Judges 7 Study Notes

7:17-18 Gideon’s earlier hesitancy was now gone. He led his men to the battle, instructing them to follow his example. When they came to the outpost at the edge of the Midianite camp, they were to blow their trumpets and to shout as their battle cry, For the Lord and for Gideon. The pairing of the Lord’s name with that of Gideon strikes a discordant note. After all, this was a battle that the Lord had taken great pains to make clear would be won by his might alone, greatly reducing the size of the Israelite army so that they would not be able to boast (v. 3).

7:19-25 The strategy worked out exactly as planned. The beginning of the middle watch would be midnight. Gideon’s three groups, spread out surrounding the camp, would sound like a much larger army. The element of surprise, combined by a divinely induced fear, sent the Midianites fleeing for their lives and fighting one another in the confusion. The victory was not just the result of successful psychological tactics. It was the Lord who caused the Midianites to turn on each other. The surviving Midianites fled toward the Jordan River, though the exact locations of the places mentioned in v. 22 are uncertain.

At this point, with victory assured, Gideon called out the men of Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh—presumably the remainder of his original army of thirty thousand—to join in the pursuit. He also called out the men of Ephraim to seize the fording places over the Jordan to cut off any retreat for the remnant of the Midianites. It seems discordant with the spirit of holy war for Gideon to call in reinforcements after the Lord had already won the victory with the smaller force. This was perhaps a sign of Gideon’s growing self-confidence. Oreb and Zeeb were Midianite princes or military commanders.