Judges7
New King James Version
1Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites 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 give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
3Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.
4But 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. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.”
5So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.”
6And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.
7Then the Lord 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, every man to his place.”
8So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.
10But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant,
11and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.
12Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.
13And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.”
14Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.”
15And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”
16Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.
17And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do:
18When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!’ ”
19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.
20Then the three companies 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 they cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”
21And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.
22When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
23And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.
24Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.” Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.
25And they captured two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of 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.