Judges7
New American Standard
1Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him got up early, and camped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.
2And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand Midian over to them, otherwise Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has saved me.’
3Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and worried, is to return and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand from the people returned, but ten thousand remained.
4Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. So it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”
5So he brought the people down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall put everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps in one group, and everyone who kneels down to drink in another.”
6Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink water.
7And the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you with the three hundred men who lapped, and will hand the Midianites over to you; so have all the other people go, each man to his home.”
8So the three hundred men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And Gideon dismissed all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9Now on the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have handed it over to you.
10But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp,
11so that you will hear what they say; and afterward you will have the courage to go down against the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the army that was in the camp.
12Now the Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the people of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
13When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent collapsed.”
14And his friend replied, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has handed over to him Midian and all the camp.”
15When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has handed over to you the camp of Midian!”
16And he divided the three hundred men into three units, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers.
17Then he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.
18When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets around the entire camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”
19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle night watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.
20When the three units blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
21And each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled.
22And when they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the entire army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
23And the men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.
24Then Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and take control of the waters ahead of them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they took control of the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.
25And they captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Judges 7.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: 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).
vv1-8
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.
vv9-15
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.
vv16-22
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, 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.
Key Words
יְרֻבַּעַל: Jerubbaal, a symbolic name of Gideon
גִּדְעוֹן: Gidon, an Israelite
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
עַם: a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
שָׁכַם: literally, to load up (on the back of man or beast), i.e. to start early in the morning
חָנָה: properly, to incline; by implication, to decline (of the slanting rays of evening); specifically, to pitch atent; gen. to encamp (for abode or siege)
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
עֵין חֲרֹד: En-Charod, a place in Palestine
מַחֲנֶה: an encampment (of travellers or troops); hence, an army, whether literal (of soldiers) or figurative (of dancers, angels, cattle, locusts, stars; or even the sacred courts)
Cross References
Judges 7Explicit law permitting the fearful to return home, directly applied by Gideon's proclamation.
Supported by JFB
God uses foolish and weak things (like barley cakes and 300 men) to shame the strong.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Theological parallel to lamps in earthen vessels; God's power shining through human weakness.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Direct poetic mention of the slaughter of Midianite princes Oreb and Zeeb.
Prophetic allusion to the historical slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb.
Gideon commended in the Hall of Faith for leading this tiny force in faith.
Supported by JFB
Identifies the same Midianite-Amalekite coalition previously assembled in the valley of Jezreel.
Parallel where God sets the enemy host to destroy one another in confusion.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Thematic parallel: nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.
Prophetic reference to the crushing of Israel's oppressor 'as in the day of Midian'.
Similar panic where every man's sword was turned against his fellow in the camp.
Direct follow-up where Gideon pacifies Ephraim by highlighting their capture of Oreb and Zeeb.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Identifies Jerubbaal as the surname Gideon received after contending with Baal's altar.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Verbal echo of Gideon's command 'do likewise' repeated later by Abimelech.