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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 pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2
And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. ​
3
Now 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. ​
4
And 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.
5
So 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. ​
6
And 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.
7
And 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. ​
8
So 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.

Gideon Receives Divine Confirmation 9–15

9
And 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.
10
But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: ​
11
And 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.
12
And 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. ​
13
And 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. ​
14
And 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. ​
15
And 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. ​

Gideon's 300 16–22

16
And 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.
17
And 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.
18
When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. ​
19
So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. ​
20
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. ​
21
And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. ​
22
And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath. ​

Pursuit and Capture of Midianite Leaders 23–25

23
And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.
24
And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. ​
25
And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · 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'.