Judges 7:1-22

Gideon Defeats the Midianites

1 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.
2 The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’
3 Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
4 But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”
5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.”
6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.
7 The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”
8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.
9 During that night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.
10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah
11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp.
12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”
14 His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”
15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”
16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
17 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.
18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’ ”
19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.
20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”
21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

Judges 7:1-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 7

In this chapter we have an account of the army under Gideon gathered out of several tribes, which from 32,000 were reduced to three hundred, and we are told by what means this was done, Jud 7:1-8 and how he was directed to go into the host of the Midianites, where he heard one of them telling his dream to his fellow, which greatly encouraged him to believe he should succeed, Jud 7:9-15 also we are told the form and manner in which he disposed of his little army to attack the Midianites, and the orders he gave them to observe, which had the desired effect, and issued in the total rout of that large body of people, Jud 7:16-22 and those that were not destroyed were pursued by persons gathered out of several tribes, and the passages of Jordan were taken by the Ephraimites, so that those that attempted their escape into their own country, there fell into their hands, Jud 7:23-25.

Cross References 33

  • 1. S Judges 6:32
  • 2. S Judges 6:11
  • 3. 2 Samuel 23:25
  • 4. S Genesis 25:2
  • 5. S Genesis 12:6
  • 6. S Deuteronomy 8:17; 2 Corinthians 4:7
  • 7. Deuteronomy 20:8; S Joshua 12:2
  • 8. 1 Samuel 14:6
  • 9. Genesis 14:14
  • 10. S Joshua 8:7
  • 11. 1 Samuel 14:6
  • 12. ver 13-15; S Joshua 2:24; Joshua 10:8; Joshua 11:6; S Judges 1:2
  • 13. Numbers 13:29; Judges 8:10
  • 14. S Deuteronomy 28:42; Jeremiah 46:23; Judges 6:5
  • 15. Jeremiah 49:29
  • 16. S Joshua 11:4
  • 17. S Judges 6:11
  • 18. 1 Samuel 15:31
  • 19. S ver 9
  • 20. Genesis 14:15
  • 21. Judges 9:43; 1 Samuel 11:11; 2 Samuel 18:2
  • 22. S Leviticus 25:9
  • 23. ver 19; Genesis 24:14
  • 24. S Genesis 15:17
  • 25. S Judges 3:27
  • 26. S ver 16
  • 27. S Genesis 15:17
  • 28. S Deuteronomy 32:41; ver 14
  • 29. 2 Kings 7:7
  • 30. S Joshua 6:20
  • 31. 1 Samuel 14:20; 2 Chronicles 20:23; Isaiah 9:21; Isaiah 19:2; Ezekiel 38:21; Haggai 2:22; Zechariah 14:13
  • 32. Habakkuk 3:14
  • 33. 1 Samuel 18:19; 1 Kings 4:12; 1 Kings 19:16
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