Judges 7

God shrinks Gideon’s army from thirty-two thousand to three hundred so that Israel cannot take the credit for the victory. Gideon is encouraged by an enemy’s dream, then attacks at night with trumpets, jars and torches. The LORD throws Midian into panic, and Israel finishes the rout.

Judges 7:1

Gideon, here called by his new name Jerubbaal, camps by the spring of Harod with his army. The huge Midianite force lies in the valley to the north. The two armies face each other, and the odds already look very uneven.

BSA: Jerubbaal (“let Baal contend, Gideon’s name after destroying an altar”): The name recalls Gideon’s earlier act against Baal’s altar, a reminder that this battle is first of all the LORD’s cause.

See also: Judges 6:32.

Judges 7:2

The LORD says Gideon’s army is too big. Israel would take the credit and boast that their own strength had won. God wants his people to know that rescue comes from him, so he makes the odds clearly impossible for human strength.

BSA: glorify (“boast, praise”): Israel would be tempted to praise itself, and God will not share the glory that belongs to him.

See also: 1 Corinthians 1:29; Deuteronomy 8:17.

Judges 7:3

Gideon lets the frightened go home, following the law of war in Deuteronomy. Twenty-two thousand leave and ten thousand stay. Fear spreads quickly in a battle line, so God removes it first. An army can lose before a blow is struck.

BSA: fearful (“afraid, filled with dread”): This is deep dread, not mere nervousness, and it can weaken everyone around it.

See also: Deuteronomy 20:8.

Judges 7:4

Ten thousand is still too many. God sends Gideon to the water for a test, and he himself will choose who goes. The choice belongs to the LORD, not to Gideon’s judgment of who looks strongest.

BSA: sift (“refine, purify”): The picture is of a metalworker removing what does not belong, so the test is a testing and refining of the army.

Hebrew: וְאֶצְרְפֶנּוּ (ve’etsrefennu, H6884) — “and I will refine it.” This is the word for a smelter melting metal to test it and separate the pure from the impure. God is refining his army.

Judges 7:5-6

Most men knelt down to drink. Three hundred scooped water in their hands and lapped it, staying upright and alert. The text does not explain why this mattered. The point is that God made the choice, and the numbers became absurdly small.

BSA: lap (“with their tongues, as a dog licks”): The picture is quick, simple drinking by men who stayed watchful rather than bowing their heads down.

Hebrew: לָקַק (laqaq, H3952) — “to lap, to lick up.” This is the word for how a dog drinks. It describes a quick, plain way of drinking that the LORD used as his sign.

Judges 7:7

God promises to save Israel through just three hundred and sends everyone else home. His strategy looks foolish by ordinary standards. It shows that he saves through the weak and few, so that no one can claim the victory.

BSA: save (“rescue, deliver from danger”): The deliverance is a rescue from real danger, and God promises it as his own act.

See also: 1 Samuel 14:6.

Judges 7:8

The three hundred keep the jars, supplies and trumpets of the men who left. Gideon sends the rest to their tents. The Midianite camp lies below him in the valley, overwhelming in size and waiting for what God will do.

BSA: provisions (“food, victuals, supplies”): The small band is equipped with what the departing men leave behind, since God supplies what is needed.

Judges 7:9-11

That night God tells Gideon to attack and says the victory is already given. Knowing Gideon’s fears, he gives a kind offer: go down quietly with Purah and listen. What Gideon hears will strengthen him. God is patient with a trembling believer.

BSA: delivered (“given, put”): God speaks as if the victory has already been placed in Gideon’s hand. strengthened (“made courageous, empowered”): Gideon will gain courage, and the strength comes as a gift from God.

See also: Judges 6:36-40.

Judges 7:12

Gideon sees the enemy’s size. Midianites, Amalekites and eastern peoples fill the valley like locusts, with camels past counting. The description shows how far beyond human strength the fight is, which sets the stage for God’s work.

BSA: locusts (“rapidly multiplying, devouring everything”): Like locusts, the invaders stripped the land bare, which is why Israel feared them.

Hebrew: אַרְבֶּה (arbeh, H697) — “locust.” The word comes from a root meaning to be many. The picture is a swarm too thick to count.

See also: Judges 6:3-5.

Judges 7:13

Gideon arrives just as a Midianite soldier is describing a dream. A loaf of barley bread tumbles into camp and flattens a tent. Barley was the poor man’s grain, so the dream pictures something small and humble toppling a great power.

BSA: barley bread (“food made from barley, a staple grain”): It is plain, cheap food, a fitting picture of a humble Israel.

Hebrew: צְלִיל (tselil, H6742) — “a cake or loaf, rolling.” The word describes a round loaf rolling in. The dream plays on how a small thing, once set moving, brings down a large one.

Judges 7:14

The friend at once reads the dream as the sword of Gideon and says God has given Midian into his hand. Even Israel’s enemies recognize that God is at work. Gideon hears his own assurance spoken by the people he fears.

BSA: sword (“a knife or cutting tool”): The loaf stands for the weapon God will use, which is Israel’s small force.

See also: Joshua 2:9-11.

Judges 7:15

Gideon hears the dream and its meaning and first bows to worship God. Only then does he rouse the camp. His fear turns to worship, and the confidence he passes on is that the LORD has already delivered the enemy.

BSA: bowed in worship (“prostrated himself, gave reverence”): Gideon lies down before God, giving thanks before the battle starts.

Judges 7:16

Gideon divides the three hundred into three companies. Each man carries a ram’s horn in one hand and a clay jar with a torch hidden inside in the other. The plan uses no swords, only noise and light, and so depends entirely on God.

BSA: jar (“empty pitcher, clay vessel”): The torch is hidden inside plain clay, which is the weakness that will be broken to show the light.

See also: 2 Corinthians 4:7.

Judges 7:17-18

Gideon tells his men to watch him and copy what he does. When he and his group blow the horns, the others are to blow theirs all around the camp and shout for the LORD and for Gideon. They are led by example and act as one.

See also: 1 Corinthians 11:1.

Judges 7:19

They reach the camp’s edge at the start of the middle watch of the night, just after the guard changed. The enemy is groggy and unsettled. At once they blow the horns and smash the jars, and the sudden light and noise explode into the darkness.

BSA: watch (“the second of three night watches, a period of vigilance”): The night was divided into watches, and Gideon strikes right at the changeover when the sentries are least ready.

Judges 7:20

All three companies blow, smash their jars and raise their torches. Their shout joins God and his chosen leader: a sword for the LORD and for Gideon. With torches in one hand and horns in the other, they have no free hand for a weapon.

BSA: sword (“cutting instrument, knife”): They shout the word sword even though they carry only torches and horns. The real sword will be the LORD’s.

Hebrew: חֶרֶב (cherev, H2719) — “sword.” Israel’s cry names a sword they do not hold. The weapon that wins the battle will be the LORD’s own working.

Judges 7:21

The Israelites do not charge. Each simply holds his position around the camp, while the Midianite army wakes in terror and runs, screaming. The victory begins as the LORD’s work with no fighting from the three hundred.

BSA: fled (“ran away quickly, in panic”): The enemy broke in sudden panic, not in an orderly retreat.

See also: Exodus 14:14.

Judges 7:22

As the horns sound, the LORD sets the enemy’s own swords against one another in the dark. Frightened men kill each other, and the survivors flee eastward toward the Jordan. The text credits God, not Gideon, with the confusion.

BSA: against one another (“each man’s sword against his neighbor, a state of confusion and strife”): In the dark, enemy fought enemy, so the camp destroyed itself.

Hebrew: שׁוֹפָר (shofar, H7782) — “ram’s horn trumpet.” The shofar was a signal horn used in battle and worship. Here it became the sound of the LORD’s victory.

See also: 2 Chronicles 20:22-23.

Judges 7:23-24

Now that the enemy is running, Gideon calls out men from Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh to chase them. He also sends to Ephraim to seize the Jordan crossings ahead of them. Many join once the battle is going well, but the victory was already won.

BSA: seize (“capture, take control of”): Ephraim is told to block the fords so the fleeing enemy cannot escape across the river.

Judges 7:25

Ephraim captures two Midianite princes, Oreb and Zeeb, and kills them at places later named for them. They bring the heads to Gideon across the Jordan. The Midianite threat is broken, and the leaders fall at last.

BSA: winepress (“place of grape-crushing”): Zeeb dies at a winepress, the same kind of place where Gideon once hid wheat from Midian.

See also: Judges 6:11; Psalm 83:11.