Judges 7:2

2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, "The people who are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, `Mine own hand hath saved me.'

Judges 7:2 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 7:2

And the Lord said unto Gideon, the people that are with thee
are too many
It appears, by what follows, that there were 32,000 of them, which was but a small army to engage with one of 100,000 more than they; for such was the army of the Midianites and their associates, see ( Judges 8:10 ) but the people were too many, says the Lord,

for me to give the Midianites into their hands;
who would be apt to ascribe the victory to themselves, and not to the Lord; to their number, strength, and valour, and not to the hand of the Lord:

lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, mine own hand hath
saved me;
or glory over me, take the glory from me, and ascribe it to themselves, boasting that by their power and prowess they had obtained the victory.

Judges 7:2 In-Context

1 Then Jerubbaal (who is Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose up early and pitched camp beside the well of Harod, so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, "The people who are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, `Mine own hand hath saved me.'

3 Now therefore go, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, `Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead.'" And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand, and there remained ten thousand.

4 And the LORD said unto Gideon, "The people are yet too many. Bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there. And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, `This shall go with thee,' the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, `This shall not go with thee,' the same shall not go."

5 So he brought down the people unto the water; and the LORD said unto Gideon, "Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink."