Judges 7:11

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.

Judges 7:11 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 7:11

And thou shalt hear what they shall say
The Midianites, or what shall be said by any of them; for though it was the night season, and so not a time for much conversation, as it may be supposed to be the dead of the night; yet something would be said and heard, which is a clear proof of the prescience of God respecting future contingent events:

and afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened;
and his heart encouraged by what he should hear:

to go down into the camp;
in an hostile manner, with his three hundred men, after his return to them:

then went he down with Phurah his servant;
first privately, only they two, leaving his little army on the hill: and came

unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host;
the sentinels, who were without side the camp, and stood complete in armour to guard it; and they came as near to them, in as still and private manner as they could, without being discovered. The Septuagint version is,

``to the beginning of the fifty that were in the host;''

and the Syriac and Arabic versions,

``to the captain of the fifty;''

these might be a party of the outer guards, consisting of fifty men, with one at the head of them, placed for the safety of the army in the night season, and to give notice of any approach to them, or attempt on them.

Judges 7:11 In-Context

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.

13 And as Gideon arrived, a man was telling his friend about a dream. “Behold, I had a dream,” he said, “and I saw a loaf of barley bread come tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent so hard that the tent overturned and collapsed.”