71 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon ) and all the people who were with him, rose early and camped 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 The Lord said to Gideon , "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands , for Israel would become boastful , saying , 'My own power has delivered me.' 3 "Now therefore come , proclaim in the hearing of the people , saying , ' Whoever is afraid and trembling , let him return and depart from Mount Gilead .' " So 22,000 e e people returned , but 10,000 e remained . 4 Then the Lord said to Gideon , "The people are still too many ; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there . Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go ." 5 So he brought the people down to the water . And the Lord said to Gideon , "You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps , as well as everyone who kneels e to drink ." 6 Now the number of those who lapped , putting their hand to their mouth , was 300 e men ; but all the rest of the people kneeled e to drink water . 7 The Lord said to Gideon , "I will deliver you with the 300 e men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands ; so let all the other people go , each man to his home ." 8 So the 300 men took the people's provisions and their trumpets into their hands . And Gideon sent all the other men of Israel , each to his tent , but retained the 300 e men ; and the camp of Midian was below e him in the valley .
9 Now the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, "Arise , go down against the camp , for I have given it into your hands . 10 "But if you are afraid to go down , go with Purah your servant down to the camp , 11 and you will hear what they say ; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp ." So he went with Purah his servant down to the outposts of the army that was in the camp . 12 Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts ; and their camels were without number , as numerous as the sand on the seashore e . 13 When Gideon came , behold , a man was relating a dream to his friend . And he said , "Behold , I had a dream ; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian , and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell , and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat ." 14 His friend replied , "This is nothing less e than e the sword of Gideon the son of Joash , a man of Israel ; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand ." 15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation , he bowed in worship . He returned to the camp of Israel and said , "Arise , for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands ."
16 He divided the 300 e men into three companies , and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 7:1-16
Commentary on Judges 7:1-8.
(Read Judges 7:1-8.)
God provides that the praise of victory may be wholly to himself, by appointing only three hundred men to be employed. Activity and prudence go with dependence upon God for help in our lawful undertakings. When the Lord sees that men would overlook him, and through unbelief, would shrink from perilous services, or that through pride they would vaunt themselves against him, he will set them aside, and do his work by other instruments. Pretences will be found by many, for deserting the cause and escaping the cross. But though a religious society may thus be made fewer in numbers, yet it will gain as to purity, and may expect an increased blessing from the Lord. God chooses to employ such as are not only well affected, but zealously affected in a good thing. They grudged not at the liberty of the others who were dismissed. In doing the duties required by God, we must not regard the forwardness or backwardness of others, nor what they do, but what God looks for at our hands. He is a rare person who can endure that others should excel him in gifts or blessings, or in liberty; so that we may say, it is by the special grace of God that we regard what God says to us, and not look to men what they do.
Commentary on Judges 7:9-15
(Read Judges 7:9-15)
The dream seemed to have little meaning in it; but the interpretation evidently proved the whole to be from the Lord, and discovered that the name of Gideon had filled the Midianites with terror. Gideon took this as a sure pledge of success; without delay he worshipped and praised God, and returned with confidence to his three hundred men. Wherever we are, we may speak to God, and worship him. God must have the praise of that which encourages our faith. And his providence must be acknowledged in events, though small and seemingly accidental.
Commentary on Judges 7:16-22
(Read Judges 7:16-22)
This method of defeating the Midianites may be alluded to, as exemplifying the destruction of the devil's kingdom in the world, by the preaching of the everlasting gospel, the sounding that trumpet, and the holding forth that light out of earthen vessels, for such are the ministers of the gospel, 2 Corinthians 4:6,7. God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, a barley-cake to overthrow the tents of Midian, that the excellency of the power might be of God only. The gospel is a sword, not in the hand, but in the mouth: the sword of the Lord and of Gideon; of God and Jesus Christ, of Him that sits on the throne and the Lamb. The wicked are often led to avenge the cause of God upon each other, under the power of their delusions, and the fury of their passions. See also how God often makes the enemies of the church instruments to destroy one another; it is a pity that the church's friends should ever act like them.