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Judges 7

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The Army Is Reduced 1–8

1
Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2
And Jehovah said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. ​
3
Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. ​
4
And Jehovah 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.
5
So he brought down the people unto the water: and Jehovah 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. ​
6
And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
7
And Jehovah said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thy hand; and let all the people go every man unto his place. ​
8
So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel every man unto his tent, but retained the three hundred men: and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

Gideon Receives Divine Confirmation 9–15

9
And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said unto him, Arise, get thee down into the camp; for I have delivered it into thy hand.
10
But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Purah thy servant down to the camp: ​
11
and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thy hands be strengthened to go down into the camp. Then went he down with Purah his servant unto the outermost part of the armed men that were in the camp.
12
And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is upon the sea-shore for multitude. ​
13
And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man telling a dream unto his fellow; and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream; and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came unto the tent, and smote it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat. ​
14
And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hand God hath delivered Midian, and all the host. ​
15
And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped; and he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, Arise; for Jehovah hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. ​

Gideon's 300 16–22

16
And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers.
17
And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.
18
When I blow the trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, For Jehovah and for Gideon. ​
19
So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. ​
20
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands wherewith to blow; and they cried, The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon. ​
21
And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight. ​
22
And they blew the three hundred trumpets, and Jehovah set every man’s sword against his fellow, and against all the host; and the host fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. ​

Pursuit and Capture of Midianite Leaders 23–25

23
And the men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian.
24
And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian, and take before them the waters, as far as Beth-barah, even the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and took the waters as far as Beth-barah, even the Jordan. ​
25
And they took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian: and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Judges 7

Verse 2

lest Israel vaunt themselves — 'Vaunt' is pa'ar, to glorify oneself, the verb of Isa 10:15, 'Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?' Thirty-two thousand are 'too many for me' because the victory would be credited to 'Mine own hand', the boast Moses warns against in Deut 8:17.

Verse 3

fearful and afraid — The law of war let the officers send home the 'fearful and fainthearted' (Deut 20:8). 'Afraid' is chared, trembling, from the root behind the name of the 'well of Harod' (v.1). Twenty-two thousand of the thirty-two thousand return, and ten thousand remain.

Verse 5

lappeth… as a dog lappeth — Lakak, to lap or lick, occurs in only five verses of the KJV: here and vv.6–7, and of dogs licking blood in 1 Kings 21:19 and 22:38. The test sorts the men by how they drank, and the LORD names who goes (v.4): 'I will try them for thee there'.

Verse 7

By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you — 'Save' is yasha', the verb of Israel's imagined boast in v.2, 'Mine own hand hath saved me'; the LORD answers it with 'will I save you'. The three hundred are those who lapped 'putting their hand to their mouth' (v.6); the rest go 'every man unto his place'.

Verse 10

Phurah thy servant — Phurah is named only here and in v.11. 'If thou fear' uses yare', the same word as 'fearful' in v.3, which sent twenty-two thousand home; the LORD gives Gideon a way down to the camp with a companion, and v.11 says what he will hear there.

Verse 12

like grasshoppers for multitude — Arbeh, the locust of the plague in Ex 10:4. It is the figure used when the Midianites first came, 'as grasshoppers for multitude… both they and their camels were without number' (Judg 6:5). The sand by the sea is also the image of the hosts in Josh 11:4, 'as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude'.

Verse 13

a cake of barley bread — Tselil, a round cake, a word found in only this verse. 'Tumbled' and 'overturned' are one Hebrew verb, haphak, to turn over, and the tent that is struck 'lay along', the verb (naphal) that describes the host in v.12, 'lay along in the valley'.

Verse 14

into his hand hath God delivered Midian — The Midianite's reading uses the verb the LORD used in v.9, nathan: 'I have delivered it into thine hand'. His words repeat the promise Gideon was given, naming 'God' (Elohim) where v.9 has 'the LORD'. Rahab said 'the LORD hath given you the land' (Josh 2:9), and the spies, 'hath delivered into our hands all the land' (2:24).

Verse 15

he worshipped — Shachah, to bow down. Gideon bows first, then speaks to the men in the words of v.9: 'the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian'. 'Interpretation' is sheber, literally a breaking; the KJV renders it so only here, and v.20 has the pitchers broken (shabar, the same root).

Verse 18

The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon — The cry takes the Midianite's phrase 'the sword of Gideon' (v.14) and puts the LORD's name first. Trumpets blown against an enemy are tied to his help in Num 10:9: 'ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.'

Verse 19

the middle watch — The KJV names the night's watches as 'the beginning of the watches' (Lam 2:19), 'the morning watch' (Ex 14:24) and here 'the middle watch', a phrase found only in this verse. 'Brake' is naphats, to dash in pieces, the verb of Ps 2:9, 'dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel'.

Verse 20

the lamps in their left hands — Lappid is a torch or flame, the word for the 'burning lamp' that passed between the pieces in Gen 15:17. Each man holds a lamp in the left hand and a trumpet in the right, so both hands are full; the cry they raise names the sword of the LORD and of Gideon.

Verse 21

they stood every man in his place — The three hundred 'stood' (amad) round about the camp while the host 'ran, and cried, and fled'. It is the posture of 'stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD' (Ex 14:13) and of 2 Chr 20:17, 'Ye shall not need to fight in this battle'. Compare 2 Kings 7:6–7.

Verse 22

the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow — The same happened on Saul's day, 'every man's sword was against his fellow' (1 Sam 14:20), and when Ammon and Moab turned on Seir and then on one another (2 Chr 20:23). Isaiah calls it 'the day of Midian' (Isa 9:4). 'Fellow' is rea', as in vv.13–14.

Verse 24

the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan — Gideon summons Ephraim to hold the crossings ahead of the fleeing Midianites. Bethbarah, 'house of the ford', is named only here. Ephraim answers, yet afterwards its men 'chide with him sharply': 'Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not…?' (Judg 8:1).

Verse 25

Oreb and Zeeb — The two names are spelled like the Hebrew words for 'raven' and 'wolf', and each prince dies at a place that bears his name: 'the rock Oreb' and 'the winepress of Zeeb'. Isaiah remembers 'the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb' (Isa 10:26); Ps 83:11 prays, 'Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb'.