
anything while they were pursuing the Philistines (1 Sam. 11:11 = Jud.
7:16; 1 Sam. 13:5 = Jud. 7:12; 1 Sam. 14:24,28,31 = Jud. 8:4,5).
The enemy were "as the sand by the sea side
for multitude", using the words of the Abrahamic
promises (Gen. 22:17,18). These people were therefore a
pseudo-Israel, having the appearance of
being Abraham's true seed. Hagar had been promised "I will multiply your
seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude", after the
pattern of the promises to Abraham (Gen.16:10). This is confirmed by their
description as being "by ranks of five" (Jud. 7:11), using the
identical Hebrew phrase as used in Ex. 13:18 and Josh. 4:12 concerning
Israel's marching against their enemies. The aptness of
this to Israel's present enemies is obvious- their local enemies claim they
are the true seed of Abraham.
Jdg 7:13 When Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his
fellow. He said, I had a dream: a cake of barley bread tumbled into the
camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and
turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat-
Gideon is likened to a loaf of barley bread
tumbling into Midian, overturning it - pointing forward to Jesus, the
barley-bread loaf (Jn. 6:35 cp. :9), falling as the little stone on to
the image (Jud. 7:13). Barley bread was despised as the most
desperate kind of food a man could eat to stay alive. And this was how
Gideon felt- he was God's most desperate plan. His faith was weak, his
repentance for idolatry had been secret and nervous, and yet God was going
to use him.
We note that Gideon had very little bread when the Angel first appeared to him and commissioned him; he was beating out a few grains of wheat for a little bit of flour. In Jud. 8:5, he and his men lack bread. But it was Gideon as the tiny humble loaf of barley bread, the bread of the poor, that overturned the tent of Midian in Jud. 7:13. Again and again, Gideon was being shown that it is through the diminished and weak that God will bring victory. And we think of the five barley loaves of the little boy used by the Lord to feed thousands of people.
"Tumbled" is used to describe the sword of the cherubim which "turned every way" (Gen.3:24); another hint that Gideon and his men were a replication of the cherubim on earth; see on :20.
"The tent" is the usual word for 'tabernacle'. They had carried the tabernacle of their god with them into battle, and Gideon overturned it. The victory was therefore to be against their gods, and thereby demonstrating the supremacy of Yahweh. Gideon and Purah had overturned the altar of Baal in Abiezer, and as with events in our lives, this was to prepare him for the far greater overturning of the pagan tabernacle of the Midianites. The same phrase is used for the tabernacle of David which "fell", s.w. "lay flat" (Am. 9:11).
The tent may refer specifically to a kingly tent, as if the ruling house of Midian was to be destroyed.
Jdg 7:14 His fellow answered, This is none other than the sword of Gideon
the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian into his hand
with all the army-
But Gideon's men were not to use swords, only trumpets and
earthenware... and to proclaim the sword of Yahweh. Gideon now understood
that Yahweh's sword was his sword, Yahweh's sword was men who didn't use
swords. It's rather like the nervous, doubting Gideon being
told "Go in this your might... you mighty man of valour". God sees things
which are not as though they are; He sees maturity before it has
developed. And our eye of faith is to see likewise. If the Midianites believed that they were delivered into Gideon's
hand, and God believed it, then Gideon had to believe it.
Jdg 7:15 When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its
interpretation, he worshipped, and he returned into the camp of Israel. He
said, Arise, for Yahweh has delivered the army of Midian into your hand!-
We need to realize that God deals with us as individuals. No matter how
functional and holy, or dysfunctional and evil, is our church, we are
still treated by the Father as His individual children. So many have
struggled with this, tending to see themselves rather as inevitably part
of a community, faceless cogs in a machine. And this is actually quite
attractive to humanity- hence the popularity of Roman Catholicism. Reflect
a while on how God told Gideon: “I will be with thee” [you singular], and
yet Gideon responds: “Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us…” (Jud.
6:12,13). Gideon had to be taught that God saw him as a separate, unique
individual, and didn’t deal with him automatically merely as part of a
community as a whole. But it was a slow process. When Gideon saw in a
dream a man saying that God had delivered Midian into his
[singular] hand, Gideon then tells Israel that God had delivered Midian
into their hands (Jud. 7:14,15). He still found it so hard to
believe that God treated him as so important to Him.
Just as all the animals and everything in the eretz promised to Abraham was 'delivered into the hands' of Noah (s.w. Gen. 9:2), so the nations of that eretz were delivered into the hands of Israel (s.w. Ex. 6:8; 23:31; Dt. 2:24; 3:2,3; 7:24; 21:10; Josh. 2:24; Jud. 1:2). Tragically, like Adam in Eden [perhaps the same eretz promised to Abraham] and Noah in the new, cleansed eretz, Israel didn't realize this potential. What was delivered into the hand of Joshua (Josh. 2:24) actually wasn't delivered into their hand, because they disbelieved (Jud. 2:23); and this looks ahead to the disbelief of so many in the work of the Lord Jesus, who has indeed conquered the Kingdom for us. They considered the promise of the nations being delivered into their hand as somehow open to question, and only a possibility and not at all certain (Jud. 8:7; Num. 21:2 cp. Num. 21:34). Some like Jephthah (s.w. Jud. 11:32; 12:3), Ehud (Jud. 3:10,28), Deborah (Jud. 4:14), Gideon (Jud. 7:15) did, for a brief historical moment; but as individuals, and their victories were not followed up on. Instead they were dominated by the territory. And so instead, they were delivered into the hands of their enemies within the eretz (s.w. Lev. 26:25; Jud. 13:1).
Jdg 7:16 He divided the three hundred men into three companies and he gave
each of them a trumpet and an empty pitcher, with a torch inside the
pitcher-
The pitchers would have been used for carrying water, for water
supply was critical to the movement and sustenance of an army on the move.
To have empty pitchers, they would have had to empty the water out of
them. Now they had no water, they had to trust fully in Yahweh. They had
to get down from the mountain, destroy the enemy, and then they would
again be able to lap of the water. The earthenware pitchers represented
men, made of clay, but with the torch of God's Spirit burning within them.
And that potential was to be revealed by breaking the pitchers. "Empty"
translates the common Hebrew word for vain or worthless. They had no
strength of their own.
This is the whole message of the Gideon story, that men are made strong out of weakness, but it is their weakness and emptiness which is used; for truly we come to God with nothing in our hands.
Jdg 7:17 He said to them, Watch me, and do as I do when I come to the
outermost part of the camp-
Gideon and Purah had been to the outermost part of the camp the night
before. Gideon had been so fearful, but now he has been
made strong out of that weakness. True leadership is only from those who
were once weak and have thus been made strong. Israel would only be delivered from the Midianites if they
repented, and Gideon's repentance was being treated as symbolic of the
nation. And so the people with him had to act as if 'in him'. He was their
representative, as the Lord Jesus is for us.
Jdg 7:18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow
your trumpets too, on every side of the camp, and shout ‘For Yahweh and
for Gideon!’-
See on :17. AV "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon". He had learned
the lesson from :14, that his sword was that of Yahweh. And yet they were
not to use swords, but just to have torches and worthless [s.w. "empty"]
pitchers in their hands. Yahweh's sword was not a visible one in the hands
of His people. And that is an abiding lesson.
Jdg 7:19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the
outskirts of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had
but newly set the watch. They blew the trumpets and broke in pieces the
pitchers that were in their hands-
To break an earthenware pitcher was a symbol of death (Ecc. 12:6).
Through their human frailty, for the pitchers were "empty" (s.w. vain,
worthless), the torch fire of God's Spirit was to be revealed.
The blowing of trumpets by the 300 points forward to the resurrection. The breaking of the clay to reveal the burning lamps within the pitchers, is clearly at the root of 2 Cor. 4:6-8: "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness (cp. the sudden appearance of those lights on that night)...we have this treasure in earthen vessels (cp. Jud. 7:19), that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (cp. Jud. 7:2). We are troubled on every side" (cp. "on every side", :18 and Jud. 6:2-6). All this would suggest that the 300 men are to be connected with the resurrected of the new Israel, whose "earthen vessels" are broken (by means of resurrection and judgment) at the end of Israel's latter day downtreading and immediately prior to the great destruction of their enemies by them. To break an earthenware pitcher was a symbol of death (Ecc. 12:6).
Jdg 7:20 The three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers and
held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands
with which to blow, and they shouted, The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon!-
Literally, they strengthened the torches in their hands, the very
phrase used in :8,11 of God strengthening their hands. But their strength
was in gripping on to the torches, not their human weapons.
"The sword of Yahweh", instead of their swords [for they held pitchers
and torches, not swords] has been interpreted as a
reference to the cherubim; see on :13. The point has been made that this
whole scenario of flashing fire and swords was a conscious
imitation of the cherubim. In this case, we see that
true faith is a trust that we are in fact manifesting God, He is
manifesting Himself through us, and therefore we are not going in our own
strength. From this we can infer that
the cherubim will be associated with the latter-day deliverance of Israel-
perhaps the enigmatic "sign of the son of man in heaven" (Mt. 24:30).
Jdg 7:21 They each stood in his place around the camp and all the
army ran, and they shouted and put them to flight-
The shouting was as in the conquest of Jericho- the victory cry
uttered before they had won the victory. This was done in faith, acting as
if they had received already that which they had asked for (Mk. 11:24).
Jdg 7:22 They blew the three hundred trumpets, and Yahweh set every man’s
sword against his fellow and against all the army, and the army fled as
far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah
by Tabbath-
This is a prototype for how the latter day invasion by Israel's
neighbours will be overcome (also 2 Chron. 20:23). Ps. 83 perfectly
describes the Islamist unity as they attack Jerusalem in the last days
(Ps. 83:3-5, 12), but concludes with the Psalmist praying that God would
destroy them as He did Oreb and Zeeb (Ps. 83:11) - who were defeated as a
result of God making their troops turn on each other.
The invaders massacred each other, as in 2 Chron. 20:23. They were a
confederacy, and there were likely preexisting tensions and suspicions. This is a theme in the latter-days
passages: Zech. 14:13; Jud. 7:22; 1 Sam. 14:22. We
see that division is in fact from God as a form of judgment. Those who
create division are therefore creating and living out their own
condemnation. And the
same will happen in the last days. Whilst such confusion is easily possible given modern high-technology
warfare, it would seem more likely that a few initial mistakes of this
sort could open up old rivalries which are then fought out to the death. Indeed, we could sensibly look for even more rifts to occur between
Israel's enemies, e.g. over oil.
Jdg 7:23 The men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, Asher
and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian-
We recall how Deborah's appeal for support from Asher and some of the
leaders of these tribes had been refused. And after God gave the great
victory, she taught everyone the song of Deborah in Jud. 5 which lamented
their lack of response. So perhaps that had worked, and now they
responded. We may fail a call the first time, but then it is repeated, and
we accept it. We note that these men of Israel from these areas were
probably those who had originally come with Gideon and then been sent back
(Jud. 6:35). They would have reflected upon their own weakness of faith,
and now would have been grateful to be called out to service again. God
doesn't just dismiss people from His service because of their weak faith;
He tries to use them again. Or we could conclude (see on :24) that
Gideon's acceptance of them now as fellow soldiers was really a rejection
of God's hand in sending those very soldiers home as unneeded in His plan.
Jdg 7:24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim
saying, Come down against Midian and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead
of them as far as Beth Barah. So all the men of Ephraim were gathered
together and took the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah-
This would have been near to where Israel first entered the land
under Joshua. The spiritually minded would have seen the hand of God again
at work in the same locality. This was where John the Baptist was to
baptize repentant Israelites (Jn. 1:28). And the whole victory was because
of repentance.
It could be argued that this appeal for more human help reflects a lack of faith. He has just sent home the majority of his soldiers, having been taught how God works through much diminished numbers. And now he appeals for more soldiers to come to him. This could be seen as the start of a downward spiral of faithless behaviour, as if he had reached his spiritual peak and was now declining, although Heb. 11:32 assures us he will be in God's Kingdom. The idea of smooth, incremental spiritual growth is mythical, and was only seen in the Lord. In Gideon's case, his spiritually grew an declined... although he still died a saved man. His appeal for Israelites to come and support him led him to the sin of whipping and punishing his own brethren who didn't come and support him. That would have been avoided if he and his few soldiers had just gone onwards in God's strength, and accepted that God was clearly with him.
Jdg 7:25 They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb and they
killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of
Zeeb-
Zeeb had presumably tried to hide in a winepress. But he was slain
there. And we recall how it was in a winepress, disused because there was
no vintage because Israel had broken the covenant, that Gideon was first
called whilst threshing wheat in it. Thus we see the
triumph of the small, cowering, little man.
They pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to
Gideon beyond the Jordan-
The Philistines in 1 Sam. 29:4 recalled how David had carried the
head of Goliath to Saul (1 Sam. 17:57). To carry the heads of a king's
enemies was a way to get the king's favour, as in Jud. 7:25; 2 Sam. 4:8;
16:9; 20:21; 2 Kings 10:6-8. This appears another suggestion that
although Gideon refused in so many words to be king, he acted as king and
was treated as one. Challenging us, as to how much of our devotion and
principle is in name and word only...
Again we see the inspired, historical record
has consistency. It would have required a clever editor to insert this
theme of beheading to curry a leader's favour throughout the entire
Biblical record. But the histories were clearly written at different
times; a later hand would not have thought of all these realistic touches
to sprinkle so consistently throughout it. The internal harmony of the
Bible is to me the greatest indication that it is what it claims to be,
the Divinely inspired word of God, evidencing His editing throughout.
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