I ntroduction: In the previous chapter, Gideon had sent messengers out to several tribes and he got a fairly reasonable response; 32,000 men volunteered to fight against the forces of Midian. Now, as Gideon looks out over his troops, probably the one thing going through his mind is that he does not have enough soldiers. After all, the Midianites and their allies were like an invasion of locusts in their midst. Although I tend to be wary of large numbers in Scripture, according to Judges 8:10, there were perhaps 135,000 enemy soldiers in Israel at that time. Even Gideon’s original 32,000 men were not quite a match for them. And Gideon, although he is feeling slightly better about being the leader in this attack, is still not comfortable. However, in this chapter, God will sift through these men for a small number of crack soldiers. In fact, although Gideon begins with 32,000 men, God will reduce that number to 300. The purpose in this was to indicate clearly to Gideon and to all of Israel that God was still in command and that God Himself would defeat the enemy. You will recall that the eastern invaders were like locusts upon the land for their number and impact. God will take only 300 men and defeat this enemy of Israel—in fact, they will be so soundly defeated in this and the next chapter that Israel will never again have to deal with the Midianites. God chose to do this for several reasons, but one of them was Gideon required of God clear proofs that it was God Who was speaking to him and giving him direction. Now that God convinced Gideon of that, God now expects Gideon to show some faith in God’s power, which means that Gideon is going to take 300 men into battle against thousands of men.

Near the end of this chapter, we will have one of the more gruesome plays on words to be found in all of Scripture.

Slavishly literal:

Moderately literal:

And so arose early Jerub-baal (he is Gideon) and all of the people who [were] with him. And so they encamped against a spring [or, well] of Harod and a camp of Midian was to him from [the] north from a hill of the Moreh in the valley.

Judges

7:1

Then Jerub-baal (he is Gideon) and all the people who [were] with him arose early and camped beside the well of Harod. The camp of Midian was to the north of him at the hill of Moreh in the valley.

Then Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon), along with all of the people who were with him arose early and they camped beside the well of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them at the hill of Moreh in the valley.

It is quite interesting that we go immediately to the use of Jerub-baal as Gideon’s name. His fight against Midian was symbolic of his fight against Baal. Where they were encamped was by the well or spring of Harod. We do not know who this Harod was, but two of his descendants became a part of David’s mighty men (II Sam. 23:25 I Chron. 11:27).

The spring of Harod means spring of fright (or, trembling). Barnes suggests, and this makes more sense, that this was not a person but that the spring was so named at that time because of those who returned home in fear.

Young's Lit. Translation ...the camp of Midian hath been on the south of him...

As you will recall, Young tends to be the most literal of all the translators; however, they all side up against him here. We first have the prepositional phrase to him followed by the feminine singular of tsâphôwn (ןפ ָצ) [pronounced tsaw-FOHN], which mean north. Strong’s #6828 BDB #860. We must assume a typo on the part of Young here as none of the six words translated south are even close to this word. Tsâphôwn is preceded by the mîn preposition (from).

This is followed by the prepositional phrase from a hill of Moreh. The first word is the feminine singular construct of gi^bv^e׳âh (ה ָע ׃ב ̣) [pronounced gi^bv^e-ĢAW], which means hill. Strong’s #1389 BDB #148. We do not know where the hill of Moreh is, although there is certainly speculation. It is only mentioned here, although the plain of Moreh (mistranslated the oak of Moreh) is found in Gen. 12:6 and Deut. 11:30. We are uncertain as to the relationship between these two places. The NIV Study Bible places the camp of Midian about four miles northwest of Israel, with this drama beginning to unfold south of Mouth Tabor between the Jordan River and the end of the Kishon River.

And so said Y^ehowah unto Gideon, “Many the people who [are] with you from My giving of the Midianites into their hand lest boasts against Me Israel to say, ‘My hand delivered me.’ ”

Judges

7:2

So Y^ehowah said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are many more than My giving of the Midianites into their hand lest Israel boasts against me, saying, ‘My hand delivered me.’ ”

Then Jehovah said to Gideon, “There are too many people with you for me to give Midian into Israel’s hand. They will ultimately take the credit, saying, ‘My hand delivered me.’ ”

The first thing that God says to Gideon is the masculine singular adjective construct of ra^bv (ב ַר) [pronounced rah^bv], which means many, much, great. Strong's #7227 BDB #912. The first verb after that is rather difficult; it is the Qal infinitive construct of nâthan (ן ַת ָנ) [pronounced naw-THAHN], which means give, grant, place, put, set. Strong's #5414 BDB #678. It is preceded by the mîn preposition and it has a 1^st person suffix, and altogether, they are translated for me to give (NASB, Owen); for My giving (Young), for me to deliver (Rotherham); for me to deliver (NIV). The preposition for (lâmed = ל) and from (mîn = מ) do not look at all alike so there is no mixup here. Occasionally, mîn is used to mean more than when placed with a verb, which is one possible explanation here. The rendering is still rough, but it makes more sense. Mîn = Strong's #4480 BDB #577.

Then we have the archaic conjunction pen (ן∵) [pronounced pen], which means lest, peradventure; or so that + a negative. Strong's #6435 BDB #814. The verb which follows is the Hithpael imperfect of pâar (ר-אָ) [pronounced paw-AHR], which means to beautify, to glorify. In the Hithpael, it means to glorify (onself), to boast, to get glory, to be glorified. Strong’s #6286 BDB #802. God wants there to be no question in their minds as to Who is fighting this battle. As I Cor. 1:29 reads: That no man should boast before God.

“And now proclaim please in ears of the people, to say, ‘Who is fearful and trembling; let him will return’; and he will depart from a mountain of the Gilead.” And so returned from the people twenty and two thousand and ten thousand remained.

Judges

7:3

“And now proclaim please in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return’; and he will depart from the mountain of Gilead.’ Therefore, twenty-two thousand [men] from the people returned and ten thousand remained

“Now announce to the people, ‘Whoever is afraid, let him return’; and he will depart from Mount Gilboa.” Then, 22,000 men returned to their tents and 10,000 remained.

What we have here is an unusual command; God removes from the army all of those who would be fearful in battle. To give you an idea, even though God is on the side of Israel and even though all of these are volunteers, a full two-thirds of the men returned to their homes based upon being afraid. This was in keeping with the Law of Moses. If you will recall Deut. 20:8: “Then the officers will speak further to the people, and they will say, ‘Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart.’ ”

If you will recall, Gilead is on the other side of the Jordan from where they are. Whereas, it is possible that the troops gathered east of the Jordan, it is unlikely, simply for the reason that they would have to cross the Jordan twice. Unfortunately, we have very few familiar geographical clues in this chapter. The NIV Study Bible suggests that this is Mount Gilboa rather than Mount Gilead (they suggest that it is actually another name for Mount Gilboa). Gilead is the name found in the Septuagint (actually, Galaad). In the Hebrew, Gilead is gil^e׳âd (דָע ל ̣) [pronounced gil-ĢAWD]. Strong’s #1568 BDB #166. Gilboa is gil^ebbô׳a (-עֹ ל ̣) [pronounced gil-BOH-ah or gilb-BOH-ah or gilb-BOH-ahg]. Strong’s #1533 BDB #162. Therefore, the words are close, but not so close that a simple scribal error could account for the mistake (if it were a scribal error, then the scribe had to flat out incorrectly write the proper noun). The latter location would make the most sense, geographically speaking, as it is south of Mount Tabor, which would allow the initial action of this chapter to take place in between the two mountains, which seems to fit with everything else. Obviously there would have had to have been a mistake in the handling of the text or a change if this occurred, because, even though three of the consonants are the same, the two which are different are very different, as well as being located in different places. Therefore our options are two at this point: (1) there is a mistake in the text; or, (2) there is a mountain west of the Jordan with the name of Gilead (just as there apparently is an unidentified mountain on the northern border of Judah called Seir, as found in Joshua 15:10). The latter explanation is not out of the question. This is all taking place in the northern border of west Manasseh; since there is an east and a west Manasseh, those in the west may have temporarily named one of their mountains Gilead as sort of a tie to their brothers on the other side of the Jordan; this name, apparently, did not last.

The amount of men involved here is interesting. Back in the first chapter of Numbers, each tribe would have 50,000 or so men above the age of 22. This would give us an average fighting force of 25,000–30,000 in each tribe’s army. Now here, out of 3½ tribes, we’re getting 32,000 men total. This means that, after all of these years in the land, the Israelite tribes are sending in roughly a third of the men that they originally had available for war. Now, either that is the case, or there were a lot fewer Israelites in the land at the beginning of the book of Numbers.

In any case, Gideon’s original force of 32,000 has been reduced to 10,000; however, these are men who do not fear to go into battle. The cowardice of the ones who have left could have infected the entire army of Gideon; and, although Gideon is not comfortable with the arrangement, he is still willing to go forward with the war against Midian. Then God riffs his army again. God would see to it that there would be no way for the people of Israel to glorify themselves when they defeat Midian.

And so said Y^ehowah unto Gideon, “Still, the people many; bring them down unto the waters and I will test them for you there; and he is who I say unto you, ‘This one will go with you’; he [even] he will go with you; and of all whom I say unto you, ‘This one will not go with you’; then he will not go.”

Judges

7:4

Then Y^ehowah said to Gideon, “Still, the people [are too] many. Bring them down to the waters and I will test them for you there. And it is [he] whom I say to you, ‘This one will go with you’; he [even] he will go with you; and all of whom I say unto you, ‘This one will not go with you’; he [even] he will not go with you.”

Then Jehovah said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Bring them down to the river and there I will test them for you. I will choose the ones who will go with you and the ones who will not.”

The first thing that God says to Gideon is the adverb ׳ôwd (דע) [pronounced ģohd] (it is also written דֹע), a word which acts as both an adverb and as a substantive. In both cases, it carries the idea of continuation. As an adverb it means still, yet, again, besides. Strong’s #5750 BDB #728. There is no verb in the first phrase and the adjective which describes the people is ra^bv again (ב ַר) [pronounced rah^bv], which means many, much, great. Several translations went with too many. Strong's #7227 BDB #912. In I Sam. 14:6b, Jonathan will tell his armor bearer: “Jehovah is not constrained from delivering by many or by a few.”

The first verb is the Hiphil imperative of yârad (ד ַר ָי) [pronounced yaw-RAHD], which means to descend, to go down. In the Hiphil, it means cause to go down, cause to come down, to bring down. Strong’s #3381 BDB #432. With the verb we have the 3^rd person masculine plural suffix. Once they are brought down to the waters, God tells Gideon that He will do the Qal imperfect of tsâraph (ף ַר ָצ) [pronounced tzaw-RAHF], which means to test [the purity and the genuineness of a metal]. The purity and genuineness of the people were being tested here. According to Barnes, this is more accurately a word which connotes the separating of a metal from the dross; it is the final step in the refining of a metal. Strong’s #6884 BDB #864.

Then we have the wâw conjunction and the 3^rd person masculine singular, Qal perfect of to be is found here. Sometimes this is translated and it will be, and it will come to pass; and sometimes it is a more integral part of the sentence. This is followed by the relative pronoun. This three words are variously translated and he of whom (The Amplified Bible, Owen), and it hath been, he of whom (Young), Therefore, it shall be that he of whom (NASB), and it shall be that he of whom (Rotherham). You may be wondering why the more literal translators have over a half dozen words to render these three Hebrew words, but the relative pronoun often implies the verb to be. In my most literal translation, I will go with and he is who.

Then, literally, we have: I say unto you, “This one will go with you”; he [even] he will go with you. This gives us: And so said Y^ehowah unto Gideon, “Still the people many; bring them down unto the waters and I will test them for you there; and he is who I say unto you, “This one will go with you”; he [even] he will go with you. The next phrase is and all of whom, and then we have almost exactly the same wording as before, except with the negative added.

And so he brought down the people unto the waters; and so said Y^ehowah unto Gideon, “All who lap with his tongue from the waters as how laps the dog, you will set him to himself; and all who bow down upon his knees to drink.”

Judges

7:5

Then he brought down the people to the waters and Y^ehowah said to Gideon, “All who lap from the waters with his tongue as how the dog laps, you will set him to himself; and all who bow down upon his knees to drink.”

The Gideon led the people down to the river and Jehovah said to Gideon, “Those who cup the water in their hands and lap at it as a dog laps, you will set them aside. The others will get on their knees to drink.”

For those who lap from the water as does a dog, God tells Gideon the Hiphil imperfect of yâtsag (ג-צָי) [pronounced yaw-TSAHG], which means to set, to station, to place. It appears to be only found in the Hiphil. Strong’s #3322 BDB #426. This is followed by the lamed preposition and masculine singular pausal. A pausal is a word denoted either by an atnâh or a sillûg (as well as certain other strong disjunctive accents). These are similar to vowel points which were added long after Scripture was written and they indicate that there is a break in speaking at this point. To us, that simply means the insertion of a comma or a semi-colon. Interestingly enough, this is one of the few marks of punctuation to be found in the Massoretic text.

There will be two groups of people. There will be the men who lap at the water like a dog; which sounds as though (by contrast) that they are cupping the water in their hands and lapping at the water. The others get on their knees to drink. The separation of the two groups appears to be arbitrary, but Thieme suggests that those who lapped at the water were the more alert, that such a drinking habit allowed them to still look around and to keep tabs on the changing situation. Those who were drinking on their knees were the more vulnerable and they let down their guard for just a moment. Barnes writes: They who threw themselves on the ground and drank freely were the more self-indulgent; while they who, remembering the near presence of the enemy, slaked their thirst with moderation, and without being off their guard for an instant, were the true soldiers of the army of God.

This test would determine who would go with Gideon and who would remain.

And so was [the] number of the lappers with their hands unto their mouths three hundred men; and all [the] rest of the people knelt down upon their knees to drink waters.

Judges

7:6

And the number of lappers with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men; and all the rest of the people knelt down upon their knees to drink the water.

Only three hundred cupped the water in their hands and lapped at it like a dog. The remainder knelt down to drink.

Although the verb follows the wâw consecutive at the beginning of this verse, it is not found in the English until way further into the sentence. Out of the remaining 10,000 men, only three hundred cupped the water and lapped at it like a dog would. A dog is going to lap at the water on a regular basis, but it does not let its guard down. Now, the number of men whom God has chosen to go with Gideon is almost humorous. Abram, back in Gen. 14:14, had a larger fighting force of his own personal workforce. He took with him 308 men to rescue Lot.

And so said Y^ehowah unto Gideon, “By three hundred of the men the lappers, I will deliver you [all] and I have given Midian into your hands. And all the people will go, a man to his home.”

Judges

7:7

And then Y^ehowah said to Gideon, “By means of the three hundred men, the lappers, I will deliver you and I will give the Midianites into your hand. And all of the people will go, each man to his home.”

And then Jehovah said to Gideon and to the 300 men who lapped at the water: “I will deliver you and I will give the Midianites into your hand.” The remaining people returned to their homes.

This verse has some slight variations when it comes to translating it, enough which bear looking at:

The Emphasized Bible Then said Yahweh unto Gideon— By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thy hand; and let [all the rest of] the people go every man to his own place.

My initial translation And so said Y^ehowah unto Gideon, with three hundred the men the lappers: “I will deliver you [all] and I will give Midian into your hand.” And all the people, they went a man to his home.

NASB And the Lord said to Gideon, “I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his home.”

NJB Yahweh then said to Gideon, ‘With the three hundred who lapped the water, I shall rescue you and put Midian into your power. Let the people as a whole disperse to their homes.’

Owen's Translation And Yahweh said to Gideon with the three hundred men that lapped, “I will deliver you and I will give the Midianites into your hand. And all the people let go each to his home.”

Young's Lit. Translation And Jehovah saith unto Gideon, ‘By the three hundred men who are lapping I save you, and have given Midian into thy hand, and all the people go, each to his place.’

We begin, literally, with And so Y^ehowah said unto Gideon. Then we have the bêyth preposition, which means in, by with, against. Strong’s #none BDB #88. Now, if the key were just that Gideon was simply with these people, the preposition ׳im (ם ̣ע) [pronounced ģeem] would have been used instead. It simply refers to an association, a coupling (although, like all prepositions in the Hebrew, it is more complex than that). Strong’s #5973 BDB #767. This is where I first messed up; I didn’t carefully examine the preposition. The implication of bêyth here is probably by means of. This is in keeping with the various uses of bêyth as well as the context.

What God says, literally, is: “By 300 of the men the lappers, I will deliver you all and I have given Midian into your hands.” The you all refers to Gideon, the 300, the excess men, and to all of Israel. God would deliver all of Israel by these 300 men. Whether the remaining portion of this verse is a part of what God said to Gideon or whether it described what happened, is determined by a simple vowel point. The difference between a wâw consecutive and a wâw conjunction is whether it has a short e or an a under it; these vowel points were added almost two millenniums after this was originally written based upon the reading of the text. The wâw consecutive (which is not found here), would indicate a furtherance of the action. That is, God would not be speaking, but this would be a portion of the narrative. With the simple wâw conjunction, God is still probably speaking. I do two close pass through’s when I examine each verse and I hope to catch any errors by the second time through.

McGee makes an application here which completely eluded me: Do you know what we have here? It is one of the finest lessons concerning divine election and man’s free will. This is the way they work together. God said to Gideon, “I am going to choose the men that I want to go with you, but the way I will do it is to let them make the choice. Bring them down to the water, and the ones who lap water like a dog, just going through and throwing it into their mouths, are the ones I have chosen. You can put aside those men who get down on all fours and take their time drinking. I don’t want them.”

These men made their choice and God made His choice and they coincided. Those who were alert to the situation in which they found themselves were the ones chosen by God in eternity past to fight for Israel. Those who let their guard down, God had rejected them in eternity past. God did not make any man get down on all fours nor did He make any man lap at the water. They acted out of their own free will and God, in His perfect foreknowledge, elected certain ones from eternity past. McGee continues: You can argue about divine election and free will all you want to, but it works. You cannot make it work out by arguing, but it sure works out in life, friends. each one of the ten thousand men in Gideon’s army exercised his free will. God did not interfere with one of them as far as their free wills were concerned. Today God, though His Son Jesus Christ, offers you the free gift of salvation. It is a legitimate offer. It is a sincere offer from God Himself. He says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37). Now don’t tell me that you can argue about election right now. You cannot. You can come to God if you want to come. If you don’t come, I have news for you—you were not elected. If you do come, I have good news for you—you were elected. That is the way God moves.

There were two groups of people; those who were with Gideon who lapped the water as a dog would; God promised Gideon that He would see to it that they defeated the Midianites. The remaining people were returned to their homes. McGee again: Now these 300 chosen men often have been misunderstood. As a student, I went down to a little church in Georgia. When I got there, a dear little lady wearing a sunbonnet said to me, “Mr. McGee, we have here just a little Gideon’s band.” They didn’t have a Gideon’s band! They had the most discouraged, lazy folk I have ever seen in my life. That is not Gideon’s band. Gideon’s band was a group of dedicated me, willing to die to deliver Israel, men who had their hearts and soul in this matter. May I say to you that these men lapped up water like a dog because they were after the Midianites and not after water. They will drink after the battle is over.”

These proportions are more significant that one would suppose at first. Gideon began with 30,000 men. He kept sending out messengers to various tribes until he felt relatively secure that he would have enough men to defeat the enemy. God whittled these men down by a factor of 100; only 1% of those who volunteered were utilized by God. In the Old Testament, it was typical that God used only a few men and He endowed only a very small percentage of men with the Holy Spirit. Of all those called, only a few are chosen.

Our application today—we should not be shocked to find that only 1% of the believers in this world have even a clue as to what is going on and who have a full and a powerful life. Now, all believers have been baptized with the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12:13), but not all believers utilize God’s Spirit. In fact, I would not be surprised if 99% of the believers in this world spent 99% of their lives out of fellowship, quenching the Spirit.

Now there is a great touch of irony here that you might have missed. Gideon is checking this situation out and he wants to make damn sure that it is God Who is in charge. When that is clear, then he gathers just as many men as he possibly can. Certainly, God is in charge, but Gideon is going to make certain that things will go as they are supposed to. So God takes away most of his insurance. God removes the majority of the men which Gideon called and gives him 300 men who drink funny. Gideon put God to the test, so now God puts Gideon to the test.

And so they took the provisions the people in their hand and their trumpets and all of [the] men of Israel he sent a man to his tents and to three hundred the men, he held fast. And a camp of Midian was to him below in the valley.

Judges

7:8

And so they took the provisions [of] the people in their hand and their trumpets and he sent all of the men of Israel to their tents, and he held fast to the three hundred men. Below him in the valley was the camp of Midian.

So the 300 men took the provisions of the people and their trumpets; then Gideon sent these men back to their tents, while keeping the 300 men. The camp of Midian was below them in the valley.

The men who volunteered came with their food, their gear, their trumpets and whatever they could dig up for weapons. When someone went to war, they didn’t just show up and say, “Here I am; outfit me.” What they brought would be what they would eat, what they would need for a change of clothes, and what they would need to fight with.

The simple question would be, what happened with all of the provisions? That is, were they retained by those who brought them? Were they taken by the 300 men? We will need some translations in order to determine that:

The Amplified Bible So the people took provisions in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his home, and retained those 300 men; and the host of Midian was below him in the valley.

The Emphasized Bible So the people took provisions in their hand and their horns but every man of Israel besides sent he away every man to his home, whereas the three hundred men he retained. Now the camp of Midian was beneath him in the vale.

NASB So the 300 men [lit., they] took the people’s provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And Gideon [lit., he] sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

Young's Lit. Translation And the people take the provisions in their hand, and their trumpets, and every man of Israel he hath sent away, each to his tents; and on the three hundred men he hat kept hold, and the camp of Midian hath been by him at the lower part of the valley.

In the English, our sentence structure tends to be fairly simple. We begin with our subject and then our verb and then the direct object (or predicate nominative). In the Hebrew, every verb already has number, person and gender, so that the pronouns he, she, I, they, you are already placed into the verb. We have a sign which indicates a direct object in the Hebrew, but not one which indicates the subject. Often we can match up the subject with whatever else in the verse has the same gender, person and number as the verb, although that is not always the case. What we have here, again, is a sentence which is difficult to unravel, not because it is complex, but because the author understands what it means, but does not completely convey that to the reader. Considering Gideon’s temperament and vocabulary, I would say that he is very likely the author of this chapter and its bookends. How should I put this? Gideon’s actions, as well as his writing, appear as though they could stand to have an editor or a re-write. That is, if he should go back and re-do some things and re-say and re-write some things, it would all come together better than it does.

Now, this sentence reads, literally: And so [they] took [the] provisions [the direct object] the people in their hand and their trumpets... My personal inclination would be that the provisions mentioned belong to the people in general, as did the trumpets and the they of this verb belongs to the 300 men, the lappers. It is the placement of the people in between the two direct objects and the fact that not everyone brought trumpets and the fact that the 300 men would use the trumpets which leads me to translate as did the NASB, that the subject of the verse is the 300 men. The NASB is an interesting translation at times; it clarifies the subject in this verse twice (300 men and Gideon do not occur in this verse, but are inserted by the translators to clear things up). The NASB does footnote these additions and give the actual renderings in the margins. The remainder of the verse is fairly simple. Gideon sends the excess back to their tents and he keeps the 300 men given him by God.

The first group of men then took these things up and returned to their tents. Of the remaining, we have the Hiphil perfect of châzaq (ק ַז ָח) [pronounced khaw-ZAHK], which means to be strong, firm, to strengthen. The root means to fasten upon, to seize, to grow firm; and this word came to mean to be strong, firm, to strengthen. The Hiphil means to take, to strengthen, to repair, to hold fast. Strong’s #2388 BDB #304.

The last phrase is, literally: And a camp of Midian was to him below in the valley.

And so he was in the night the that and so said unto him Y^ehowah, “Arise; go down against the camp for I have given him into your hand.

Judges

7:9

And it was in that night that Y^ehowah said unto him, “Arise and go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.”

Then, that night, Jehovah came to Gideon and said to him, “Arise and go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.

At first glance at this verse, I had assumed that God was moving Gideon out against the enemy. They bêyth preposition which is used could mean against the camp. However, its primary meaning is in, into, so what we have is either ”Arise; go down into the camp.” or ”Arise; go down against the camp.” Gideon was given no time to think about this. God is ready for him to attack the camp of Midian.

Owen has that hand is in the feminine plural with a 2^nd person masculine suffix, but it is the feminine singular. God adds this note that Midian has been given into Gideon’s hand so that Gideon would not be afraid. This is the camp which Gideon would defeat and God had guaranteed him that; so going against the camp should not be a problem for Gideon. However, God realizes that there is still some reticence in Gideon’s actions.

“And if fearing you to go down, go down, you and Purah, your young man, unto the camp.

Judges

7:10

“And if you are fearing to go down, [then] go down, you and Purah, your young man, into the camp.

“And if you are afraid to go down, then go with Purah, your young man, into the camp.

We begin with the wâw conjunction and the hypothetical particle and the Qal active participle of yârê (א ֵר ָי) [pronounced yaw-RAY] means fear, fear-respect, reverence, to have a reverential respect. As a participle, this can act like a noun or a verb. Here it behaves like a verb. Strong’s #3372 BDB #431. With it is the 2^nd person pronoun. Apparently, some have given the meaning of this protasis “If you are afraid to go (alone or unarmed)...” but that is not the meaning to be taken here. The fear refers to going down to the camp of Midian to war with 300 men. In the previous verse, Gideon is told to go up against Midian in battle, however God recognizes Gideon’s reticence, even though Gideon is no doubt holding his tongue and not expressing it.

Purah is called the masculine singular of na׳arîym (םי ̣ר ַע ַנ) [pronounced nah-ģgah-REEM], originally meant young men. It can refer to an infants, a youth, or to a slave or a servant. Strong’s #5288 –5289 BDB #654. Now, why does God send Gideon into the camp of the enemy with his armor bearer (or, his personal servant)? God does not want Gideon to arise the next morning and wonder if it was all just a dream. Did he really go down into the camp of Midian or did he simply dream that he did. With his personal servant, he can verify to himself what he saw and heard.

God recognizes that there is still some unbelief in Gideon, and knows what would be convincing. So God sends Gideon and his servant to the outskirts of the camp of Midian. It is here that God will give Gideon another assurance of his victory. Gideon will find out that the Midianites are more afraid of God than Gideon is of them. They consider their defeat to be a done deal. What is our application? As believers, there will be times that we lack courage and have times of doubt. If we are simply filled with the Spirit and taking in God’s Word on a daily basis, He will bolster our faith. There may be times that you think that you are the only believer who thinks correctly (now, I am referring to a person grounded in God’s Word), and sometimes you will need faith to hold to that. Now, I am not referring here to being simply hard-headed or stupid about something; and it is highly unlikely that you will be the only person who recognizes the truth; however, in your own personal periphery, that may be the case. I personally recognize the strength and importance of God’s Word and recognize that it should be communicated verbally from a pastor to his congregation; however, to listen to the hundreds of sermons on television and the radio, you would think that God’s Word is simply a jumping off point to launch into some other topic. However, we learn what God’s role is in our lives as well as our place in this world by seeing how He has guided His people in the past. We simply have to make the application that God is not going to speak to us audibly while awake or in dreams, nor will he find it necessary to appear to us in some human or supernatural apparition. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many times and in many ways, in these last days, He has spoken to us in [His] Son, Whom He appointed heir of all things, through Whom also He made the ages (Heb. 1:1–2).

“And you will hear what they say and afterwards strengthened are your hands and you will go down against the camp.” And so he went down, he and Purah, his young man unto an extremity of the ranks by fifties who [were] in the camp.

Judges

7:11

“And you will hear what they say and afterwards, your hands will be strengthened, and you will go down against the camp.” So he and Purah, his young man, went down to the outskirts of the ranks by fifties who [were] in the camp.

“Then you will hear what they have to say and afterwards, you will become strong enough in your will to attack their camp.” So Gideon and Purah went down to the outskirts of the enemy forces encamped nearby.

Where he and Purah went to was the masculine singular construct of qâtseh (ה ∵צ ָק) [pronounced kaw-TSEH], which means end, extremity, outskirts. Strong’s #7097 BDB #892. The ones which are spoken of next are the masculine plural adjective (used as a substantive) of chămushîym (םי ̣ש ֻמ ֲח) [pronounced kheh-moo-SHEEM], which means armed, in battle array, armed for battle. Young renders this fifties; Scofield, ranks by five; Barnes, arrayed in divisions or ranks. This word is found only in Ex. 13:18 Joshua 1:14 4:12 Judges 7:11 and it is nearly identical with two other words meaning fifty and fifth; the chief difference being a vowel point or two. Strong’s #2571 BDB #332. God knew that Gideon was still in doubt even though Gideon was no longer expressing that doubt aloud, and He made allowances for that. God arranged for Gideon to go with a servant to check out the enemies. God requires that Gideon be as unwavering as the 300 elite troops that he was leading.

And Midian and Amalek and all sons of [the] east were lying in the valley as locusts for the multitudes and with regards to their camels not of a number as the sand which [is] upon the seashore for multitude.

Judges

7:12

Midian and Amalek and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as locusts with regards to multitude and with regards to their camels, innumerable as the sand which [is] upon the seashore with regards to multitude.

Midian, Amalek and tribes from the east were encamped in the valley as locusts; and their camels were as innumerable as the sands upon the shore.

After the word locusts, we have the lâmed preposition, the definite article and the masculine singular noun rô^bv (בֹר) [pronounced roh^bv], which means multitude, abundance, greatness. Strong’s #7230 BDB #913.

When speaking of the camels, we have the negative construct of ayin (ן ̣י-א) [pronounced AH-yin], which means naught, nothing; or it can be used as a particle of negation; no, not. Strong’s #369 BDB #34. It is followed by the masculine singular noun miç^ephâr (ר ָ ׃ס ̣מ) [pronounced mis^e-FAWR] means number, counted, numerical total. With the negational construct, it means innumerable. Strong’s #4557 BDB #708.

The point that is being driven home is that there are thousands upon thousands of enemy soldiers encamped within the borders of Israel; and they have so many camels that they alone are like a locust invasion—there is almost an uncountable number of camels. In the book of Numbers, Amalek was living elsewhere. “Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.” (Num. 13:29). By contrast, we have Gideon and 300 men. Now this is a sign which God had not done before. He had never taken a minuscule number of men and gone against so many.

We should stop for a moment and consider the camel; and I will let Keller give you some details you may not have known: The new “invention” which made it possible for the Midianites to terrorise Israel was the taming of the camel! Tame camels are likely to have been something quite new in the ancient world. The people of the Bronze Age probably knew nothing of them. Egyptian texts never mention them. Even in Mari, next door to the great Arabian desert, there is no single reference to them in any of that vast collection of documents.

Keller goes on to say that the references in the Pentateuch to camels were added later; however, there are so many, that I doubt that. Furthermore, there is only one word in the Hebrew for camel, which is used throughout the Old Testament. However, it is possible that the use of camels in warfare in large numbers was a relatively new thing at this time in the ancient world.

And so came Gideon and behold a man recalling to his associate a dream and so he said, “Behold, a dream I dreamed: and, behold, a round loaf of bread of barley tumbled into a camp of Midian and so he came unto the tent and so he struck him and so he fell and so he turned him upwards and fell the tent.”

Judges

7:13

Then Gideon came and, lo, a man recounting a dream to an associate; and he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, behold, a round loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and it came to a tent and it struck it [the tent] and it fell and it turned it upwards; and the tent fell.”

When Gideon arrive outside the extremity of the enemy camp, he overheard a soldier speaking to another soldier. “Listen, I have dreamed this incredible dream. A round loaf of barley bread tumbled into our camp and it landed upon a tent and the tent fell, while the bread landed upright.”

One of the things which you may or may not have noticed is that the vocabulary of this chapter and the previous one are very similar; this would suggest that both are authored by the same person (who is very likely Gideon). What the man was doing was the Piel participle of çâphar (ר ַפ ָס) [pronounced saw-FAHR], which means, in the Qal, to number; in the Piel, it means to recall, to recount, to declare. Strong’s #5608 BDB #707. Who is was recalling this dream to is called the masculine singular substantive rêa׳ ( ַע ֵר) [pronounced RAY-ahģ], which means associate. Strong’s #7453 BDB #945. Both of these words were found in Judges 6.

What he observed was the masculine singular construct of a word found only here and guessed to mean a round loaf. The verbal cognates (Strong’s #6749–51) are of no help to us here. Keil and Delitzsch go into great detail as to what it doesn’t necessarily mean, but they have no strong conclusions either.

Strong’s #6742 BDB #853. In fact, we can only make a reasonable guess as to what it means by what follows: a masculine singular construct lechem (ם ∵ח ∵ל) [pronounced LEH-khem], which means bread. Strong’s #3899 BDB #536. The grain is given next, which is the feminine plural of s^e׳ôrâh (הָרֹע ) [pronounced soh-RAW or sgo-RAW], which means barley. Strong’s #8184 BDB #972. What this loaf of barley bread did was the Hithpael participle of hâphak^e (׃ך ַפ ָה) [pronounced haw-FAHK^e], which means to turn, to overturn. The Hithpael is the reflexive intensive; so this bread is turning over rapidly on its own. We find this particular construction of this verb in only three passages: Gen. 3:24 Judges 7:13 and Job 37:12. What is particularly notable is that Gen. 3:24 reads: ...and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. This tie to a brandished sword makes it easy to interpret this loaf of barley as standing for the sword of Gideon. Strong’s #2015 BDB #245.

The way it turned after being struck was the preposition lâmed and the adverb ma׳al (ל ַע ַמ) [pronounced MAH-ģahl ], which means the upper part. This adverb is only found with prefixes and suffixes, and here it means upside down (with a lamed) by Owen, NASB, and Rotherham; both Young and literally from the NASB, we have the opposite rendering upwards. Strong’s #4605 BDB #751.

When it came to a halt, the tent does the Qal perfect of nâphal (ל ַפ ָנ) [pronounced naw-FAHL], which means to fall, to lie, to die a violent death, to be brought down, to settle, to sleep deeply. Strong's #5307 BDB #656. This verb actually occurs twice, the first time having a 3^rd person masculine singular subject (which could either refer to the bread or to the tent).

The barley loaf rolls into the camp of Midian and at this point it is difficult to determine who struck whom. Both the tent and the loaf of barley are in the masculine singular, so the striking of one against the other is actually unclear—that is, who is striking whom is not clear in this dream. I will assume that it is the loaf of barley, in its tumbling, which strikes the tent. That would cause the tent to fall. When he turns him upwards, it would be the loaf of barley turning the tent upwards. At the end, the verb is given a different subject, so that we can assume the previous verbs had the barley loaf as their subject. However, just for you, I will list what other translators have done:

The Emphasized Bible ...a found cake of barley bread tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came as far as the tent—and smote it that it fell, and turned it upside down, and the tent lay along.

NASB “...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 (lit., upwards) so that the tent lay flat.”

REB ‘...a barley loaf rolling over and over through the Midianite camp; it came to a tent, struck it, and the tent collapsed and turned upside down.’

Young's Lit. Translation ‘...a cake of barley-bread is turning itself over into the camp of Midian, and it cometh in unto the tent, and smiteth it, and it falleth, and turneth it upwards, and th tent hath fallen.’

This round loaf of barley is Gideon and his men. They roll into the camp of Midian, their size seemingly insignificant, as the barley loaf is to the tent (although the Midianites speaking about this dream do not catch this particular parallel). The strike the tent of Midian and flatten it. The Midianites discussing this dream recognize that the barley loaf stands for Israel, but they do not realize that its size relative to the tent is significant (or, is as significant as it really is). Barley is worth half the price of wheat because it is an inferior grain (II Kings 7:1). Apparently, a loaf of barley bread is horrible tasting. It fits in with the feelings that Midian had toward Israel. This is a foretelling of what is to come when Gideon and his 300 men strike the camp of Midian.

And so answered his associate and he said, “Not this; is [it] not a sword of Gideon ben Joash, a man of Israel; has given God into his hand Midian and all the army.”

Judges

7:14

And his associate answered and said, “This can be none other than the sword of Gideon ben Joash, a man of Israel. God has given into his hand Midian and all the army.”

Then his associate answered him and said, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given all of Midian and its army into his hand.”

The Emphasized Bible Then responded his neighbour and said:— Nothing else is this, than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel,—God hath delivered into his hand both Midian and all the host.

NASB And his friend answered and said, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand.”

Young's Lit. Translation And his companion answered and saith, ‘This is nothing save the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel; God hath given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’

What the associate or companion says is the negative construct ayin again, (ן ̣י-א) [pronounced AH-yin], which means naught, nothing; or which can also be used as a particle of negation; no, not. Strong’s #369 BDB #34. This is followed by the feminine demonstrative this. Then we have another negative and the interrogative (or the hypothetical) particle. These are a lot of particles and they are translated variously as this can be nothing other than (NIV); nothing else is this, than (Rotherham), this can only be (NAB, NJB); this is nothing less than (NASB); this is nothing save (Young); this can be none other than (REB). The barley loaf tumbling and the sword being turned every which way (in Gen. 3:24) are the same verb, which is why we tie the barley loaf to the sword of Gideon.

So what has happened, is that Gideon and his servant sneaked near to the outskirts of the camp of Midian and happened to hear two soldiers speaking. One tells of a dream which he had and the other interpreted that dream. And note that the enemy knew who Gideon was and that they saw Gideon as the great leader of Israel (which is certainly not how Gideon viewed himself). This is a pretty impressive sign to Gideon and one that he did not specifically ask for. This confirms what God said to Gideon originally. “And Jehovah turned towards him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you? Certainly I will be with you, and you will defeat Midian as one man...I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and I will give Midian into your hands” (Judges 6:14, 16b 7:7b). It is interesting to note that, even though dreams were often ways God spoke to Israel prior to the completion of the canon of Scripture, here the dreamer and the dream-interpreter are both outside the tribe of Israel. Let me add that Keil and Delitzsch go into much more detail about the interpretation of this dream, but I personally didn’t buy into the details that they gave and therefore do not record them here.

And so he was in a hearing of Gideon a recounting of the dream and his interpretation, and so he worshiped. And so he returned unto a camp of Israel and so he said, “Arise and has given Y^ehowah into your hand the camp of Midian.”

Judges

7:15

And so it was when Gideon heard a recounting of the dream and its interpretation, that he bowed himself [in worship]. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Rise up, for Y^ehowah has given the camp of Midian into your hand.”

Then, when Gideon heard the recounting of this dream and its interpretation, he worshipped God. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Rise up because Jehovah has given the army of Midian into your hand.”

The verb to be followed by a bêyth preposition and an infinitive construct often refers to when something occurred. Therefore, Young renders this: And it cometh to pass, when Gideon heareth the narration of the dream and its interpretation; the NASB: And it came about when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation; Rotherham: And it was so when Gideon heard the story of the dream, and the interpretation thereof. What Gideon heard was the masculine singular construct of miç^ephâr (ר ָ ׃ס ̣מ) [pronounced mis^e-FAWR] means number, counted, numerical total, a recounting. Here, where nothing is being counted, it refers to a recounting of. The dream is not being re-numbered; it is being recounted. Strong’s #4557 BDB #708.

When Gideon heard this dream and their understanding of it, he did the Hithpael imperfect of shâchach (ח ַח ָש) [pronounced shaw-KHAHKH], which means to bow, to bow down. The Hithpael is the reflexive intensive, which involves personal motivation. It simply means that he makes himself bow low; which involves motivation, grace-orientation, authority-orientation and doctrine. In this context, this means likely to prostrate oneself completely on the ground, as was the common mode of worship. Strong’s #7817 BDB #1005.

What God gave into the hand of Israel is masculine singular construct of machăneh (ה ∵נ ֲח ַמ) [pronounced mah-khuh-NEH], which means camp, encampment. It can refer to the camp or to those in the camp, who are often soldiers or troops. Strong’s #4264 BDB #334.

The implication of this verse is that Gideon, right outside the camp of the enemy, fell down on his face and worshipped God.

And so he divided three hundred of the men [into] three companies and so he put trumpets into a hand of all of them and pitchers empty and torches in the pitchers.

Judges

7:16

Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies. He placed trumpets into the han

Judges 7

Judges 7:1–25	Gideon Defeats Two Leaders of Midian