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THREAD: Tonight, some thoughts on Judges 7--a text which is well-known in some respects, but not in all.
At the outset of ch. 7, Gideon’s army needs to be ‘refined’. Gideon may have deemed the Midianites’ troops too numerous to be defeated, but God deemed *Gideon’s* troops too numerous to be given the victory (7.2).
YHWH had recently weakened a pagan force with a single pagan warrior (3.31) and vanquished a battalion of iron chariots with unsophisticated weaponry (4.3 cp. 5.8); and he would now conquer a host ‘as numerous as locusts’ with a host of only 300.
YHWH refines (צרף) Gideon’s troops by means of a two-stage process.
First, at Harod (חרד), he deselects all those who ‘tremble’ (חרד) at the thought of battle, per the provision of Deut. 20.3-4. (Our text employs a different word for ‘tremble’ to Deut. 20 [viz. חרד instead of ערץ] in order to highlight the significance of the town-name חרד.)
Second, at the waters’ edge, God selects only those who lap the water ‘like dogs’ (כַּאֲשֶׁר הַכֶּלֶב). The phrase כאשר הכלב = ‘like a dog’ is significant. YHWH wants men כאשר כלב--i.e., ‘men like Caleb’ (whose name means ‘dog’)--to attack the Midianites.
YHWH has a raven (Oreb = ‘raven’) and a wolf (Zeeb = ‘wolf’) to deal with, and wants a faithful pack of 300 dogs (כלבים) with which to hunt them.
In 7.12, Gideon and Purah overhear a Midianite explain one of his dreams. The dream emphasises the nature of the ‘reversal’ (הֲפֵכָה) which is about to take place; it depicts a loaf of bread which tumbles (הפך) towards the Midian camp an overturns (הפך) it (7.13 cf. Est. 9.1).
Later that night, Gideon and his men launch their attack against the Midianites. In earthly terms, Gideon’s chief weapons are surprise and confusion.
Gideon and his men attack ‘at the start of the middle watch of the night’--i.e., when people are most deeply asleep and hence most liable to be confused when they awake--,...
...and they do so when the watch has only just been changed, i.e., when the new watchers’ eyes would not have been accustomed to the dark.
Consequently, the Midianites awake to noise, commotion, the (apparent) sight of 300 battalions of warriors on the horizon, and thousands of armed warriors afoot in their camp, the result of which is panic, fear, and self-inflicted bloodshed.
Note: It is not uncommon for Christians to find themselves outnumbered. It would not be a bad idea if we could encourage our opponents to fight one another from time to time--which happens to be one of the main ways in which Israel’s opponents are defeated in Scripture.
Remarkably, then, Gideon and his men triumph over 135,000 warriors, and they do so with only 300 trumpets and 300 torches hidden within jars.
If the ‘jars’ in question are similar to those designated by the Akk. term /kandu/ (cp. the dagesh in כַּדִּים), they are likely to be earthenware jars used to hold wine, in which case they may have been procured from Gideon’s decommissioned wine-press.
Either way, the symbolism of the jars is brought out in 2 Cor. 4. The jars highlight the way in which God’s strength shines forth in our weakness.
As Paul says, “[God has] shone in our hearts” in order to implant within us “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God”, and we carry our light around (Paul says) “in earthenware vessels” which are about to “break” (cp. Job 4.19’s ref. to שֹׁכְנֵי בָֽתֵּי־חֹמֶר).
And why? So “the greatness of our power might be (seen to be) of God and not of ourselves” (2 Cor. 4.5-10).
Final thoughts: Chs. 6-8 contain a number of the events which are involved in Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs. 18). The order of these events in Gideon and Elijah’s stories is not identical, but the contact points between them seem notable:
In both cases, a ‘second bull’ is sacrificed and placed on wood arranged (ערך) in the form of a makeshift altar (6.26 cp. 1 Kgs. 18.23, 33).
In both cases, Baal’s greatness is challenged. Baal’s followers are encouraged not to take matters their his own hands, but, rather, to allow Baal to prove himself (6.31-32), hence Gideon acquires the name Jerub-Baal = ‘Let Baal contend with him’.
In both cases, a sacrifice is set out before YHWH and doused in liquid, and then, at YHWH’s command, the sacrifice is consumed, the result of which is a realisation of YHWH’s greatness (6.20-24).
And, in both cases, God’s people are outnumbered by a ratio of 450 to 1. Gideon’s 300 must contend with Midian’s 135,000 (8.10), while Elijah must (singlehandedly) contend with 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kgs. 18.22).
As such, a unity of theme connects the stories of Gideon and Elijah, since both pose the same basic question: ‘How long will you falter between two opposed opinions? If YHWH is God, follow him, but, if Baal, follow him!’.
Gideon’s story also outlines an important principle for Christian life today, which may not be the most obvious principle to draw from our text, but is nonetheless worthy of consideration:
War-time is not the time to accumulate luxuries. Gideon decommissions his wine press in order to devote it to a more needful cause. And Christians must invest their assets in a similarly wise and strategic manner, as their days and times demand.
Of course, assets can be liquidated in more than one way, and with more than one result. In ch. 8, Gideon decides to ‘liquidate’ some of his assets (viz. gold jewellery), though for a cause which will ultimately hinder rather than help God’s people (cp. Exod. 32).
While, therefore, generosity is good, but must be accompanied with wisdom and foresight.
