When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his fellow. He said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream; and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.”
His fellow answered, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian into his hand, with all the army.”
It was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. Then he returned into the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for Yahweh has delivered the army of Midian into your hand!”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 Some read, a trembling noise of barley bread: meaning,…
Some read, a trembling noise of barley bread: meaning, that one of no reputation should make their great army to tremble.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–15 Jdg 7:13 And when Gideon was come, behold, [there…
Jdg 7:13 And when Gideon was come, behold, [there was] a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.
Ver. 13. Behold, there was a man that told a dream.] So now-a-days, saith a divine, men dream their Midianitish dreams of errors, and tell it for gospel to their neighbours. This man told his dream to his fellow: but for no good to himself, yet to Gideon’s comfort: as Balaam, and afterwards Caiaphas, prophesied for the good of the Church.
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Behold, I dreamed a dream.] This dream was of God (Homer saith of some dreams that they are διοπεμπτα), and his fellow gave a right interpretation thereof. Wicked men may have common gifts. They read their own doom, but have not grace to repent, and make a holy use of it, as Mr Rough the martyr did, who not long before his apprehension, dreamed that he was carried forcibly to Bishop Bonnet, and that the bishop plucked off his beard, and cast it into the fire, saying these words, Now I may say I have a piece of a heretic burnt in mine house. All which fell out accordingly; and he looked upon it as a sweet mercy to be thus forewarned. {a}
And, lo, a cake of barley bread.] This cake represented the smallness and weakness of Gideon’s forces: the matter of it, barley bread, the meanness of Gideon’s person, little esteemed; the trundling of it down a hill, his impetuous falling upon the Midianites, who had robbed the Israelites of their better food, and made them glad to eat barley bread.
And came unto a tent.] Ad tentorium omnium elgantissimum et fortissimum, unto a fair strong tent (for so much the notificative article ä implieth), which it utterly overturned, to note the routing and ruining of the army.
{a} Act. and Mon., 1843.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv13–15 A cake of barley bread; a weak and contemptible…
A cake of barley bread; a weak and contemptible thing, and in itself as unable to overthrow a tent as to remove a mountain; but being thrown by a Divine hand, bore down all before it; which fitly resembled Gideon’s case, which was mean and despicable, as himself saith, Jdg 6:15; yet he was mighty, through God, to destroy the Midianites.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–15 And when Gideon was come,.... With his servant, near…
And when Gideon was come,.... With his servant, near and within hearing the talk and conversation of the outer guards or sentinels: there was
a man that told a dream unto his fellow; his comrade that stood next him, and was upon guard with him; perhaps it was a dream he had dreamed the night before or this selfsame night, being just called up to take his turn in the watch, and so it was fresh upon his mind:
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and said, behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo; thus it was as I am going to relate; twice he uses the word "behold", or "lo", the dream having rely much struck and impressed his mind, and was what he thought worthy of the attention of his comrade:
a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian: barley bread, Pliny (z) says, was the most ancient food; the word for "cake" (a) signifies a "shadow", and may design the appearance of a barley loaf; or something like one to him appeared in the dream: or a "noise"; the noise of it rolling and tumbling, so that it seemed to the soldier that he heard a noise, as well as saw something he took for a barley loaf. Jarchi observes, that it signifies a cake baked upon coals, and it seemed to this man as if it came smoking hot from the coals, tumbling down an hill, such an one where Gideon and his army were and rolling into the host of Midian, which lay in a valley:
and came unto a tent; or, "the tent (b)" the largest and most magnificent in the host; and Josephus (c) calls it expressly the king's tent, and the Arabic version the tent of the generals:
and smote it that it fell; which might justly seem strange, that a barley loaf should come with such a force against a tent, perhaps the largest and strongest in the whole camp, which was fastened with cords to stakes and nails driven into the ground, so as to cause it to fall: yea, it is added:
and overturned it, that the tent lay along: turned it topsy-turvy, or turned it "upwards" (d), as the phrase in the Hebrew text is; it fell with the bottom upwards; it was entirely demolished, that there was no raising and setting of it up again.
(z) Nat. Hist. l. 18. c. 7. (a) "umbra", vid. Gussetium, p. 715. "strepitus", Tigurine version; so Kimchi & Ben Gersom; "subcineritius", V. L. "tostus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (b) (c) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 6. sect. 4. (d) "desuper", Pagninus, Montanus; "superne", Tigurine version.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv13–15 A cake - A weak and contemptible thing; and…
A cake - A weak and contemptible thing; and in itself as unable to overthrow a tent, as to remove a mountain; but being thrown by a divine hand, it bore down all before it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv13–14 Verse 13. Told a dream] Both the dream and…
Verse 13. Told a dream] Both the dream and the interpretation were inspired by God for the purpose of increasing the confidence of Gideon, and appalling his enemies.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 Jdg 7:13-14. And lo, a cake tumbled into the…
Jdg 7:13-14. And lo, a cake tumbled into the host of Midian — A weak and contemptible thing, and in itself as unable to overthrow a tent as to remove a mountain; but, being thrown by a divine hand, it bore down all before it. His fellow answered, &c. — As there are many examples of significant dreams, given by God to heathen, so some of them had the gift of interpreting dreams; which they sometimes did by divine direction, as in this case. For it is evident that God influenced the mind of this man, to give this interpretation to the dream of his companion, for the encouragement of Gideon; otherwise, considering the numerous host of the Midianites, and the small force which Gideon had, it does not seem probable that a Midianitish soldier should have entertained such a conjecture; and one may observe the soldier speaks as if under some prophetic influence. Into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host — It is certain, at least, that the hand of God was in this affair, that Gideon should be directed to this particular tent, and that the soldier should be telling his dream just at that very moment.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv13–14 A cake of barley bread - i. e. such…
A cake of barley bread - i. e. such a cake as could hardly be eaten by men, it was so vile: a term expressive of the contempt of the Midianites for the people of Israel.
A tent - The tent, meaning, probably, the tent of the king of Midian, or of the captain of the host.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv13–15 A dream. Observation of dreams is commonly superstitious, and…
A dream. Observation of dreams is commonly superstitious, and as such is condemned by the word of God; but in some extraordinary cases, as we here see, God is pleased by dreams to foretel what he is about to do. (Challoner) --- See Genesis xl., Leviticus xix. 26., and Deuteronomy xviii. 10. (Worthington) --- The small company of Gedeon stood in need of every sort of encouragement. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of…
I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian--This was a characteristic and very expressive dream for an Arab in the circumstances. The rolling down the hill, striking against the tents, and overturning them, naturally enough connected it in his mind with the position and meditated attack of the Israelitish leader. The circumstance of the cake, too, was very significant. Barley was usually the food of the poor, and of beasts; but most probably, from the widespread destruction of the crops by the invaders, multitudes must have been reduced to poor and scanty fare.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13–15 13. I dreamed a dream — Dreaming has ever…
13. I dreamed a dream — Dreaming has ever been the subject of curious speculations, and the Scriptures afford us various and some wonderful specimens of dreams. Compare Gen_20:3; Gen_28:12; Gen_31:11; Gen_31:24; Gen_37:6-11; 1Ki_3:5. They were one medium of divine revelation.
Num_12:6. The dream of this Midianite was a noticeable interposition of Divine Providence, and was designed to encourage Gideon. There may have been, and probably was, a natural psychological basis for the dream in the fears and suspicions of this Midianite, for the assembling of over thirty thousand Israelites at the call of Gideon could hardly be kept a secret from the entire host of Midianites.
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A cake of barley bread — Apt symbol, in the conceptions of a nomad, for a cultivator of the soil, whose life would seem to be all occupied in raising grain and baking bread.
Tumbled — Rolled down the mountain like a wheel.
Unto a tent — The tent of some Midianitish chieftain, which, in the mind of the dreamer, would be associated with nomadic habits of life, and therefore a symbol of his people’s freedom, greatness, and power.
The tent lay along — The different expressions which describe the overthrow of the tent are noticeable. The barley cake smites it so as to knock it down; it falls, then is turned over upwards (למעלה) from having the tent pins torn out of the ground, and, rolling over and over, finally falls out flat upon the earth. This was a significant image of the complete overthrow of the Midianitish power.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–14 13. Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo] The…
13. Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo] The phraseology recalls Gen_37:6 f., Gen_40:9 E. No doubt the two Midianites were lying in their tent: Gideon could listen without being seen.
a cake of barley bread] The word rendered cake occurs only here, and is of doubtful meaning; the context suggests a flat circular cake. Barley bread, the coarse food of the poor, was a symbol of the peasantry; the tent a symbol of the nomad.
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tumbled] This same form of the verb is used of the flaming sword which turned in every direction, Gen_3:24. So the cake turned over and over, this way and that, until it smote the tent which the man saw in his dream, not the tent, i.e. of the king, as Josephus takes it, misunderstanding the idiomatic use of the article; Ant. Jdg_7:6; Jdg_7:4.
and it fell] The words are out of place; the text as it stands makes the tent fall, then be turned upside down, and then fall. At the end of the verse, that the tent lay along ought probably to be rendered and the tent remained fallen. Perhaps some reader wrote the normal form and it fell in the margin, whence it crept into the text after and smote it.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–15 (13) Behold, I dreamed a dream.—Since dreams, no less…
(13) Behold, I dreamed a dream.—Since dreams, no less than the Bath Kol, were recognised channels for Divine intimations (Gen_41:12; Num_12:6; 1Sa_28:6; Joe_2:28, &c.), Gideon would feel doubly assured.
A cake.—The Hebrew word tsalol (or tselil in the Keri, or margin) is a word which occurs nowhere else. Rabbis Kimchi and Tanchun derive it from tsalal, “he tinkled” (as in tselselim and other names for musical instruments), or “he overshadowed.” Neither derivation yields any sense. The Chaldee, Syriac, and Rashi render it “a cake baked on coals,” and so, too, the LXX. (since such is the meaning of magie), the Vulgate (panis subcinericius), and Josephus (maza krithinç); this seems to be the true sense. Ewald makes it mean “a dry rattling crust.” Niebuhr tells us that the desert Arabs thrust a round lump of dough into hot ashes, then take it out and eat it. (Arab., p. 52.)
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Of barley bread.—Josephus helps us to see the significance of the symbol by adding, “which men can (hardly) eat for its coarseness.” It must be remembered that the Israelites had been reduced to such poverty by these raids that the mass of them would have nothing to subsist on but common barley bread such as that used to this day, with bitter complaints, by the Fellahîn of Palestine. Among the Greeks also “barley bread” was proverbial as a kind of food hardly fit to be eaten, although such was the poverty which the Saviour bore for our sakes that it seems to have been the ordinary food of Him and His apostles (Joh_6:9). “A cake of barley bread” would, therefore, naturally recall the thought of the Israelites, who were no doubt taunted by their enemies with being reduced to this food; just as Dr. Johnson defined oats as “food for horses in England, and for men in Scotland.” Thus, in 1Ki_4:28, the “barley” is only for the horses and dromedaries. “If the Midianites were accustomed to call Gideon and his band ‘eaters of barley bread,’ as their successors, the haughty Bedouins, often do to ridicule their enemies, the application would be the more natural” (Thomson, Land and Book, p. 447). Josephus makes the soldier say that, as barley is the vilest of all seed, so the Israelites were the vilest of all the people of Asia.
Tumbled.—Rather, was rolling itself.
Unto a tent.—Rather, into the tent, which doubtless means (as Josephus says) the tent-royal—the tent of Zebah and Salmanah.
Smote it.—Perhaps the dream involved that it also (as Josephus says) “threw down the tents of all the soldiers.”
Overturned it, that the tent lay along.—The latter words are involved in the first verb, and are only added for emphasis in accordance with the full picturesque Hebrew style. (Comp. “A bullock that hath horns and hoofs;” “I am a widow woman, and my husband is dead,” &c.) This leisurely stateliness of description is found again and again in the Bible. (See my Origin of Language, p. 168, and Brief Greek Syntax, p. 200.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13–15 A cake. The Hebrew word occurs nowhere else. Of…
A cake. The Hebrew word occurs nowhere else. Of barley bread. The commonest kind of bread, the food of only the poorer classes, indicating, therefore, the humble origin and station of Gideon. A tent. Rather, the tent ; what in a Roman camp would be the pretorium, the general"s tent. The words at the end of the verse are heaped up to indicate the total and entire upsetting and overthrow of the tent, symbolic of the rout and destruction of the Midianite host.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v15 Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand…
Jdg_7:15-25
Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.
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Divine Providence overruling the result
I. The hand of the Lord visible in this deliverance.
1. In the general effect produced.
2. In the use of the particular means employed.
II. A picture of the Churchs experience in every age.
1. She is still surrounded by enemies numerous as the sand on the sea shore.
2. The enemies are a heterogeneous confederation. Science, philosophy, criticism, atheism, agnosticism, etc.
3. The attacks are persistently made.
4. Every possible advantage is on the side of the enemy. Truth is in the minority, and has always been exposed to the grossest misrepresentation.
5. The inherent power of Bible truth makes victory certain in the end. (J. P. Millar.)
A trumpet . . . empty pitchers, and lamps.
Our life
I. Consider the mortal and material part of man under the emblem of a pitcher containing within it a lamp or firebrand.
1. The pitcher is made of potters clay, even as man was formed of the dust of the ground.
2. Again, the pitchers manufacture is brittle, and easily shattered into a thousand fragments.
3. Notice, as a final point of comparison, the intransparent character of the earthen vessel. If we desire to see the beauty and brilliancy of a light, and at the same time to preserve it from extinction by the rude breath of the atmosphere, we must perforce find for it a transparent medium of glass or crystal; hardly a ray will struggle out of the mouth of a pitcher. The human body is an inapt vehicle for certain strong and passionate emotions of the natural soul. We speak, for example, of a grief that is too deep for tears, and much more for the spiritual emotions of a holy and devout soul. Those emotions are rather hindered than furthered by the material body. The mortal frame is not a fitting tabernacle for the display of the exhibition of grace.
II. Consider the light within the pitcher; the soul, or immaterial part of man, enclosed for the present within a material framework, the breath of lives breathed into the vessel of clay.
1. First, there is the animal life. And even this lowest species of life is very beautiful and glorious, and worthy of Him from whom it emanates. Like a flame it is most subtle, and, as it were, eludes the grasp and ken of man. How does it interpenetrate the whole realm of nature! And yet you cannot tell where it resides. It is transfused through matter without taking up its abode in any particular locality. Like a flame it glows in the ruddy cheek of health; like a flame it glances and sparkles in the sunlit stream; like a newly-kindled lamp it gradually dawns in the opening bosom of the flower. Learn to bless God for natural as well as for spiritual life.
2. But to turn to the second kind of life--rational--the life of the intellect. This, too, is a very subtle and very beautiful emanation from the Father of life. I spoke of animal life just now as diffused through the whole realm of matter. How does the keen and active intellect of man seek to explore and penetrate through all subjects and substances. How beautiful does the tide of words gush forth from the pen or from the lip! How is the reader or the audience carried along against his will, and captivated by the happiness and beauty of such discourse! And whence this happiness and beauty? It is the lamp of life-rational struggling forth, the spirit within the earthen pitcher; it is the fire-brand of the human mind shaking off on every side its lustrous sparkles.
3. But there was yet a higher life breathed into man at his first creation--spiritual life. And if the two former lives admit of a comparison with a lamp or a fire-brand, how much more apt is such a similitude to set forth the life of the immortal spirit. By the life of the spirit I mean that life which evinces itself in holy affections of joy, love, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. It resembles a flame principally in the circumstance that it aspires towards heaven. Like a flame, moreover, it has a wonderful property of self-propagation. Spiritual life kindled in one little dark corner of the earth will soon, by throwing out sparks as of a fire-brand, light up other beacons near and around it. And, finally, amongst those so brought, there subsists the warmth of spiritual intercourse, which is called, in the technical language of theology, the communion of saints. (Dean Goulburn.)
The battle of the pitchers
1. I learn, in the first place, from this subject, the lawfulness of Christian stratagem. You all know what strategy is in military affairs. Now I think it is high time we had this art sanctified and spiritualised. In the Church, when we are about to make a Christian assault, we send word to the opposing force when we expect to come, how many troops we have, and of course we are defeated. There are thousands of men who might be surprised into the kingdom of God. We have not sufficient tact and ingenuity in Christian work. We have in the kingdom of God to-day enough troops to conquer the whole earth for Christ if we only had skilful manoeuvring.
2. I learn from this subject also that a small part of the army of God will have to do all the hard fighting.
3. Again, I learn from this subject that Gods way is different from mans, but is always the best way. If we had had the planning of that battle, we would have taken those thirty-two thousand men that originally belonged to the army, and we would have drifted them, and marched them up and down by the day, week, and month. But that is not the way. God depletes the army, and takes away all their weapons, and gives them a lamp, and a pitcher, and a trumpet, and tells them to go down and drive out the Midianites. I suppose some wiseacres were there who said, That is not military tactics. The idea of three hundred men, unarmed, conquering such a great host of Midianites! It was the best way. What sword, spear, or cannon ever accomplished such a victory as lamp, pitcher, and trumpet? Gods way is different from mans way, but it is always best. Take, for instance, the composition of the Bible. If we had had the writing of the Bible, we would have said, Let one man write it. If you have twenty or thirty men to write a poem, or make a statute, or write a history, or make an argument, there will be flaws and contradictions. But God says, Let not one man do it, but forty men shall do it. And they did, differing enough to show there had been no collusion between them, but not contradicting each other on any important point. Instead of this Bible, which now I can lift in my hand--instead of the Bible that the child can carry to school--instead of the little Bible the sailor can put in his pocket when he goes to sea--if it had been left to men to write, it would have been a thousand volumes, judging from the amount of ecclesiastical controversy which has arisen. Gods way is different from mans, but it is best, infinitely best. So it is in regard to the Christian life. If we had had the planning of a Christian life we would have said: Let him have eighty years of sunshine, a fine house to live in; let his surroundings all be agreeable; let him have sound health; no trouble shadow his soul. I enjoy the prosperity of others so much I would let every man have as much money as he wants, and roses for his childrens cheeks, and the fountains of gladness glancing in their large round eyes. But that is not Gods way. It seems as if a man must be cut, and hit, and pounded, just in proportion as he is useful. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
A good general
It was said by Napoleon that God was on the side of the strongest battalions. Notwithstanding our present advances, materialism is still deified. Gideons first battle teaches another lesson. We may go back to rude ages in order to learn the might of moral forces.
I. A good general is led, not by caprice, not by the promptings of ambition, not by the desire of spoil, not by the voice of an unthinking host, but by patriotism, by the love of humanity broadly considered, and by the leading of the Eternal.
II. A good general leads. Gideon himself gave the example of brave deeds: took his part in the fray, ready to do, dare, die. Consider the Captain of our salvation. He goes before in every conflict.
III. A good general inspires. The men catch the burning enthusiasm of their leader.
IV. A good general wisely disposes. Three companies. Christ places each where best for him.
V. A good general skilfully uses unlikely weapons. The rams horn of gospel preaching more affectual than the silver trumpet of philosophy. Fishermen have beaten the savants. A tinkers the greatest name in modern literature. A cobbler a great missionary. A weaver mightiest of explorers.
VI. A good general raises a good battle-cry: The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. Better than Napoleons--Gentlemen, remember that forty centuries are looking down upon you.
VII. A good general makes good soldiers.
VIII. A good general secures a good issue. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
Lamps
Valuable as the light of the sun and moon is to us, yet there are times when we cannot enjoy either, and therefore require artificial lights. And of these we have a fair variety. We might notice a few of the lamps that are in daily use amongst us.
I. The street lamp. This light is for the benefit of the public generally. But we have living street lamps as well. They give us moral and spiritual light. Every true Christian is a lamp, lit by God with the light of Christ, and is to be like the street lamp, giving light to the multitudes who pass by. And we ought to be unselfish, and whether in storm or sunshine we should show our light. And although one lamp does not seem to be of great importance, yet a number of them give us a light almost as good as the sun.
II. The house lamp. The first place where Christians ought to shine is at home. There we must stand up for Christ and show whose side we are on. Sometimes we find people ready to make a great profession in the street or at the meeting, but very different at home. They may thus deceive men, but they cannot deceive God.
III. The private lamp or lantern. This is a faithful companion to us when in the country on dark evenings. We are all travellers on lifes journey, the way is strange, and the end hid from our view, and unless we can find lamp we must be eternally lost. We discover in Scripture the assurance that, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
IV. The stable lamp. This lamp would scarcely be suitable for the mansion, but it is well adapted for the stable. And among Christian lights we have some suited for one sphere and some for another.
V. The lighthouse lamp. This is a stationary light, and as such is of great service. Let us as Christians seek to be as steady lights, contented with our lot and shining there. The lighthouse is a saving light. Multitudes have been saved by them. We as Christians ought to be saving lights. If we have been saved ourselves we must seek to save others. (John Mitchell.)
Blowing the trumpets
Each man had one, and each blew it as he joined in the assault. They did not leave this business to their leader alone. Just so should every Christian soldier make it his duty to proclaim the glad tidings of the kingdom of grace and redemption. Not that every private in the ranks is to aspire to be a Gideon--a captain of the army. A battalion cannot be all officers, whether the corps be Caesars or Christs. While all cannot guide and control the movement of the host, all can assert, with consenting voice and stroke, the merits of the cause for which it has taken the field. Every Christian is not called to the pulpit. But this is by no means the only method of publishing salvation. Let him that heareth say, Come. They therefore mistake who think they have no word to utter for God. Every man blew his trumpet. They blew together--commander and followers. So do not always the men of Christs army. While zeal for their Master may move the energies of part, others have lost sight of the point of successful assault, have loitered or laboured elsewhere very much to no purpose. Or their note is a dispiriting one, sounding a retreat rather than an onward, resolute movement. Their tones of brooding discontent spread discouragement through the whole encampment. Gideon and the three hundred blew their trumpets together. It not unfrequently happens that the minister blows one note, but many of his band a very different one. How many sermons preached in the fear of God, on the Sabbath, are utterly negatived by professed believers of the gospel in the family, the workshop, the counting-house. Look at this common and mischievous habit among Church members. Men and women of Israel, remember that if the Church is to speak effectually for God in the ear of a disobedient world, it must speak in unison, in harmony. (N. Y. Evangelist.)
A meagre equipment
It is always pathetic to read of that experience of Agassiz when as a young man he was summoned to Paris to be associated with a great naturalist. He was too poor to provide himself with the appropriate instruments for the conduct of his work; so poor he could not procure a decent coat in which he might present certain letters of introduction. He was no mean man in the esteem and knowledge of the world even then, but he was poor. He had a meagre equipment, but the very meagreness of his equipment had in it a sufficiency for the thing he had in hand, and in spite of the want of equipment he rose to be our greatest naturalist.
The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.--
The finite-infinite--the work of God and the work of man
There is a strange power in a battle-cry. In certain circumstances a single word, or a simple motion, may rouse men to a frenzy of heroism. One electric sentence, such as that addressed by Nelson to his men, England expects that every man this day will do his duty, may be the making of a victory. It brings before the imagination in a moment such a picture of country, of home, of duty, of fame, as suffices to awaken some of the grander elements of the mind. A battle-cry is fitted to inspire confidence in friends and fear in foes. It is not strange, therefore, that the followers of Gideon, so few in number, should seek, as they were about to meet the countless hosts of Midian and Amalek, to fortify their hearts with a stirring watchword--They cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon! What strikes us at first as somewhat strange is that they should add the name of Gideon to the name of the Lord. It is not without good reason that this addition is made. Just as great and abstract ideas have not their full influence over the mind until they are associated with some illustration--embodied in some concrete form; so the thought of God, in the height and infinitude of His being, has not that practical influence on the mind as mere abstraction, which it has when associated with some human agency--when brought down to the earth and brought near to us in the form of a man. Hence, indeed, the incarnation of God in man. And so the battle-cry of Christianity is, not merely the sword of the Lord, but the sword of the Lord and His Christ. Besides, it was literally the arm of Gideon, as well as the arm of the Lord, that gained the victory; and therefore we have suggested to us by these words the union of the Divine and the human in the work of the world, or the co-existence and co-operation of the Infinite and the finite.
I. The fact of this union. As the planet flies swiftly in its orbit, impelled by the opposing centripetal and centrifugal powers; as the path of the ship is the result of the combined action of wind and helm; as the body of man moves freely over the solid ground, finely balanced between earth, air, and sun; so the path of the soul is the result of the combined action of heaven and earth. The breath of the Divine Spirit fills the sails, and the little helm of the human will is allowed to modify the course.
1. The union of the Divine and the human in the operations of nature. God created paradise and led man into it; but He did not leave His creature to a life of idleness. He put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. The fruits of the earth were to be matured by the touch of man as well as by the power of God. As the seasons revolve in their beauty and variety, the creature has always to unite his energies with those of the Creator to bring the harvest forth. And what is all art and science but man following God, imitating God, working with God? Man looks upon the works of God; and from the union of his beholding mind with these fair forms there come forth the creations of art--the inspired poem, the pale statue, and the coloured canvas. These productions are the combined result of that inspiration which the Almighty has given, and the artists own earnest labour. The result is cut out by the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.
2. The union of the Divine and the human in the administration of secular affairs. What is the true idea of government? Is it not that of a theocracy, or a world in which God is king--a world in which every king is clothed with power as Gideon was, and in which every magistrates sword is the sword of the Lord as well?
3. More directly is it seen in the individual Christian life that the power of God is working with the power of man. Conversion is pre-eminently a work of God. It is a new creation, and God is the Creator. The wounds of conviction are made by the sword of the Lord. We are born again of God. At the same time, it is no less clear in Scripture that conversion is a work in which man himself must play a part. There is an act of the Divine will, but there is also an act of the human will. We are justified by faith, and faith is an act of the mind. Every righteous action performed is a fruit both of the Divine Spirit and the human spirit. Every true and believing prayer is at once an inspiration of man and an inspiration of God. In the warfare of the soul the Divine arm and the human arm must both be lifted against the foe; and it is still the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon, that gains the victory. To the same effect are those wonderful words, Work out your own salvation . . . for it is God who worketh in you, etc.
4. The union of the human and the Divine in the work of spreading the gospel.
II. The invisible relation of the two powers. We cannot draw a line between the two, and say, There the Divine ends, and here the human begins: up to this point God has been the worker; after that man is the worker. As the battle goes on, we cannot say, On yonder part of the field are the heavenly forces, and on this part the earthly forces. We cannot say, Now God has laid down the sword, and now man has taken it up. The two energies are blended in such invisible relation and mysterious co-operation that we cannot thus distinguish them. There is but one sword between the Lord and Gideon; and both grasp the hilt at the same time.
III. The wisdom and advantage of this arrangement.
1. It reveals to us the dignity and solemnity of life. We are fellow-labourers with God. We are grasping and wielding the same sword. This truth invests life with the highest sacredness and solemnity. If it does not derogate from Gods dignity to work, it cannot derogate from mans. The dignity that comports with or consists in idleness is altogether foreign to true elevation of life.
2. While this co-operation is fitted to lift us up, it is also fitted to cast us down. True humility is wrought in us by the increasing realisation of Gods existence and presence. His majesty looks down upon us and His holiness looks in upon us evermore. Earthly honours inflate and pamper the vanity of the human heart, but heavenly honours humble still more the heavenly.
3. The combination of entire dependence upon God with the greatest individual activity. What a blessed thing it is to have the arm of the Almighty to lean upon in our daily life! Dependence upon others is not always desirable; but dependence upon God is our very life and strength. The former has a tendency to produce servility and inactivity, the latter leads to the greatest activity. Those who believe most entirely that everything depends upon God at the same time work as energetically as if everything depended on themselves. Those who have done most good in the world are those who have ascribed all goodness to God.
4. Since God is a worker, the success of His work is certain; but since we also are workers, we should be filled with fear lest we be found unfaithful and fall short at last. The fact that an army has a great general--one who is a host in himself, one sure to lead to victory, does not make the men who fight under him indifferent as to how they fight. It makes them fight all the better. It inspires them with an almost superhuman power. Under the leadership of God, then, what great deeds might we not accomplish, if we had faith to follow Him more closely! With what joy might we even fall in the fight, when we know that the day is already ours! But the practical point for every believer is, that a certain portion of the work is entrusted to him. What an awful responsibility! What a value does this give to time! (F. Ferguson, D. D.)
Gideons watchword
Few things are more remarkable than the inspiring power, whether for good or evil, which a short, pithy, pregnant saying possesses for the mind. Proverbs, watchwords, party cries, have always played an important part in human affairs, and leaders of men have ever recognised their value as powerful instruments for swaying and controlling masses of people. No Spartan of old fought tamely who had received from wife or mother that parting mandate, Return either with your shield or upon it! No Crusader in the ranks of Richard the Lionhearted, as they charged against the hosts of Saladin, could have heard unthrilled that glorious watchword, Remember the Holy City! God defend the right! was the suppliant cry of youthful enthusiasm that rang out from the lips of the Black Prince at Cressy. St. George for England! was the cheer with which the whole fleet saluted the flagship of Howard of Effingham, in an hour when the heart of England stood still. Victory or Westminster Abbey! shouted Nelson as he boarded the great San Josef in Sir John Jerviss engagement with the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent; and in less than eight years afterwards he had signalled along the line at Trafalgar that never-to-be-forgotten message, England expects that every man will do his duty! All these watchwords had their meaning, their deep and inspiring meaning, at the time they were uttered, but none ever meant more, ever suggested a mightier truth, than that oldest battle-cry we know of, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon! Trust in God and implicit faith in and dependence upon His wisdom, power, and love, was the central truth, the central duty, inculcated throughout the Divine education of the chosen race. Trust in God lies at the foundation of all true character; for it is that which can alone (to use Martineaus fine words) render absolute the rules of righteousness, and save them from the gnawing corrosion of exceptions, and raise them from flexible convictions of men into a law secured on the eternal holiness. Intellectual integrity, adds the same writer, moral tenacity, spiritual elevation, all alike involve, in their higher degrees, an unconditional trust in the everlasting sway of Divine justice, wisdom, and love. God saw fit to educate one particular people in this all-important truth, that they might become witnesses to the world, for all time, of that saving spirit of loving and faithful submission to the will of God which found its most perfect exponent in Christ our Saviour. To this end all Gods dealings with Israel were invariably directed. Those three hundred men in Gideons little band did not complain that they had neither sword, nor spear, nor shield. They made the best of what they had, and committed themselves to the guidance of a wise and protecting God. He knew that they must conquer that mighty host (if they were to conquer it at all) not by their own unaided strength, but by His wise generalship. It was for them a bloodless victory. The battle was won, not by their own skill in fighting, but by their obedience to Jehovah and their implicit trust in Him. By faith they conquered, as seeing Him who is invisible, and their victory will remain for all time a parable to successive generations of men. For a parable it is of the battle of life. The divinest success in life is achieved, not through the possession of great power, but by the faithful use of such powers as we have. If God be not for us how shall we prevail? Round your life and round mine there lie foes--hidden, spiritual foes--which we are powerless to conquer in our own unaided strength and wisdom. The evil lusts and passions of our own hearts, and the trials and difficulties and temptations of the world, these are the foes that lie like grasshoppers for multitude encamped around our daily life, and if we would conquer them we must fight with the weapons that God has given us, and not be faint-hearted; for we shall overcome, not of ourselves, but by the help and the guidance of Him who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Nay more, if we would conquer we must surely do so with those same three weapons which Gideon put into the hands of his three hundred warriors--the lamp, and the pitcher, and the trumpet.
1. God commits to each of us a lamp or torch, which is to be trimmed and kept bright through life. Every man has his own torch; his own peculiar powers of mind and body; his own individual character; his own special post in life, and opportunities of influencing others for good or for evil. The work we do and the example we show--this, in short, is the torch we hold as trust from God, who says to each of us, as He said to the Jews of old, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
2. But then, in the second place, we learn that our lamps, like those of Gideons band, must not be displayed until the proper moment arrives for them to be seen. For awhile they must be concealed, as it were, within empty pitchers. Our characters are not formed, we are not fitted for the work of life, in a moment. Hence those years of school discipline through which we have all passed. This season of preparatory culture and seclusion is as necessary for us men as it was for the Son of Man, who, for thirty years, during which He prepared Himself for His short ministry, lived a life of retirement and subjection at Nazareth. In His career on earth there was no precocious self-assertion, no premature display. But the time comes when we are each summoned to leave the life of preparation and enter upon our life of work in the world, and then, if we be true servants of God, and neither cowards nor slaves to self, we shall be ready to cast aside the empty pitcher, and hold up before mens eyes a well-trimmed lamp.
3. And then, lastly, there are the trumpets. Just as the torch means mans work and knowledge and character, and the pitcher represents the method by which he receives and matures his light until the hour comes for revealing it, so the trumpet typifies the sound of the human voice, the power with which, by precept and exhortation, by uttered principle and uncompromising assertion of truth, we carry the gospel of Christ into the world. There are so many time-servers amongst men, who will not dare to confess what they believe to be true and know to be right, if it happens to conflict with the popular notions of society. They reserve their principles for congenial company, where they will be safe from contradiction, and they go about the world agreeing, like sycophants, with anything and everybody. But let such men remember that the world owes its highest good to those who have had the courage of their convictions. They are the messengers of truth and of God. Their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the earth. We have thus arrived at the full meaning of that battle-cry, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. It is the motto of our Christian profession. It expresses in a symbol the bloodless victory of the Christian life, through Christ our Lord: the victory which is won with no earthly weapon, but with the sword of the Spirit. (H. E. J. Bevan, M. A.)
The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon
A company of English soldiers were in disgrace. Through some bad conduct they had for a while lost their colours, and were in trouble about it. It so happened that these men had to take part in some battle where a piece of hard fighting had to be done. One morning the men were in line. Some distance away was a hill held by the enemy which it was extremely important that the English should secure. The commander addressed his men and urged them on to the conflict which was soon to take place. He finished his brief address to them by saying, Men, your colours are on the top of yonder hill. It was enough. Their souls were fired, and long before the day was out they had dislodged the enemy, secured the hill, wiped out the disgrace in which they had been, and won back their lost regimental colours by their bravery that day. The Church of God is engaged in war against the hosts of the world, and every member of Gods Church has to take his share in the conflict, and must seek to remove the enemies of God. If we notice how Gideon and his men carried on their work for God, we may perhaps learn a few things which we may also practise with some profit.
I. We will first notice their unity. There were no divisions, no quarrels, no mutinies among them. They stood as they were ordered to stand. Does not this speak to us and with a loud voice? Have the hundreds of Gods hosts to-day that spirit of unity which should mark all the soldiers of the Cross? Have we always obeyed orders from headquarters? If the soldiers in the ranks of the armies of the living God could only forget all party difference, and cease to contend about minute distinctions, and present a united front, the kingdom of darkness would soon receive such blows as would make it totter and reel. We have many illustrations in the history of Christianity, of what can be done by a united Church of God.
II. Let us now notice their courage. Had they been Englishmen they could not have displayed more fibre and courage than was shown, In its conflict with the world the Church needs men of courage. There never was a time it more needed them than now. There are many great and pressing social and religious problems which need attention and require men of courage and faith to deal with them; and in all her work she needs men of brave hearts and true, who are not easily daunted. She wants brave officers to serve in her ranks--men of skill, piety, and courage. She wants the best sons and daughters in her ranks. She is charged with the responsibility of the salvation of the world. She has to make greater inroads into the ranks of the enemy. God is with us, and God can make us brave and bold.
III. But we must now notice the faith of these men. It was a victory of faith. Oh, what a theme for contemplation the victories of faith furnish! The Church needs men of faith to-day. This is an age of scepticism, of doubt, and criticism. It has become almost fashionable to talk about doubting as if it were a mark of strength and special attainment to do so. The Church wants men who live in the sunshine of strong heroic faith and power. She wants men who can, in mighty faith, march round the strongholds of sin, just as the Israelites marched around ancient Jericho. She needs men who can go with Bible in hand and win victories for God.
IV. In conclusion, we will briefly notice the success they experienced. It was complete. They stood in order round the camp as they were commanded. At the given signal they raised their shouts, broke their pitchers, and flashed their torches. They stood and watched the consternation of the enemy. It was a victory which was God-given and full. The history of the Church of Christ abounds with God-given victories. The victories of the past are to be far surpassed in the future. (C. Leach, D. D.)
The natural and supernatural
I. Some of the events in which we behold the co-operation of the natural and supernatural.
1. In providence.
2. In conversion.
3. In the sustenance of a religious life.
4. In the propagation of the gospel.
II. That the co-operation of the natural and supernatural is necessary to ensure success.
1. This is the only way success is to he expected.
2. This is the only way in which success is possible.
3. The co-operation of the natural and supernatural makes success certain.
III. Practical lessons.
1. We should endeavour to form a true estimate of ourselves. We can do a little, but cannot do all.
2. Learn to acknowledge the Lord in every success. (D. Lewis.)
Gideons gallant three hundred
I. The brave company with which he attacked the foe.
II. the battle-cry of Gideon and his gallant three hundred.
1. The first secret of their strength was that they all realised that the battle they had to fight was not their own, but Gods. A man may fight very hard for himself, yet there is a point at which heroism inspired by self-interest fails; but let it be inspired by the love of another, and let that love be centred in an object worthy of the greatest daring, and there you will find a courage which is simply transcendent and irresistible. Look at the men who have wrought the greatest deeds on earth, and you will find that the first thing they emphasised was just this, We are not come out in our own cause and our own strength, but Gods. There would not be sufficient inspiration in any other cause to enable them to meet such overwhelming odds as those which they met with unfaltering step, and at length overcame.
2. As the battle was the Lords, so the weapons were His: The sword of the Lord. You notice how Paul emphasises the same truth--Put on the whole armour of God; and again, Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? If we are to be Gods soldiers we must be armed with His weapons. A young man enlists in the army; there is a sword given to him; it is not a sword he has had made for himself, but one that has been submitted to certain tests, though, alas! they have been more imaginary than real occasionally. It is the Queens sword, and as such it is her will that it shall be so made as to be worthy of the mettle of every soldier who will wield it and of the empire that supplies it. The soldier is not allowed to risk his life by getting his village blacksmith to make one for him. There must be the stamp of the Government upon it. The battle is the Queens and the sword is the Queens; and when the soldier gets that sword he feels that the whole British Empire has staked its credit largely upon the quality of that sword, as well as the courage of the man who has accepted it. The fact that the Queen supplies the sword, and that it represents the power and the righteousness of the country whom he serves, adds vigour to his arm and determination to his assault. So is it with us. We, as the soldiers of Christ, have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and, thank God, this has never snapped yet in our hands.
3. In a glorious sense Gideon was joint possessor with the Lord of the sword he wielded: The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. There was no blasphemy in this cry; it was a humble recognition of the fact that God had taken Gideon into His service, and into joint possession of the sword with which Gideon fought. Once again, referring to the ordinary soldier, you ask him, Whose sword is that? He replies, It is mine. Yet he never made it, and never purchased it. You say to him, Nay, but it is the Queens sword. He replies, The Queen gave it me. You add, Then it is yours. Yes, the Queens--and mine; and it is in that conjunction, and, which joins the Queen to the poor soldier, that we find the secret of his prowess on the battlefield. Just so here, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon, was the cry which imparted more than human strength to Gideon and his soldiers. Gods warriors have to fight with the world and its evil. The sword is the Lords, but it is also ours. It is given us so that we may make the best use of it, and that every man who has enlisted in Christs army can say in the same breath, It is Gods battle and mine. (D. Davies.)
Gideons victory
I. The companies engaged. Happy is he who is numbered among the three hundred. Be it so that he is in the minority. Many have forsaken him, more are against him. But he is invincible for all that, as long as he does battle with but one weapon, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.
II. The trumpets blast. Never did means appear more contemptible than those employed by Gideon. Thus the Lord teaches us that means are weak or strong just according to His appointment. Weak means are strong, powerful, and all-prevailing, when He ordains the end to be fulfilled by them. When God blesses, the worm Jacob can lift up his head, and thresh the mountains. But the mightiest instruments are naught without His blessing. Now, we have here, in the trumpets blast, the pitchers broken, and the lamps held forth, striking and appropriate emblems of the preaching of the gospel. They are fit emblems of the weakness of the instrument and of the power of its effects. The preaching of the everlasting gospel is as the blowing of Gideons trumpets. How apparently inadequate the means to the end! How weak, how foolish! Men must be fanatics to suppose that mens evil passions will be subdued, that the love of sin will be uprooted, that their affections will ever be turned heavenward, by preaching nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Human nature, says the world, needs something different. If you wish to convert the heathen, civilise them first, and then preach the gospel to them. But let us turn from man to God. He who made the trumpet, knew full well its power. He would not put the trumpet into our hands and bid us blow if the breath of His power were not ready to go forth with the blast. The dead in trespasses and sins hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear do live, and live for ever. Whilst uncertain sounds, a gospel which is not the gospel, settle men in their sins, and cause sport to devils, the clear blast of this trumpet shakes the infernal kingdom to its centre, spreads jubilee among the slaves of earth, and awakens joy in the presence of angels. We pause to ask, have these gladsome notes sounded in your ears in the dead night of your soul? Have you been awakened by the loud blasts of the gospel trumpet?
III. The pitchers broken. Earthen pitchers seemed to be of all things the most absurd to fight with. The three companies might do some execution were they fully equipped. Trumpets might alarm and terrify, but what could pitchers do? How astonished must have been these three hundred men when Gideon said, Arm yourselves with pitchers! The result proved the efficiency of these contemptible instruments. They did what no sword, no battle-axe, no spear could do. They held the lights, they contained the lamps. They were nothing in themselves, but they were everything to the enterprise. Now, we have in these pitchers a striking emblem of the ministers of the gospel. They are earthen vessels, carrying the lamp of life. We ask, then--and does not the value of your never-dying interests compel us to ask you?--have you seen this light? have you been guided by that lamp? Has it shone into your mind, and given you the saving knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? Has it been the power of God unto your salvation? (G. A. Rogers, M. A.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v15 MAIN HOMILETICS.—Jdg_7:15-25
MAIN HOMILETICS.—Jdg_7:15-25
I. The Hand of the Lord visible in this deliverance.
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It is quite manifest that the overruling Providence of God was at work in all this to bring out the result. This is seen—
I. In the general effect produced. Victory was gained in a few minutes, and without striking a blow—Israel did not need to lift sword or spear. There was no battle—only a rout, disastrous and complete. Not a single man was lost of Gideon’s men—not a wound or scar was given. They did not need to fight, but to stand still and see the salvation of God. In place of swords we see trumpets, pitchers, and torches; and yet through the whole camp of Midian, such was the state of terror, that “none of the men of might did find their hands.” There is no such thing possible as fighting against the mighty God of Jacob. There must have been some remarkable influence at work to have produced such a result as this.
II. In the use of the particular means employed. It was by one special cause that the issue was brought about—the rousing of the fears of the enemy to such an extent, as to paralyse all regular or orderly action. This was done in the simplest but most effective manner.
(1.) Gideon was directed to form, a plan fitted to produce the result. In this and all other steps he seems to have been Divinely guided. At this moment, all his movements seem to have been taken in hand by his God, for he was the instrument in God’s hand employed to carry out His designs; and though he was left a free agent, as at other times, there was yet an overruling of the workings of his mind, while forming his plans and purposes. There is, indeed, nothing supernatural in the plan itself, however much skill and natural shrewdness it may indicate. There was no violation of natural law.
The time chosen was the dead of night, when all was dark around, and when the whole camp was sunk in slumber. The place occupied was the heights around the camp, especially at three different points. To produce a hideous noise all round the camp at a moment’s notice while profound silence reigned, and to keep up that noise with the blare of 300 trumpets, was not only fitted to startle the sleepers, but to strike them with terror. The effect of this too would be vastly increased by the tossing of 300 burning torches in the air, right in view of those who were newly-awaked from their slumbers. To make use of such a moment for a fierce attack on the enemy by a handful of resolute men, was certain to throw them into hopeless confusion.
(2.) Divine support was given in carrying out this plan. The best laid schemes often prove abortive from not being well executed. Nerve is required; precision must be observed; circumstances must be anticipated. Here everything went right. There was unity in Gideon’s camp. There was the most perfect discipline. All were zealous for the cause, as the cause of God. All acted on religious principle, and there was more than natural courage. Much of the same spirit that rested on Gideon also rested on his followers. It was the Lord’s battle they were fighting, and He “sends none a warfare on their own charges.” He gives grace according to the day (Deu_33:26). There was no timidity in the face of a great danger. Not one was feeble in all the ranks of that little brave army. The tone of true courage was everywhere marked, and the Leader could count on every man doing his duty when the moment for action arrived.
(3.) The enemy’s feeling of security remained undisturbed. There are so many possibilities of information leaking out before the time, that one great danger of the plan miscarrying lay in the fear, that some hint might be given to the hostile army, that a desperate attempt was to be made to surprise them during the night. But the God of Providence so overruled matters, that no intelligence was carried to the ears of the Midianites of any such design. They would indeed be slow to listen to any such tale, so profound was their contempt for the prowess of the people, whom they had seven times trampled down in the most reckless manner. They did not believe in their capability of showing a formidable front to their oppressors. In this they were more than confirmed, when they saw first, how many thousands flocked to Gideon’s standard, and yet, in a few days, the great bulk of them began to return to their homes with as much haste as they had left them.
So do the enemies of the Church often imagine that all is over with the Church of God, when they see her cut down to the very roots, and no means of restoration are at hand. Thus did Ahab and Jezebel feel, when the prophets of the Lord were persecuted out of the land (1Ki_18:4; 1Ki_19:10). Doubtless, too, the chief priests and Pharisees felt sure that they had heard the last of Jesus of Nazareth, and that His cause was for ever extinguished, when they made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. The Church of Rome felt secure from all that Protestantism could do, when the famous proclamation was made from the Lateran Church, that now at last heresy was everywhere subdued, and that there were none that did even mutter or peep against the power that reigned supreme in the Imperial city.
(4.) A foundation was laid for filling the enemy’s mind with fears. The mighty deeds which had been done by Israel’s God at different periods, since the remarkable deliverance from Egyptian bondage, had made a profound impression on all the heathen nations, and however much they hated that God, a salutary fear of His hand was cherished by them all. On the present occasion it got rumoured, that that God was again about to appear on behalf of His people, and the Midianites appear to have heard of it. This is clearly implied in the case of the dream and the interpretation given of it, which Gideon heard in the outermost part of the camp of Midian. But as yet they slept securely, because no danger was visible. They felt, however, that danger was in the air, so that they were prepared to be struck with panic, when that dreadful name Jehovah was proclaimed over their heads in the darkness of night. Just as Jehovah looked through the cloud and troubled Pharaoh’s host, and took off their chariot wheels, so now He was beginning to produce a ground swell in the Midianitish heart, by the terrible suspicion that He had marked them out as the victims of His strong anger. Hence the power of the motto—The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon! All this was evidently of God.
(5.) The sudden alarm produced distracting thoughts. No instrument sounds so loudly as the trumpet; and here were 300 such instruments blowing from three different sides, making a noise sufficient to startle the heaviest sleeper, and fill him with terror. At the same moment, 300 empty pitchers were broken with clattering noise among the rocks, a noise, coming as it did so unexpectedly, sufficient to shake the firmest nerves. The two noises coming together, making such a volume of sound, and rending the midnight air in the most unaccountable manner, could hardly fail to produce a terrible panic among the vast multitude, who had given themselves over to the quiet and security of sleep. It added greatly to this effect, that there were 300 ominous lights flashing in the dark back ground, in three crescents, on different sides of the camp. All this was fitted to produce not only alarm, but consternation among persons suddenly awakened out of the dead sleep of night.
Yet, but for the overruling Providence of God, it might have proved a complete failure. The enemy’s camp did not all consist of women and children. A very large number, probably the majority, were fighting men. We hear of the chamushim (Jdg_7:11) men not only armed, but arrayed in divisions, or quinquiped men—marshalled as an army in five divisions, the centre, two wings, the front and rear guard. This is suggestive of order and even discipline. Why should an organised army, that occupied the part of the camp nearest to Gideon, become all at once so penetrated with terror? Did they not know that the many followers, who at first had flocked to Gideon, had become literally scattered among the valleys and caves as before? And they knew of no other army in the field all round. Was it not fairly possible, or even probable, that after the first startling noise, knowing the above fact, their leaders would have sent messengers to ascertain the strength of the army on the heights, for they were themselves an almost innumerable host, and well able to meet in the field any ordinary army. When they had such a contempt for the people who fled before them like sheep, and hid themselves in dens, and caves, and rocky strongholds, why should they all at once become frantic with terror, and run in mad haste to escape the swords of that same people? It does seem as if there were a Divine ordering of the means used to bring out so disastrous an issue.
He who has all hearts in His hand made use of the means which Gideon employed to suggest dreadful thoughts to the minds of the enemy.
(a.) They imagined that a great army was just upon them. How it had been raised they knew not, but their eyes and ears told them it was there. Such an army looked like a dreadful apparition, a thing from the spirit world, a legion of spectres and weird demons, mysteriously raised, mysteriously armed, and possessed of mysterious powers. The effect on superstitious imaginations must have been electric. They fled as men would flee from a company of unearthly forms issuing from the pit of darkness.
(b.) They were afraid of the God of Gideon. That terrible sentence which sounded in their ears—“The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon” filled them with dismay, as they reflected that so great a God was about to repeat His mighty acts of the past, in raising all the elements of nature, and of the spirit world as well, to overwhelm his enemies. As the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovah fighteth for them against us,” so did the leaders of that doomed army say to each other; and so they thought of nothing but flight. They believed they were to be a mark for the arrows of the God of Israel.
(c.) The suspicion of treachery rose among them. They were a mixed company, several armies joined in one, the only link of union being their common hatred and contempt for the people of Israel (Psa_83:5-12)—Amalekites, Moabites, Midianites, and Arabs. As no one knew how it was possible that a large army could rise up against them in a moment, the thought must have flashed across the minds of many—“there is treachery in the camp.” Some one or two of the races must have laid a plot to massacre all the rest, to secure the whole booty for themselves. Distrust thus arose among them, and we are told, “the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow.” A frightful slaughter of each other began. This demoralisation became complete, when they feared also that the supposed large army on the heights was already among them. In the pitch dark, and amid the utter confusion, every man took his neighbour for an enemy, and so smote him down. All the while the panic urged them instinctively to flight. Large numbers would be trodden down, beause they impeded the progress of those who were flying for their lives. Thus thousands on thousands would perish of the mutual slaughter, before the swords of the Israelites were among them.
Who does not see that the hand of the Lord was in all this, stirring up terror in every heart, and leading to a ruinous flight?
(6.) Pursuers sprung up on all sides with the morning light. When God deals with His own people for their sins, it is in chastisement, and He corrects in measure. But when He deals with His enemies for their sins, it is for their destruction. Thus it was now. Means are taken for the utter overthrow of the whole host, that had dared for seven years in succession to come up as spoilers of God’s heritage. Besides the 300, the 9700 who had been disbanded, and large numbers of the Israelites, north, west, and south, gather in swift and simultaneous concert to smite the common enemy. And the remarkable fact appears, that, whether it was that their flight was terribly obstructed by their families, their dromedaries, their luggage, and possessions of various sorts, or whether special facilities were furnished to the pursuers for coming up with them, it happened that eight parts out of nine of this multitudinous host perished before they could cross the Jordan! It is expressly stated that 120,000 men out of 135,000, fell on that fatal morning, of those that drew sword (ch. Jdg_8:10). How many men of a different class there may have been, those who were purveyors, servants, cattle-drivers, etc., as also how many women and children, we are not informed, but the number must have been much larger. Possibly the entire army of human locusts that settled down on the rich pastures of Israel was not much short of half a million of persons! And now they all perished! “The sword of the Lord was drunk with their blood” (Jer_46:12). Wicked men should fear to offend the great Jehovah (Zec_2:13; Psa_2:12; Psa_10:13; Psa_76:5-10; Job_21:30; Job_22:21; Psa_33:8; Isa_3:10-11).
II. A Picture of the Church’s Experience in every Age.
At all periods the church has been a mark for the rage of earth and hell. It is natural that Satan should do his utmost against an institution, whose purpose is to overturn his throne and destroy his kingdom. And it is natural that worldly men should have bitter hatred to that which condemns all their evil desires and cherished lusts, and insists on the practice of self-denial as a leading virtue. The forms of attack may change, the weapons used in the warfare may be greatly different, and the conditions may become greatly modified in different ages, but the warfare itself always goes on, the rancour of the world is still kept up, and the same malicious treatment is given, or is tried to be given, to the church now as was given to it in the days of the Midianitish invasion. He and we live, but at different periods of the same great contest. He fought to keep up the cause of God on the earth then, as we are called on still to propagate and maintain that cause under the form of the gospel of Christ, but with very different weapons.
For what is the picture of the church’s experience in these times?
1. She is still surrounded by enemies numerous as the sand on the sea-shore. If, indeed, there is no actual army with sword and spear, as in Gideon’s days, there is yet, even in so-called Christian lands, a vast multitude of persons who are inveterately opposed to the essence and spirit of christianity, and whose opposition to it appears in a variety of ways. If carnal weapons are no longer used, and if instruments of torture are laid aside—if Geshem, the Arabian, no longer lives, nor Sanballat, the Horonite, there is yet bitter offence taken at the Cross of Christ, which shows itself either in the open forms of infidelity; in attacks made on the Book of God; in endeavours to secularise the day of God, and to abolish the worship of God, and in sneering at those who profess the truth of God; or which shows itself in the more covert, but still more dangerous, form of perverting and falsifying the truth of God, of inventing a substitute for the gospel of Christ, of mixing it up with the traditions or philosophy of men, and, as far as possible, passing it by altogether. Indeed, every human heart, until regenerated by the Holy Spirit, is characterised by a spirit of enmity against God, and, except in so far as bridled by powerful moral restraints, is disposed to show a bitter Midianitish opposition to the church of God. Except those who have given themselves up to the belief and the sway of Christian truth, all men are more or less natural enemies to the church of God, and its high spiritual purpose.
2. The enemies are a heterogeneous confederation. First comes Science, with her lofty air and many tongues. In a very dogmatic manner she attacks the dogmas of the sacred book, forgetting that science itself consists almost wholly of dogmas. Proud of her acquisitions in useful knowledge, she asserts more peremptorily than ever, that the laws of nature as now discovered, tell a different tale from that which we have in the historical statements of the Scriptures. And in their extreme haste, a host of savans already proclaim, that Christianity has been reasoned off the stage. But the old rock keeps its place amid the lashings of the waves. Next comes Philosophy, boasting that it is in the track of some great discoveries, by which the doctrines of Christianity may be dissipated, and the supernatural element taken out of them, so that they will soon come under the proper control of human reason, and therefore become suited to human liking. Next rises up Criticism, which tells us there are ever so many discrepancies between what is now known outside the Scriptures to be true, philological, archæological, antiquarian, and otherwise, and the affirmations of the old volume itself.
Closer at hand we have all the schools of our modern Areopagus clamouring in our ears more insolently, and we might add, more discordantly still, than the groups of learned men on that hill of wisdom in Athens—the schools of Atheism, of Agnosticism, of Positivism, of Deism, Theism, Pantheism, of Rationalism, Naturalism, and Spiritualism, of Broad-Churchism, and Formalism—all of which ardently aim at getting quit, not of the beauties of the Bible, nor its good morality, nor its just, pure and lofty sentiments so much, as first its element of the supernatural; for that is felt to be terribly humbling to man’s pride of understanding, and puts him down to the footstool, when he would fain climb to the throne. They wish to get quit too of its inspiration and oracular authority; for that binds man to believe what he is taught by testimony, and makes his reason a subject, not a sovereign. It also suggests the idea of a Lord of the conscience. They wish to get quit too of the doctrine of human responsibility; for that makes conscience a troubled sea in the soul, at the thought that man will be judged for all his thoughts, words, and actions. Especially they wish to get quit of such a doctrine as human depravity; for that is reproachful to man’s character as a moral being, and sinks him to shame and contempt in the estimation of the morally pure and holy. They wish above all to blot out from the page of history, and if they could, from the page of human thought, the doctrine of the death of the Son of God being the suffering of a substitute endured to atone for the sins of men; for that is to intensify inconceivably the evil of sin, reveals the alarming condition of man’s prospect for the future, and proves his utter powerlessness to help himself in the terrible emergency.
All these enemies of the Christian Church want, in one word, to get quit of the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, as being most distasteful to man’s unspiritual nature, and most humbling to his imperial and stubborn will. They would refit the Bible, or reconstruct it so as to make it speak in quite another tone. Intead of being governed by it, they would govern it, and transform it into a Book that would suit the convenience, and establish the glory of man.
3. The attacks are persistently made. The language used against the Book which contains the doctrines of Christianity was never more bold, we might say, audacious, than it has been during the present century. Formerly, it may have been more coarse, and ribald, when such men as Voltaire, Paine, Rochester, and Hume, poured their vile abuse on the good Book. Yet in this age, far more liberty of opinion is claimed than in any past epoch. Never was public opinion stronger, and never did liberty run so far in the direction of laxity. It has indeed become a rage—a passion. The pendulum has swung from the point of over-strictness, to that of over looseness. The result is, that never has there been such boldness in casting aside old forms of belief, and even the beliefs themselves. After so many failures, the attacks on the old Rock are still kept up, and with renewed confidence, it is defiantly asserted, that not only must Christianity moult, and change its garb, but, in these advancing times, must change in its very substance. Old ships, it is said, do not weather tempestuous seas so well as those of fresher build. So, many have taken to imagining, that the old vessel of Christianity will not hold out much longer amid the tremendous seas that are now lashing over her, but that she must soon go to pieces and become a total wreck. Others, who do not take this extreme view, yet think the time has come when the ship must be laid up in the dock, and undergo much refitting and reconstruction to prepare her for future service.
These attacks have been most numerous, most formidable, and most envenomed. They have come in on every side, and been made with united force. Notwithstanding all the falsification of past predictions respecting the defeat of Christianity, the opposition to it is as persistent to-day as ever it was in any previous age. But one thing is always strangely forgotten, that He who constructed this vessel is the same with the builder of heaven and earth, who holds the waters of human strife in the hollow of his hand, and without whose permission not a single ripple can rise or fall. The raging sea of human opinions may run mountains high, yet the little skiff which carries the Church of God cannot be swallowed up by the threatening element, while the Lord of the Church walks on the crest of the waves, able in a moment to still them at their wildest fury.
4. Every possible advantage is on the side of the enemy. Here the Church fights her battle with 300 against 135,000 men, or one man against 450. In the case of Jonathan, it was two men against many thousands. In the case of Samson, it was one man against several thousands. In the case of Joshua and his followers, it was one nation against many nations, for the Canaanites were really a cluster of separate kingdoms. There is a special purpose to be served by this arrangement. The Church of God, representing the cause of religious truth in this world, is far too mighty for error to stand before her when opposed on equal terms. Error, in such a case, could no more maintain its ground, than darkness could cope with the rays of the noonday sun. There could indeed be no battle at all, and all the moral purposes served by the prolonged opposition of the one to the other would come to an end.
Error needs all possible resources to help her. The subtleties of logic, the splendours of eloquence, powers of reasoning, and charms of literary accomplishment; while plain, unadorned straightforward statement stand on the other side. Erudition, philosophy and science plead her cause, poetry weaves for her a many-coloured robe of beauty, while fame puts a crown of gold on her head, gives a sceptre into her hand, blows the trumpet before her, and calls on the multitude to bend the knee at her name. But truth must stand alone, in humble garb, and mean attire, and with unsophisticated speech must plead her own cause. The world’s dread laugh and proud supercilious scorn she meets with showing her native majesty of mien and purity of tone. The cause of truth too is often most injudiciously handled by her defenders, they often fall out among themselves, and do irreparable mischief by their dissensions. But the advocates of error have generally been men of great mental grasp and profound scholarship. Truth in one word is placed at its weakest to contend with error at its strongest, that so a far more illustrious triumph may be gained in the end, than if the advantages enjoyed on either side had borne some proportion of equality to each other.
But there is not only inequality of advantage. Truth has always been exposed to the grossest misrepresentation, while her character and claims are miserably misunderstood. We see Christian truth perverted, parodied, mystified, and falsely accused. The whole treatment of the cross has been measured out anew to the truth of the cross—she has been betrayed and stabbed in secret, and mocked and vilified in open day. A whole army of detractors, scoffers, and calumniators have kept continually dogging her steps, until she might well say in the language of Him whose name is “The Truth,”—“Reproach hath broken my heart!”
5. The inherent power of Bible truth makes victory certain in the end. The little finger of truth is thicker than the loins of error. With that little finger she has gained world-renowned victories. “With the jaw of an ass she has slain a thousand men.” With the blowing of rams’ horns she has made the fortified cities of the enemy fall down flat. With sling and stone, in the hands of a stripling, she has felled to the earth the proud Goliath in the camp of her opponents. With a shepherd’s crook used by a fugitive herdsman, from the backside of the desert, she has routed the proud Pharaoh who opposed her, and found a watery grave in the great ocean for his huge bannered host. When Christian truth went out into the world to fight her way to victory, she was without learning, without caste, without wealth, and without a particle of influence in society. I see Paul and Barnabas, on their first missionary tour, going across the mountains of Pisidia, without armies and without arms, having no fame or prestige, with nothing but a good conscience within, the word of God in their hands, and their exalted Master looking down on them from the throne in the heavens. It was weakness employed to conquer strength, folly to confound wisdom.
I look again, and see the advocate of christianity surrounded by the learning and culture of the world, and treated with derision and scorn. “What will this babbler say?” pitched the key-note of the obloquy which Mars Hill thought fit to pour on the doctrine of the cross! The wise of this world thought it too much honour to give it a hearing at all! Again I see him a prisoner, answering for himself before men who were strangers to pity, and but capriciously acquainted with justice, yet through the simple force of truth, he causes his judge to tremble on the seat of power, and constrains royalty itself to exclaim, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a christian!” Once more, I see him within the gloomy walls of the martyr’s dungeon, with life and all that men count dear behind, and with the dreary horrors of a barbarous death before him—alone, unbefriended, unsuccoured, he is yet the happiest man in Rome! Among the millions within her wide walls, not another heart is so buoyant with hope, so lifted up with joy. Nor need we wonder. His prospects at that moment were brighter than those of any other man on earth. That dark and cheerless cell was his last resting-place on earth. Soon his feet should stand within the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. one of the loftiest seats around the throne should soon be his. one of the sweetest songs in the land of bliss should soon be raised by him. As he thought of this, his afflictions became light, and lighter still, until he felt them not at all. He would not, at that moment, have exchanged his position with that of him who sat on the throne of the world. Nero was wretched! Paul the prisoner was filled with joy unspeakable! Terrors reigned in the soul of the tyrant! A peace passing all understanding possessed the mind of his captive! He that stood on the summit of earthly greatness was afraid of all around him—afraid even of himself! His unprotected prisoner, awaiting a violent death, stood undaunted amid the rage of earth and of hell!
6. Hope for Christian Missions everywhere. This does not admit of doubt for a single moment, when the attitude of Christian Truth to Error is understood. The reason why universal success has not been attained long since, is not because the resources of that Truth are not equal to the occasion. But there has been a holding back of the real power which it possesses. Not the one-hundredth part of its resources has been called forth; and so, many fall into the mistake, that it may yet die out and be overcome. This mistake is all the more easily made, that opposing systems are usually so demonstrative of their apparent successes, and so pretentious and confident as to what they will be able to accomplish in the future. Hence it is inferred, that the two forces are not unequally matched, or that the one at least bears some proportion to the other; so that some doubt must be held to rest over the final result. In reality, Error, whatever form it may assume, has in itself no power at all to contend with Christian Truth, any more than dark clouds have power to prevent the rising of the sun, or than men have power to contend with the silent irresistible strength of a law of nature.
(1.) Christian Truth lays its hand on the supreme powers of a man’s nature—his conscience, that mysterious faculty whose volcanic force when awakened creates greater disturbance in the soul than all other causes combined; his will, that kingly faculty which decrees with the force of a Medes and Persians law what the man is to do; his desires and affections, which like a helm turn the soul in whatever direction they are pleased to take. All the secret springs of a man’s moral nature are touched by this Truth, and it is too mighty to be shaken off.
(2.) This truth is no product of earth. No soil, East or West, of this barren world could produce such a plant. The Everlasting Father Himself did plant it. Long before the cycles of Time began to revolve, this Mighty Truth was with God, and that which had its birth in Eternity cannot perish among the rocks and the wildernesses of Time.
(3.) This truth is a system of facts. It contains the history of persons that lived, and of events that occurred—“things seen and heard.” The theories of philosophers are nebulous; their schemes are fancies or day-dreams, and however beautiful, necessarily pass away. Their propositions are often mere abstractions which cannot be realised in every-day life. No entire system of truth, at once plain, full of substance, and adapted to man’s practical needs all round, has ever been presented to the world but Christianity. Hence its power to live. It has life in itself, and it has power to give life to others. Thus it can stand the tear and wear of time for many generations.
(4.) This truth is an instrument in the hand of the Supreme Ruler. This all-important fact must never be forgotten. The power of Christianity does not consist merely in its being what it is, but in its being wielded by Him who has all power in heaven and earth to accomplish the high purposes of His will. “It is mighty through God to the pulling down,” etc. (see Joh_17:2; Mar_16:20). He has but to “pour out His Spirit, and the wilderness should become as the fruitful field.” Every day would be as the day of Pentecost, until the whole world should spiritually bloom in every part like a second Eden.
COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS.—Jdg_7:15-25
I. The great men of the Bible are its good men.
Judged by his deeds, and the spirit in which he performed them, none will refuse to Gideon the epithet of great. Yet on analysing the elements of his character, we do not so much emphasize his great daring, his heroic spirit, his shrewdness and skill, nor even his disinterested devotion to his country. It is rather his zeal for the cause of his God, his sorrow that the Church of God should be trodden down by the unhallowed foot of the alien, and that the name of his God should be every day blasphemed, on the one hand, that form the noblest features of his character, while on the other hand, he holds himself ready at the Divine call to perform a humanly impossible task, at every risk to his own interests, to retrieve the dishonour done to the Divine name, and all on the basis of the trust he has in the God who made Himself over to Israel to be their God. It was by his faith that he became great (Heb_11:2; Heb_11:32, etc.), and that marks him out equally as a man of piety. But for his faith, he never had subdued so effectually the mighty army of the desert and annihilated their numerous hordes. It was not natural courage or skill in disposing his little army, or indomitable patriotism that gained him such signal success, though these were all in exercise, but his faith in his God—trusting in His character and relying on His promises, that earned him his high distinction.
But for the connection, into which true faith brings a man with his God, his deeds, and his very existence, are at the best an ephemeral phantom, an airy nothing, which soon evaporates, not to be heard of more in the ages to come. But the touch of Divinity creates around a man an immortal memory, and His name cannot drop into oblivion. Hence this book of Judges cannot be classed with other records, which relate the deeds of martial prowess performed by the heroes of olden times, for in these, we merely see the natural qualities which belong to the heroes themselves, and are entirely of an inferior category to that faith and love that zeal and self-denial, which link the soul to its God.
II. The great value of a single good man to the age in which he lives.
A single good man placed in the foreground gives a character to the whole generation to which he belongs. When the moon goes down, were all the stars of first magnitude abstracted from the sky of night, what a miserable appearance would that sky present when shorn of its brightest beauties! And how tame would this book read without the four or five names of its men of faith! These redeem it from being a dull heavy record, and throw a splendour over the page which makes it shine with lustre to latest ages. There is something of God about such men, for it is not their own glory that shines, as they freely confess by the fact that they live and do all by faith. It is truest philosophy this faith, as well as the purest piety. It is the unit confessing itself nothing before the Universal, the finite laying hold of the infinite, the drop losing itself in the ocean! It is the little child confessing its feebleness and its foolishness, in the presence of the Possessor of boundless power and unsearchable wisdom. It is the humble heart opening itself out before the fountain to receive promised blessings, with the view of returning these blessings again in songs of gratitude and praise. Thus it is always God that is really glorified, the creature confessing it has nothing but what it receives, and reflecting as a mirror all the glory that falls upon it from the infinite source.
The good man having God with him is ever invincible. The very heavens bend before the prayers of Elijah. He is felt to be a greater power in the land than Ahab and Jezebel. In that heyday of idolatry, a louder protest was uttered against the worship of false gods, through the instrumentality of that single man, than had been known for ages in the history of Israel. But for him, though standing alone, even Carmel would have been submerged by the rising tide of idolatry. Who does not see that but for Barak and Gideon in their respective periods, the whole history of Israel would have come to a miserable termination ere it had half run its expected course. Truly are they called the “saviours” of their people, as God’s instruments raised up by Him for this purpose (Neh_9:27).
Over the whole of Old Testament times, if you subtract some twenty names the value of history sinks down by fifty per cent, Not that these were the only actors. But common men could not have taken their place, and these inspired common men with confidence in their power to lead, and their Divine commission to lead others, so that they formed rallying points for large numbers acting in unity. However much a man may excel his fellows in intellect, and fortitude, and general resources, he must always find it wise to have many co-workers with him in doing a great work, unless when specially directed and assisted by his God. The great Napoleon gave it as one of the principles of his tactics, “I have always tried to march so as to have a million of men in sympathy with me.” Often however the great men of the Bible were employed by God to do His work with but few followers, for He himself went with them, and His presence counted for a thousand armies.
III. God’s severity in the day of reckoning.
This in any barsh sense is more apparent than real. It was a frightful destruction of human life that took place when the whole of that huge host were slaughtered, leaving none, or only a few stragglers, to return to their country to tell the tale. It was very nearly the annihilation of a race from off the earth. Many hold up their hands and utter exclamations of horror at such terrible cruelties being perpetrated in the name of God. Yet they cannot account for it by setting it down to the barbarity of the times. For it was really done by God’s own direction. The truth is that, in judging of God’s doings, men forget the extremely offensive character of the sin which draws down the punishment, the length of time during which the sin has been going on, and the warnings and expostulations used by God with the wicked to forsake their ways. Were these men, who profess to be so humane and pitiful, while they look on so awful a destruction, to receive themselves one-tenth part of the offence which these heathen nations gave to the true God, they would, without doubt, smite down, and not spare, every man who should dare to act so wicked a part, and would wonder if any should cry out for mercy to their victims.
But the great Jehovah punishes not like man. He is indeed strict to mark iniquity and “every disobedience and transgression receives a due recompense of reward.” But it is not from uncontrollable feelings of what men call passion and revenge that He acts in any case. To such feelings the Divine bosom is an absolute stranger. God knows nothing as a Moral Governor but the calm and just administration of law. It is justice alone with which He is concerned when punishing the wicked, not the gratification of any vindictive feelings towards the transgressors. Anything vindictive is an impossibility to the nature of God. If such language is sometimes used in Scripture it is only as a figure of speech, when His acts have the appearance to men’s eyes of being vindictive. But nothing more is given to the vilest criminal than the due desert of his sin. Men, however, strangely underrate that desert, and there is all the mystery.
These Midianites had heard of the mighty God of Israel in the past. The deeds which He did on behalf of His people were before the eyes of all the nations, and they ought to have known it was a wicked and dangerous thing to tamper with such a people and their God. If they knew but little, they ought to have made themselves better acquainted with the great Jehovah, for God never rejected heathen inquirers. Yet, knowing the character of this God to be different and immeasurably superior to all gods, they dared to spoil His heritage and to blaspheme His name. Hence their punishments.
IV. God’s complete control over all the states and moods of men’s minds.
It was He that led these enemies of His people to imagine themselves to be surrounded in a moment with so many unexpected evils—a large army close at hand, the wrath of Jehovah gone out against them in some terrible manner, and treachery sprung up in the midst of their own camp. So true is it, that by the mere force of terrible thoughts, God can bring destructive judgments upon men.
How in a moment, suddenly,
To ruin brought are they!
With fearful terrors utterly,
They are consum’d away.
A similar calamity of terrible imaginations was the means of routing a large army of enemies in one of Israel’s evil days (2Ki_7:6). God’s access to the world of a man’s thoughts is abundantly set forth in the 139th Psalm; for He who made the human mind must know it in the fullest manner, just as the maker of any machine must know intimately all its parts, and all its capabilities of movement.
Millions of thoughts pass through a man’s mind almost every day. Yet not one escapes the eye of God! Sometimes the mind feels oppressed with the number of its own thoughts, but cannot reduce the number. Yet there is an antidote. “In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.” These thoughts come often unbidden, rushing like a river through the soul.
“Thoughts on thoughts, a countless throng,
Rush, chasing countless thoughts along.”
These may be all pleasant and refreshing, filling the heart with joy, and spreading the bow of hope over the horizon of the future, as in the case of the two sweet singers in Psa_73:23-26, and Psa_139:17-18, also Psa_104:34. Or these thoughts may be all gloomy and dreadful, full of foreboding fears and disastrous issues, so that a man may be reduced to the extremity of trouble and be led to cry out, “O save me from my thoughts! for thought kills me.” In the midst of peace and plenty God can sometimes make a wicked man feel the beginnings of future woes by causing “terrible thoughts take hold on him as waters,” and surround him on every side; as in the case of Nero, of Voltaire, of Paine, of the French Monarch, who ordered the St. Bartholomew massacre, and many others.
God has a mighty army to attack a man from within, as well as many forces to set in array against him from without. He can also give comfort against all grief on every side by the character of the thoughts which He makes to pass through the mind on any and every occasion.
V. God’s dealings always end with tender compassion for His own people.
They may have sinned long against much light, and in the face of much solemn warning and expostulation. Yet He cannot cast away His own. They are His blood-bought property—redeemed at a great price. They are sprinkled with the precious blood of atonement, and though He was angry with them, His anger is turned away, and He uses the language of peace and reconciliation; He forgives their iniquities, and their sins He remembers no more. This people, who had sinned so much, and were ever rebelling against Him, He could not forget were the same people whom He had brought out of Egypt with a high hand, and whom He had graciously been pleased to take into covenant with Himself, and to call Himself by the name of their God. Hence it was for the glory of His unchangeableness, that they should always be loved (Jer_31:3.) He would show by their history, though it was of a character entirely offensive to His holy nature, that while he might chastise them severely for their manifold backslidings, the mountains were less firm in their places than His pledged love to those whom he had by a fixed agreement taken into tender relations with Himself (Isa_54:10.) Indeed, one great purpose he had in view, when electing this people to be for ever His own, was to show how far His love could go, and how tenderly it could manifest itself under the most testing circumstances. Through His dealings with this people, He takes every opportunity of revealing His glorious perfections, the riches of His mercy, the hidings of His power, the depths of His wisdom, the tenderness of His compassion, and the inviolability of His truth and faithfulness (Eze_36:32; Isa_43:21.)
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v13 Jdg 7:13 - Jdg 7:23.
Judges
A BATTLE WITHOUT A SWORD
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Jdg 7:13 - Jdg 7:23.
To reduce thirty-two thousand to three hundred was a strange way of preparing for a fight; and, no doubt, the handful left felt some sinking of their courage when they looked on their own small number and then on the widespread Midianite host. Gideon, too, would need heartening. So the first thing to be noted is the encouragement given him. God strengthens faith when it needs strengthening, and He has many ways of doing so. Note that Gideon’s visit to the Midianite camp was on ‘the same night’ on which his little band was left alone after the ordeal by water. How punctually to meet our need, when it begins to be felt, does God’s help come! It was by God’s command that he undertook the daring adventure of stealing down to the camp. We can fancy how silently he and Phurah crept down the hillside, and, with hushed breath and wary steps, lest they should stumble on and wake some sleeper, or even rouse some tethered camel, picked their way among the tents. But they had God’s command and promise, and these make men brave, and turn what would else be foolhardy into prudence. Ho put his ear to the black camel’s-hair wall of one tent, and heard what his faith could not but recognise as God’s message to him.
The soldier’s dream was just such as such a man would dream in such circumstances. A round loaf of barley {the commonest kind of bread} was dreamed of as rolling down from a height and upsetting ‘the tent.’ The use of the definite article seems to point to some particular tent, perhaps simply the one in which the dreamer lay, or perhaps the general’s; but the noun may be used as a collective, and what is meant may be that the loaf went through the camp, overturning all the tents in its way. The interpretation needed no Daniel, but the immediate explanation given, shows not only the transparency of the symbol, but the dread in the Midianite ranks of Gideon’s prowess. A nameless awe, which goes far to produce the defeat it dreads, was beginning to creep over them. It finds utterance both in the dream and in its translation. The tiny loaf worked effects disproportioned to its size. A rock thundering down the hillside might have mass and momentum enough to level a line of tents, but one poor loaf to do it! Some mightier than human hand must have set it going on its career. So the soldier interprets that God had delivered the army into Gideon’s hand.
This dream suggests two or three considerations. In several instances we find God speaking to those outside Israel by dreams; for example, to Pharaoh and his two officers, Nebuchadnezzar, Pilate’s wife. It is the lowest form of divine communication, and, like other lower forms, is not to be looked for when the higher teaching of the Spirit of Christ is open to us all.
Again, while both dream and interpretation might be accounted for on simply natural grounds, a deeper insight into the so-called ‘natural’ brings us to see it as all penetrated by the operations of the ever-present God. And the coincidences which brought Gideon to just that tent among the thousands along the valley at just the moment when the two startled sleepers were talking, might well strike Gideon, as they did, as being God’s own fulfilment of the promise that ‘what they say’ would strengthen his hands for the attack {Jdg 7:11}.
Further, Gideon had already had the sign of the fleece and the dew; but God does not disdain to let him have an additional encouragement, and to let him draw confirmation of his own token from the talk of two Midianites. Faith may be buttressed by men’s words, albeit its only foundation is God’s.
Gideon has a place in the muster-roll of heroes of faith in Heb 11:32, and his whole conduct in this incident proves his right to stand there. ‘He worshipped,’ for his soul went out in trust to God, whose voice he heard through the two Midianites, and bowed in thankfulness and submissive obedience. There could be no outward worship there, with an army of sleepers close by, but the silent uplifting of confidence and desire reaches God and strengthens the man. So he went back with new assurance of victory, and roused his sleeping band.
Mark his words as another token of his faith. The Midianite interpreter had said, ‘God has delivered’; Gideon says, ‘The Lord has delivered.’ The former name is the more general, and is natural on the lips of a heathen; the latter is the covenant name, and to use it implies reliance on the Jehovah revealed by His acts to Israel. The Midianite had said that the host was delivered into Gideon’s hand; he says that it is delivered into the hands of the three hundred, suppressing himself and honouring them. God’s soldiers must be willing to ‘esteem others better than themselves,’ and to fight for God’s glory, not their own. The Midianite had said, ‘This is . . . the sword of Gideon’; he bid his men cry ‘the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.’ It was God’s cause for which they were contending, not his; and yet it was his, inasmuch as he was God’s instrument. ‘Excellent mixture,’ says Thomas Fuller, ‘both joined together; admirable method, God put in the first place. Where divine blessing leads up the van, and man’s valour brings up the battle, must not victory needs follow in the rear?’
Gideon does not seem to have been divinely directed to the stratagem by which the Midianites were thrown into panic. He had been promised victory, but that does not lead him to idle waiting for fulfilment of the promise. ‘To wait for God’s performance in doing nothing is to abuse that divine providence, which will so work that it will not allow us to idle’ {Bishop Hall}. True faith will wisely adopt means to reach promised ends, and, having used brain and hand as if all depended on ourselves, will look to Him, as if nothing depended on us, but all on Him.
There was strong faith as well as daring and skilful generalship in leading down the three hundred, with no weapons but trumpets and pitchers, to close quarters with an armed enemy so superior in numbers. And did it not need some faith, too, not only in Gideon but in God, on the part of his band, to plunge down the hill on such an errand, each man with both his hands full, and so unable to strike a blow? The other three hundred at Thermopylae have been wept over and sung; were not these three hundred as true heroes? Let us not count heads when we are called on to take God’s side. His soldiers are always in the minority, but, if He is reckoned in, the minority becomes the majority. ‘They that be with us are more than they that be with them.’
One can fancy the sleepers starting up dazed by the sudden bray of the trumpets and the wild shout of that war-cry yelled from every side. As they stumbled out of their tents, without leaders, without knowledge of the numbers of their foe, and saw all around the flaring torches, and heard the trumpet-blasts, which seemed to speak of an immense attacking force, no wonder that panic shook them, and they fled. Huge mobs of undisciplined men, as Eastern armies are, and these eminently were, are especially liable to such infectious alarms; and the larger the force, the faster does panic spread, the more unmanageable does the army become, and the more fatal are the results. Each man reflects, and so increases, his neighbour’s fear. ‘Great armies, once struck with amazement, are like wounded whales. Give them but line enough, and the fishes will be the fishermen to catch themselves.’
So the host broke up in wild disorder, and hurried in fragments towards the Jordan fords, trampling each other down as they raced through the darkness, and each man, as he ran, dreading to feel the enemy’s sword in his back next moment. `The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous is bold as a lion.’ Thus without stroke of weapon was the victory won. The battle was the Lord’s.
And the story is not antiquated in substance, however the form of the contests which God’s soldiers have to-day to fight has changed. Still it is true that we shall only wage war aright when we feel that it is His cause for which we contend, and His sword which wins the victory. If Gideon had put himself first in his warcry, or had put his own name only in it, the issue would have been different.
May we not also venture to apply the peculiar accoutrements of the victorious three hundred to ourselves? Christ’s men have no weapons to wield but the sounding out from them, as from a trumpet, of the word of the Lord, and the light of a Christian life shining through earthen vessels. If we boldly lift up our voices in the ancient war-cry, and let that word peal forth from us, and flash the light of holy lives on a dark world, we may break the sleeper’s slumbers to a glad waking, and win the noblest of victories by leading them to enlist in the army of our Captain, and to become partakers of His conquests by letting Him conquer, and thereby save them.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon
This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon
Here "the sword of Gideon" refers to Gideon's army attacking. AT: "The loaf of barley bread in your dream must be the army of Gideon" (See: Metonymy)
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God has given him victory over Midian
This future event is spoken of as if it were a past event. This emphasizes that it will certainly happen. AT: "God will certainly help the Israelites defeat the Midianites" (See: Predictive Past)
translationWords
Gideon
dream
companion
barley
bread
Midian
tent
sword
son
Joash
Israel
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.