Scripture Daily

Context No. 1233 of 4322 · Judges

Context · Reflection

Judges 7:19-25: in context

19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch. Then they blew the trumpets and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. 20The three companies blew the trumpets, broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they shouted, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!” 21They each stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight. 22They blew the three hundred trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath. 23The men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued Midian. 24Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and take the waters before them as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan!” So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together and took the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan. 25They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at Oreb’s rock, and Zeeb they killed at Zeeb’s wine press, as they pursued Midian. Then they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Gideon's three hundred men surround the vast Midianite camp at night, each holding a trumpet and a torch hidden in a clay jar. At the signal they blow the trumpets, smash the jars to reveal the torches, and shout, a sword for the LORD and for Gideon. They do not even attack; they stand in their places around the camp. And in the panic, the LORD turns the enemy's swords against one another; the whole Midianite army routs itself and flees, and Israel pursues.

The remarkable thing about this victory is that the three hundred barely fought. They held torches and trumpets, not swords for the charge; they stood in place and made noise and light, and God did the rest, setting the enemy's swords against each other so that the army destroyed itself in the dark. Gideon's men provided the trumpet, the torch, and the shout; God provided the victory. This is the whole point of the story, which began with God whittling the army down to a size too small to take credit. The deliverance is unmistakably God's, won by a method no military mind would devise, torches and trumpets and a self-destroying enemy. There is encouragement in that for anyone facing overwhelming odds with laughably inadequate resources. Our part may be simply to hold our position, sound the trumpet, let the light shine, and shout that the victory belongs to the LORD, while God does the actual work in ways we could never engineer. The enemy that looked unbeatable defeated itself once God moved. The three hundred did not need to be strong; they needed to obey the strange instructions and let God win.

When I face odds far beyond my resources, can I do my small, strange-seeming part, hold my place, sound the trumpet, let the light shine, and trust God to win the battle in ways I could never engineer?

Sources