The Book of Judges

Word Study

"vaunt themselves," Hebrew paar (פָּאַר) in the reflexive, "to glorify oneself, to boast, to claim the beauty or credit for oneself." God gives the reason for the whole strange strategy: "lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." The danger was never that thirty-two thousand were too few to beat Midian; it was that they were too many to keep from boasting. God will not share His glory. He deliberately reduced the army until victory was humanly impossible, so that no flesh could take the credit. This is the settled principle of all God's dealings: "that no flesh should glory in his presence" (1 Corinthians 1:29). He chooses "the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty," precisely so the boasting is silenced and "he that glorieth" glories "in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31).

Explanation

God's arithmetic runs backward. First He sends home everyone "fearful and afraid," and twenty-two thousand leave, more than two thirds of the army, gone in a moment. Then, of the ten thousand who remain, God tests them at the water. Those who "bowed down upon their knees to drink," heads down, unwatchful, are sent away; the three hundred who lapped from the hand, staying alert to the enemy, are kept. From thirty-two thousand to three hundred, less than one percent. Against a host "like grasshoppers for multitude" it was absurd by every human measure. But that was the point. God says plainly, "By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you." The fewer the soldiers, the clearer the Saviour.

Gospel Focus

God often reduces us before He uses us. He strips away the numbers, the resources, the visible strength we lean on, until we have nothing left but Him, and then He saves, so that we cannot possibly boast. Paul learned the same lesson: "my strength is made perfect in weakness... when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). If God has been thinning your "army," taking away supports you thought you needed, it may be His mercy, cutting off every avenue of self-glory so that His deliverance will be unmistakable. He saves by the three hundred, not the thirty-two thousand, that the praise may go where it belongs, to Him alone.

Word Study

"he worshipped," Hebrew shachah (שָׁחָה), "to bow down, to prostrate oneself in worship." This is the turning point of Gideon's soul. He came down to the enemy camp still afraid, "if thou fear to go down," God had said, meeting him in his weakness once more. But when he overheard the dream and its interpretation, his response was not to shout a battle cry but to worship. On the edge of the enemy host, alone but for one servant, he bowed himself before God. Worship was his weapon before the trumpet ever sounded. It is the same word used of Abraham going to offer Isaac ("I and the lad will go yonder and worship," Genesis 22:5) and of the wise men who "fell down, and worshipped" the Christ child (Matthew 2:11). Faith that lays hold of God's promise always issues in worship, and the worshipping heart is the fearless heart.

Explanation

God knows Gideon is still afraid, so He graciously adds one more encouragement: go down and listen. Gideon creeps to the edge of the vast camp and overhears a Midianite telling a dream, a mere "cake of barley bread" rolling into the camp and flattening a tent. Barley was the bread of the poor; the tumbling loaf was a fitting image of despised, outnumbered Israel. And the man's companion interprets it in dread: it is "the sword of Gideon... for into his hand hath God delivered Midian." Even the enemy knew that God had already decided the outcome. That was all Gideon needed. He worshipped, then rose and rallied his men: "Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian." The battle was won in the heart before it was fought in the valley.

Gospel Focus

See how tenderly God deals with a fearful servant. He does not scold Gideon for his fear; He condescends to it, arranging even the dreams of the enemy to strengthen a trembling hand. Our God "knoweth our frame" and gives "more grace" (Psalm 103:14; James 4:6). And notice that Gideon's courage came through worship. When faith finally grips the promise of God, the response is to bow down, and the man who worships in the dark by the enemy camp will not run when the trumpets blow. Worship is not the reward of victory; it is the road to it. Bow before God with His promise in your heart, and you will rise able to face any host.

Word Study

"empty pitchers," Hebrew kad (כַּד, "jar"). The weapons of the three hundred were not swords but earthen jars, ordinary clay water pots, carried into the night along with trumpets. At the signal they smashed the jars. The picture is a gift to the Apostolic reader. Paul says, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). We are the fragile clay jars, and it is when the vessel is broken that the light shines forth. So the glory of God shines through broken and yielded lives.

"lamps within the pitchers," lappid (לַפִּיד, "torch, lamp"). Inside every one of those jars a torch was burning, hidden until God's appointed moment. When the jars were shattered the light blazed out all at once around the camp. So the light of Christ is hidden within us, unseen by the world until the vessel gives way. The world was not conquered by Israel's weaponry but by light suddenly breaking out of broken pots in the night.

Explanation

Gideon's plan is pure faith. The three hundred take no swords into the assault, only a trumpet in one hand and a torch-hidden-in-a-jar in the other, meaning both hands are full and neither can fight. They surround the camp in the dead of night, and at the signal they blow the trumpets, smash the jars so the torches blaze, and shout, "The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon." The sudden trumpets, lights, and cries from every side throw the sleeping host into panic, and "the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow." Midian destroys itself. Only then do the other tribes join the pursuit, cutting off the fords and capturing the princes Oreb and Zeeb. The three hundred never had to strike a blow; the LORD fought, and they held up the light.

Gospel Focus

The battle cry says it all: "The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon", the LORD first, and Gideon only as His instrument. God's people win by trumpet, light, and a shout of faith, not by their own might. And the deepest picture is the broken vessel: the light of God shines out of us most brightly when we are broken and emptied of self. The three hundred could not fight, hands full of torch and trumpet, and that was the secret; they simply let the light shine and lifted up the name of the LORD, and He gave the victory. The church still overcomes the same way, by broken lives through which the light of Christ blazes, by the trumpet of the gospel, and by lifting up the name of the Lord, "The sword of the LORD." Let us be jars content to be broken, that His light may shine.