Judges Chapter 7 Verse 1

• So Gideon and his army of about 32,000 are camped just south of the Midianite army in a place called the Valley of Jezreel and we’re told here that they are specifically camped beside the well of Harod. Now, he has 32,000 men which is a large number. But the Medianites number is around 135,000! That’s about a 4 to 1 ratio! And interestingly enough, the translation for the word “Harod,” well, that word actually means “fear” or “astonishment.” And they know that…
• So here’s the scene. An army of 135,000 against your army of 32,000 which is just a bit intimidating. “So uh, hey Gideon, where do you want to set up camp?” “How about over here by the well of FEAR!” HA! The point is that the camp morale was probably pretty poor…right!? But we’ll see in just a minute, God sends most of them home…

Judges Chapter 7 Verses 2 – 3 (Verse 2 is a big deal to God by the way…)

• If Gideon’s faith wasn’t already being tested, it certainly is now! Two-thirds of his army just left! His ratio just went from 4 Midianties to every Israelite, 4 to 1, to 14 to 1! Couple things here…first what do you think he expected!? I mean they were all probably a little bit frightened…I would have expected all or nothing. Either they all would leave or none of them would leave…maybe a few I guess, certainly no more than a couple hundred…but 22,000! The vast majority of his team!
• And here’s what’s more…what do you think this did to him personally? Two-thirds of those who had come with him just turned back…I’m not sure we know depression like this. This must have hit him so very personally… (often
• So he has lost his might in that the odds are now so very far against him that statistically this situation is borderline hopeless…he has lost his power in that even the strength in his bones is probably failing from discouragement…and yet he remains…his faith is most certainly being tested. Just like yours and mine will be…but notice, Gideon doesn’t leave.
• Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.” God wants to ensure that in the victory on the battle field, the nation will have the victory over the flesh. See God wants to see you through but if it is the money you credit or the friends you credit or the church you credit or the employer you credit then that is where you will look in the future for deliverance. God wants to deliver you in such a way as to strengthen you…fortify your faith…so that in the future, when the next test comes or hardship comes or trial comes…you turn to Him…He says to Gideon…, “too many still son…”

Judges Chapter 7 Verse 4

• Something strikes me here. God says to Gideon, “Bring your men, I will test them.” That is an uncomfortable place for me. Just being honest. Because sometimes I can look down the road a bit for my team, for my wife, for my kids…and see a major test of faith coming…and sometimes I just have to let it come…hard place for sure but ultimately I want them to know that God is faithful and that His word never fails…and so sometimes, we gotta bring them down to the water…

Judges Chapter 7 Verses 5 - 7

• Now notice, and I may be looking just too far into this, but notice what the distinction is. The men that placed their mouths in the water, send them home. This is interesting for me…because to lower your head to the water, you have to become almost defenseless…in a time of war, at the location they are are…not too smart. If you cup the water and bring it to your mouth, you remain aware, alert, and circumspect of all that is going on around you…
• I see this, in a way, as a division of the wise. God’s aim is to assure that the people do not credit themselves for the coming victory…His goal is to equip the entire nation to walk by faith…and so His purpose is to, in a way, separate the men from the boys…and the difference is not biceps or knowledge or money or legacy or pedigree or last name or how long they had known Gideon…His deciding factor is are they walking in wisdom. Do they take responsibility for all those around them…do they wait to be told what is right or do they just do what is right…??
• I love this picture…the rest, God says, “go home.” I will deliver the entire nation through this tiny group of fantastically faithful and wise folks…odds now? 450 to 1 but know this…when wisdom, faith, circumspect and loyalty are found in a person…what God can do through them is eternal!

Judges Chapter 7 Verse 8

• This kind-of tripped me up. The fact that they took their trumpets and left. I would expect them to take their swords, or their machine guns, or their machetes…but trumpets? It could be that they were planning to intimidate the Midianites with a loud synchronous blast from their trumpets but I also see this…maybe they were all talk. I mean just thinking in terms of the ones who do and do not take responsibility for those around them…they’re a whole lot of trumpet and not a lot of sword. Just sayin’.

Judges Chapter 7 Verses 9 – 11

• Very telling. Gideon was obviously afraid and yet still, he stays the course. His faith has been tested, his faith has been refined, and now his faith is being honored by God…such a wonderful pattern.

Judges Chapter 7 Verses 12 – 15

• How encouraging for Gideon because barley bread is the poor man’s bread. Wheat is for good bread, barley is for the poor and so what God was saying and what Gideon was hearing was simply that the greatness of the Midianites would be overthrown by a humble nobody, short on resources! And I love that it says here that he worshipped…how? With song and hands raised high? No with humility of faith and trust and a thankful heart!

Judges Chapter 7 Verses 16 – 18

• Notice it is Gideon that has to put the trumpet into these folks’ hands. Notice it is Gideon who they are willingly ready to follow. These 300 are mighty and they are unified!
• And notice, he tells them to “say,” “the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!” Now that word in the Hebrew also means avow. To avow something is to commit to it…to proclaim it in such a way as to be all in with it…what if they had just said that? Do you think the Midianites would have the fear of God in them? Not a chance. Each of these 300 were about to blow out their voice boxes with every ounce of volume they could muster!
• This is the same in worship for me. If all I am doing is singing songs with whatever breath I have taken in that minute before then who in heaven am I honoring? When we are worshipping we are avowing! Or we are singing. And for me, heart, soul, mind and strength…volume…for me that’s important because I want the gates of hell to shake when they hear this one of 300 cry out…I want it to mean something to me and to God! I mean if it means nothing to me then what’s it going to mean to Him??

• And notice what they yell! This is so cool! “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” Now what’s cool is what they basically just said, translated for us here, is the “Word of God, and Gideon!” But in the Hebrew, something even cooler, what they literally shouted was simply, “Yehovah, Gideon!” Literally they are honoring their God, standing upon the strength of their God and confirming His word by encouraging and shouting for their general! This is so cool…Gideon must have exploded with Holy Spirit fire as his men cry out, “For God! And we will fight with Gideon!”

Judges Chapter 7 Verses 19 – 21

• The Midianite army awakes to an explosion of noise with all of the clay pots breaking and they come out to see their camp surrounded by shouting men holding torches! Pretty intimidating but check out this symbology as well…

• Clay pots, earthen vessels, that speaks of mankind…of you and of me and 1 Corinthians 4: 6 – 7 says, “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

• God has placed into each Christian the power of God in the Person of the Holy Spirit but notice, that light doesn’t shine until you are willing to go to battle! Some say learn, some say study, some say pay, some say pray, some say wait, I say go! Take the word of God real time, as you are learning it daily and apply it, teach it, share it, speak it, shout it and watch your clay pot shatter man…hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed…and your light will shine brightly, even to the point that the enemy is defeated…watch this…

Judges Chapter 7 Verses 22 – 25

• Victory…and in the end, it was the enemy that destroyed the enemy…isn’t that amazing. You’ll find the same as you walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the wisdom of love for God and love for others, taking responsibility for those around you and even though fear is not absent, you stay the course and avow in worship, through your very life song, that God is good and God is faithful!!