Judges 7:10

10 But if you are afraid to do so, then go down to the camp with your servant Purah

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 the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred men, who took charge of the provisions and rams’ horns of the others. And the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

9 That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.

10 But if you are afraid to do so, then go down to the camp with your servant Purah

11 and listen to what they are saying. Then your hands will be strengthened to attack the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant to the outposts where armed men were guarding the camp.

12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.