Judges 7:10

10 But if you are afraid to go down, take your servant Purah with you.

Judges 7:10 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 7:10

But if thou fear to go down
With his little army, to attack a numerous host in the night, then he is directed to take this step first:

go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host;
in a private manner; perhaps this man was his aid-de-camp, or however a trusty servant in whom he could confide, as well as valiant: more it was not proper to take in such a secret expedition, and the fewer the better to trust, and less liable to the observation of the enemy; and yet it was proper to have one with him, being company and animating, and who would be a witness with him of what should be heard; in like manner, and for like reasons, as Diomedes and Ulysses went into the Trojan army ^F25.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Homer. Iliad. 10. ver. 222

Judges 7:10 In-Context

8 So Gideon sent the rest of Israel to their homes. But he kept three hundred men and took the jars and the trumpets of those who left. Now the camp of Midian was in the valley below Gideon.

9 That night the Lord said to Gideon, "Get up. Go down and attack the camp of the Midianites, because I will give them to you.

10 But if you are afraid to go down, take your servant Purah with you.

11 When you come to the camp of Midian, you will hear what they are saying. Then you will not be afraid to attack the camp." So Gideon and his servant Purah went down to the edge of the enemy camp.

12 The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the peoples from the east were camped in that valley. There were so many of them they seemed like locusts. Their camels could not be counted because they were as many as the grains of sand on the seashore!