Judges 7:14

14 That man answered, to whom he spake (And that man to whom he spoke, answered), This is none other thing, no but the sword of Gideon, [the] son of Joash, a man of Israel; for the Lord God hath betaken Midian, and all [the] tents thereof, into the hands of Gideon.

Judges 7:14 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 7:14

And his fellow answered and said
As the dream was no doubt from God, so the interpretation of it was; it was he that put into the mind of the soldier's comrade to whom he told it to interpret it as follows; or otherwise in all likelihood he would never have thought of it:

this is nothing else save the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man
of Israel;
that is, this signifies nothing else, and a fit emblem it was of him and his little army. A cake is but a small thing, and, let it come tumbling as it will, can have no force or strength in it equal to overturn a tent; and a cake of barley is mean and contemptible; and a cake baked under ashes, or on coals, is what is soon and hastily done, and fitly represented the smallness and weakness of Gideon's army, their meanness and contemptibleness; the Israelites being, as Josephus ^F5 represents the soldier saying, the vilest of all the people of Asia; and those that were with Gideon were suddenly and hastily got together, raw and undisciplined, and very unfit to engage the veteran troops of the united forces of Midian, Amalek, and Arabia. It appears from hence that Gideon's name was well known in the camp of Midian, what was his descent, and his character as a valiant man, which is meant by

a man of Israel;
namely, a courageous mighty man, and the very name of him might strike with terror:

for into his hands hath God delivered Midian and all his host;
which the man concluded from this dream, and the interpretation of it suggested to him from God, and impressed upon his mind; which he speaks of with the greatest assurance and confidence, which he was inspired to do, for the strengthening of Gideon, and the encouragement of him to come down with his army, and fall on the host of Midian.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 6. sect. 4.)

Judges 7:14 In-Context

12 And Midian, and Amalek, and all the peoples of the east lay spread abroad in the valley, as the multitude of locusts; and the camels were unnumberable, as gravel that lieth in the brink of the sea. (And the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the peoples of the east lay spread abroad in the valley, like a multitude of locusts; and their camels were innumerable, like the gravel, or the sand, that lieth at the seashore.)

13 And when Gideon had come down, a man told (of) a dream to his neighbour, and he told by this manner that, that he had seen, (saying,) I saw a dream, and it seemed to me, that as a barley loaf, baken under ashes, was wallowed, and it came down into the tents of Midian; and when it had come to a tabernacle, it smote it, and destroyed it, and made it even utterly to the earth. (And when Gideon had come down, a man told his neighbour about a dream that he had, and he told in this manner what he had seen, saying, I had a dream, and it seemed to me, that a barley loaf, baked under ashes, was rolled down into the tents of the Midianites; and when it came to a tent, it struck it, and destroyed it, and made it utterly even to the ground.)

14 That man answered, to whom he spake (And that man to whom he spoke, answered), This is none other thing, no but the sword of Gideon, [the] son of Joash, a man of Israel; for the Lord God hath betaken Midian, and all [the] tents thereof, into the hands of Gideon.

15 And when Gideon had heard the dream, and the interpreting thereof, he worshipped the Lord, and turned again to the tents of Israel, and said, Rise ye (up); for the Lord hath betaken into our hands the tents of Midian (for the Lord hath delivered the host, or the army, of the Midianites into our hands).

16 And he parted the three hundred men into three parts, and he gave them trumps in their hands, and empty pots, and lamps (with lamps), that is, (with) burning brands, either torches, that might not lightly be quenched, in the midst of the pots.