Judges 7:7-17

7 ADONAI said to Gid'on, "I will use the three hundred men who lapped the water to save you; I will hand Midyan over to you. Let all these others go back home."

8 So they took the provisions and the shofars of the people; then he sent all the men of Isra'el away, each to his tent. But the three hundred men he kept. The camp of Midyan was in the valley below him.

9 That night ADONAI said to him, "Get up and attack the camp, because I have handed it over to you.

10 But if you are afraid to attack, go down with your servant Purah;

11 and after you hear what they are saying, you will have the courage to attack the camp." So with his servant Purah he went down to the outposts of the camp.

12 Now Midyan, 'Amalek and all the others from the east had settled in the valley as thick as locusts; their camels too were beyond counting, like the sand on the seashore.

13 Gid'on got there just as a man was telling a comrade about a dream he had had: "I just now dreamt that a loaf of barley bread fell into the camp of Midyan, came to the tent and struck it so hard that it overturned the tent and knocked it flat."

14 His comrade answered, "This can only be the sword of Gid'on son of Yo'ash, a man of Isra'el. God has given Midyan and all its army into his hands."

15 When Gid'on heard the dream and its interpretation, he fell on his knees in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Isra'el and said, "Get up! because ADONAI has handed Midyan's army over to you."

16 He divided the three hundred men into three companies. He put in the hands of all of them shofars and empty pitchers with torches in them.

17 Then he said to them, "Watch me, and do what I do. When I get to the edge of the camp, whatever I do, you do the same.

Judges 7:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

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.