Judges 7:3-173Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 4And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 5So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. 6And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 7And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. 8So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. 9And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. 10But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. 12And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. 13And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. 14And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. 15And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. 16And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. 17And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. (Judges 7:3‑17)
Undoubtedly there is a further lesson for us in this great reduction of Gideon’s army. The twenty-two thousand faint-hearted ones had helped to swell the crowd all right, but had they gone to the battle they would only have weakened the hands of the others. And so it always is. There is no use getting a crowd together to serve the Lord, if there are those among them who are always afraid to go forward. They will only discourage others. Far better to have less, and all be wholehearted.
The three hundred men who were finally picked out of the ten thousand who remained, were those who had clean hands, and could therefore take the water in them to drink. Then too, they did not take time to kneel and drink, but drank quickly and then went on, ready for the battle. We notice, also, that Gideon did not choose the three hundred men; the Lord did that: and so if we look to the Lord He leads us to a separated company which, though small, seek to apply the Word of God, like the water, to the path they have taken. (See Eph. 5:2626That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26).) How important it is that we not only read the Word, but apply it to our own hands (what we do) and then, after drinking it, seek to go forward according to it, for the Lord’s glory.
After everyone had gone home but the three hundred men, the Lord told Gideon that He would save Israel by this little band. How humbling this would be to the natural man who likes to boast of large numbers and big armies, but it was the Lord who was going to save Israel, and though He was going to use Gideon, He would not give him any cause to boast in himself.
The little band prepared food, and took trumpets, and empty pitchers, putting lamps inside them. All this time the great host of Midian, with its vast numbers, were stretched out in the valley below, ready for the battle. During the night the Lord told Gideon to arise and go down into the host of the Midianites, for He said, He had delivered them into his hand. Knowing that Gideon might feel afraid, He told him to go down with his servant silently, and listen to what they were saying. When Gideon got to the camp of the Midianites, he heard a man tell a dream he had had to his friend, about a cake of barley bread falling into a tent and knocking it down. His friend said that this meant that God had delivered their whole army into the hand of Gideon. When Gideon heard this he was strengthened, and prepared his men for the attack. To be compared to a cake of barley bread would keep Gideon humble, but at the same time the incident would strengthen his confidence in the Lord. The world may put on a bold front, like the Midianites in our chapter, but in their hearts they are afraid of the Christian and his Bible. Indeed they are far more afraid of us than we ever need to be of them. Let us now trace the way of victory which follows, with all its wonderful lessons.
Gideon set his men in three bands of one hundred men each. Then each man put his trumpet in his right hand, and his lamp placed inside a pitcher in the left hand. Gideon then told them to keep their eyes upon him and to do as he did. This is a great thing. Let us keep our eyes upon “the Captain of our salvation,” the Lord Jesus, and do as He has told us in His Word. He is our blessed Object and Example.
ML 10/04/1953