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 . 17 He said to them, "Look at me and do likewise . And behold , when I come to the outskirts of the camp , do as I do . 18 "When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet , then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp and say , 'For the Lord and for Gideon .' " 19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch , when they had just posted the watch ; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands . 20 When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers , they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing , and cried , "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon !" 21 Each stood in his place around the camp ; and all the army ran , crying out as they fled . 22 When they blew 300 e trumpets , the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army ; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah , as far as the edge of Abel-meholah , by Tabbath .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 7:16-22
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.