Judges 7

1 And Jerobaal rose early, the same is Gedeon, and all the people with him, and encamped at the fountain of Arad; and the camp of Madiam was to the north of him, from Gabaathamorai, in the valley.

2 And the Lord said to Gedeon, The people with thee many, so that I may not deliver Madiam into their hand, lest at any time Israel boast against me, saying, My hand has saved me.

3 And now speak in the ears of the people, saying, Who afraid and fearful? let him turn and depart from mount Galaad: and there returned of the people twenty-two thousand, and ten thousand were left.

4 And the Lord said to Gedeon, The people is yet numerous; bring them down to the water, and I will purge them there for thee: and it shall come to pass that of whomsoever I shall say to thee, This one shall go with thee, he shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I shall say to thee, This one shall not go with thee, he shall not go with thee.

5 And he brought the people down to the water; and the Lord said to Gedeon, Whosoever shall lap of the water with his tongue as if a dog should lap, thou shalt set him apart, and whosoever shall bow down upon his knees to drink.

6 And the number of those that lapped with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men; and all the rest of the people bowed upon their knees to drink water.

7 And the Lord said to Gedeon, I will save you by the three hundred men that lapped, and I will give Madiam into thy hand; and all the people shall go every one to his place.

8 And they took the provision of the people in their hand, and their horns; and he sent away every man of Israel each to his tent, and he strengthened the three hundred; and the army of Madiam were beneath him in the valley.

9 And it came to pass in that night that the Lord said to him, Arise, go down into the camp, for I have delivered it into thy hand.

10 And if thou art afraid to go down, go down thou and thy servant Phara into the camp.

11 And thou shalt hear what they shall say, and afterwards thy hands shall be strong, and thou shalt go down into the camp: and he went down and Phara his servant to the extremity of the fifty, which were in the camp.

12 And Madiam and Amalec and all the children of the east scattered in the valley, as the locust for multitude; and there was no number to their camels, but they were as the sand on the seashore for multitude.

13 And Gedeon came, and behold a man relating to his neighbour a dream, and he said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread rolling into the camp of Madiam, and it came as far as a tent, and smote it, and it fell, and it turned it up, and the tent fell.

14 And his neighbour answered and said, This is none other than the sword of Gedeon, son of Joas, a man of Israel: God has delivered Madiam and all the host into his hand.

15 And it came to pass when Gedeon heard the account of the dream and the interpretation of it, that he worshipped the Lord, and returned to the camp of Israel, and said, Rise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Madiam into our hand.

16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put horns in the hands of all, and empty pitchers, and torches in the pitchers:

17 and he said to them, Ye shall look at me, and so shall ye do; and behold, I will go into the beginning of the host, and it shall come to pass as I do, so shall ye do.

18 And I will sound with the horn, and all ye with me shall sound with the horn round about the whole camp, and ye shall say, For the Lord and Gedeon.

19 And Gedeon and the hundred men that were with him came to the extremity of the army in the beginning of the middle watch; and they completely roused the guards, and sounded with the horns, and they broke the pitchers that were in their hands,

20 and the three companies sounded with the horns, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and in their right hands their horns to sound with; and they cried out, A sword for the Lord and for Gedeon.

21 And man stood in his place round about the host; and all the host ran, and sounded , and fled.

22 And they sounded with the three hundred horns; and the Lord set man's sword in all the host against his neighbour.

23 And the host fled as far as Bethseed Tagaragatha Abel-meula to Tabath; and the men of Israel from Nephthali, and from Aser, and from all Manasse, came to help, and followed after Madiam.

24 And Gedeon sent messengers into all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down to meet Madiam, and take to yourselves the water as far as Baethera and Jordan: and every man of Ephraim cried out, and they took the water before hand unto Baethera and Jordan.

25 And they took the princess of Madiam, even Oreb and Zeb; and they slew Oreb in Sur Oreb, and they slew Zeb in Jakephzeph; and they pursued Madiam, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gedeon from beyond Jordan.

Judges 7 Commentary

Chapter 7

Gideon's army reduced. (1-8) Gideon is encouraged. (9-15) The defeat of the Midianites. (16-22) The Ephraimites take Oreb and Zeeb. (23-25)

1-8. God provides that the praise of victory may be wholly to himself, by appointing only three hundred men to be employed. Activity and prudence go with dependence upon God for help in our lawful undertakings. When the Lord sees that men would overlook him, and through unbelief, would shrink from perilous services, or that through pride they would vaunt themselves against him, he will set them aside, and do his work by other instruments. Pretences will be found by many, for deserting the cause and escaping the cross. But though a religious society may thus be made fewer in numbers, yet it will gain as to purity, and may expect an increased blessing from the Lord. God chooses to employ such as are not only well affected, but zealously affected in a good thing. They grudged not at the liberty of the others who were dismissed. In doing the duties required by God, we must not regard the forwardness or backwardness of others, nor what they do, but what God looks for at our hands. He is a rare person who can endure that others should excel him in gifts or blessings, or in liberty; so that we may say, it is by the special grace of God that we regard what God says to us, and not look to men what they do.

Verses 9-15 The dream seemed to have little meaning in it; but the interpretation evidently proved the whole to be from the Lord, and discovered that the name of Gideon had filled the Midianites with terror. Gideon took this as a sure pledge of success; without delay he worshipped and praised God, and returned with confidence to his three hundred men. Wherever we are, we may speak to God, and worship him. God must have the praise of that which encourages our faith. And his providence must be acknowledged in events, though small and seemingly accidental.

Verses 16-22 This method of defeating the Midianites may be alluded to, as exemplifying the destruction of the devil's kingdom in the world, by the preaching of the everlasting gospel, the sounding that trumpet, and the holding forth that light out of earthen vessels, for such are the ministers of the gospel, 2Co. 4:6, 2Co. 4:7 . God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, a barley-cake to overthrow the tents of Midian, that the excellency of the power might be of God only. The gospel is a sword, not in the hand, but in the mouth: the sword of the Lord and of Gideon; of God and Jesus Christ, of Him that sits on the throne and the Lamb. The wicked are often led to avenge the cause of God upon each other, under the power of their delusions, and the fury of their passions. See also how God often makes the enemies of the church instruments to destroy one another; it is a pity that the church's friends should ever act like them.

Verses 23-25 Two chief commanders of the host of Midian were taken and slain by the men of Ephraim. It were to be wished that we all did as these did, and that where help is needed, that it were willingly and readily performed by another. And that if there were any excellent and profitable matter begun, we were willing to have fellow-labourers to the finishing and perfecting the same, and not, as often, hinder one another.

Footnotes

• [a]. encouraged.
• [b]. hand.
• [c]. at the actions proceeding from me.
• [d]. corner. See Acts 10. 11.
• [e]. shook off.
• [f]. in.
• [g]. head.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 7

In this chapter we have an account of the army under Gideon gathered out of several tribes, which from 32,000 were reduced to three hundred, and we are told by what means this was done, Jud 7:1-8 and how he was directed to go into the host of the Midianites, where he heard one of them telling his dream to his fellow, which greatly encouraged him to believe he should succeed, Jud 7:9-15 also we are told the form and manner in which he disposed of his little army to attack the Midianites, and the orders he gave them to observe, which had the desired effect, and issued in the total rout of that large body of people, Jud 7:16-22 and those that were not destroyed were pursued by persons gathered out of several tribes, and the passages of Jordan were taken by the Ephraimites, so that those that attempted their escape into their own country, there fell into their hands, Jud 7:23-25.