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. 5:26.) 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