JUDGES 7                               “FAVORABLE ODDS”                                    Mark Kolbe

 

MUSIC PRELUDE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjc8Ptc1o6U

 

INTRODUCTION

The third highest grossing movie in the United States during 2012 was a film called “Hunger Games”.  This is a story about a 16-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen who is forced to participate in a gruesome contest against several other young people from neighboring districts.  The annual event is a way for the government to keep the districts submissive to their authority and provide entertainment for citizens of the Capitol.  The most well-known line from the movie is “Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.”  If you haven’t read the book or watched the movie, you may wonder why favorable odds is such an important theme.  The reason is that participants in the contest are in a fight to the death, where each young person must do whatever it takes to survive being killed by the others.  Only the last living participant will be declared the winner. 

Favorable odds are also a key component of the board game called, “Risk”.  The object of this game is to expand your army from the countries they currently occupy into the surrounding ones until a player conquers the whole world.  To accomplish that objective, the players roll two sets of dice, and the winner is determined by which one rolls the highest numbers. The attacking player holds an advantage because they are shaking three dice, while the defender only gets to shake two.  As you might expect, the likelihood of success is increased even more when the attacker’s army is larger than the defender’s.

As residents of this temporal, fallen world we all attempt to improve our odds of success as much as possible.  Preferring life over death and good circumstances over bad, we are conditioned not only to look for situations where the odds are already in our favor, but also to use our own resources and abilities to improve those odds as much as we can. Judges 7 is a chapter that sheds an entirely different light on how the odds of success in life are really determined.  This chapter will contradict what we often believe about how success is obtained, and it will teach us the kind of things we ought to strive for success in.

As we learned in Judges 6, the Midianite people were living in the promised land along with the Israelites.  The Midianites were descendants of a man named Midian who was one of the six sons of Abraham and Keturah (the woman Abraham married after Sarah died).  That made Midian the half-brother of Isaac.  Initially, the Midianites had been a blessing to the Israelites when they took Moses in after he fled from Egypt.

At this point in time, however, the Midianites were a curse against Israel. These people, along with the Amalekites and Ishmaelites, would conduct annual raids against the Israelites during harvest season. They would come up from their homelands in the desert to steal from the Israelites.  While the Israelites hid in caves and fortifications, the Midianites would take whatever they wanted from the Israelite fields and vineyards, then carry the plunder back home on the backs of camels.  This was a time of great economic depression and starvation for the Israelites.

Gideon, who was part of the tribe of Manasseh, was appointed by God to be another judge or ruler in Israel (Judges 6:11,15).  Soon after Gideon became leader, a vast Midianite army of 135,000 men gathered in the valley of Jezreel (Judges 6:33, 8:10), right near where Gideon lived.  

Judges 6:33 - 33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.

In response to the threat from the Midianites and their allies, Gideon called for volunteers to fight against the enemy.  As a result, men from these tribes arrived in a placed called Ophrah (6:33 - 35, 7:3).  Many of them had likely fought alongside Deborah and Barak some number of years earlier (Judges 4:6).  However, Gideon’s call to battle only raised an army of 32,000 Israelites.

The primary battle ground in Judges 7 is the Jezreel valley, which is one of the most strategic and important places in Israel (and the world for that matter).  Whether you were traveling north to south or east to west, the geography of this area forced people to pass through this valley.  It was kind of like the “Grand Central Station” of Israel and the surrounding nations.  Whoever controlled the Jezreel Valley controlled both travel and trade https://www.logos.com/grow/is-the-jezreel-valley-the-stage-for-the-final-battle/.

Since it holds such strategic importance, the valley has been the site of many battles throughout history.  It is the same general area where Deborah and Barak defeated the Canaanites (Judges 4–5). It is where the Philistines defeated the Israelites (1 Samuel 29).  Some of the battles between the Crusaders and Muslims during the 12th century took place there. It is where Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Ottomans in 1799.   In fact, there have been so many battles in that region, that one author has written a book detailing 34 of them that have occurred there over the past 4,000 years https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/2001/cli258001).

THE BATTLE

1 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.

Once the Israelite army had gathered, they traveled to the well of Harod and pitched their tents on a hill just south of the Midianite forces who were in the valley below (7:1, 8-9).  This meant that the Israelites were able to look out over the valley and see they were outnumbered by a great margin.

Before we go any further, it’s important to remind ourselves about the spiritual immaturity of the Israelite people at this time.  They were largely ignorant of what God had accomplished in the lives of their ancestors and they lacked knowledge about God in general (Judges 2:10 - 10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel).

So, up on this hill is an army of 32,000 soldiers who didn’t know much about God, nor what He was up to, looking down on an army of 135,000 soldiers.  If I were an Israelite soldier, I’m sure I would have been at least nervous, but more likely fearful.  With the odds not appearing very favorable, I would have been hoping that Gideon was either going to recruit more men, or, come up with a great strategy.  If Gideon had called for volunteers to brainstorm ideas for victory, I would have been first in line.  I might have even pitched my tent next to his in hopes of overhearing what the final battle plans were.  If I had done that, I wouldn’t have liked what I heard.

 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’

Here in this one verse, we notice two things about God.  One is that He looks at situations very different from mankind – His math is not our math.  Second, He does things with purpose, and that includes doing things for the good of those He loves.  God knows that if these spiritually immature and outnumbered Israelites were somehow able to defeat the enemy, their natural tendency would have been to assume victory was due to their own determination and military strength (e.g. Deuteronomy 9:1-6).  However, God intends to use this opportunity to educate them on who He is and what He can do.  God has a plan for making the odds more favorable for the Israelites.

 3 Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

Looks like I wouldn’t have been going to battle after all! On one hand it appears God does something at least semi-rationally by getting rid of the soldiers who were afraid.  They wouldn’t be of much use in battle anyway.  But on the other hand, intentionally reducing the army down to one-third of its original size to become even more outnumbered seems quite irrational.  Whether or not God’s strategy seems a good one, He isn’t done yet.

4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”  5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps, from those who kneel down to drink.” 6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.  7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

God continues to reduce the size of the Israelite army by applying a drinking test.  Some people speculate that God was now eliminating the soldiers who were less attentive to potential enemy attacks because they were willing to get on their hands and knees, and temporarily focus their gaze at the pool of water.  Personally, I don’t think the way a solider drank had anything to do with it.  God was merely making Gideon’s army smaller because it was more “beneficial” to do so.   

It is interesting that throughout this process, there isn’t any indication that Gideon ever questioned what God was doing.  We know that other Israelite leaders like Abraham and Moses were quite vocal about their doubts when called to action, but Gideon is not.  Instead, he submits to God’s plan and whittles his attacking force to a small fraction of what it was.  Since this strategy was so absurd, it seems to reason that Gideon’s willingness to go along with the plan is because His faith had been strengthened from the process in Judges 6 where God proved to Gideon who He was, and that He could be trusted.

Despite Gideon’s participation, God knows it will still be natural for him to be at least a little uncertain with the plan. Therefore, God provides another means to embolden Gideon’s courage.

8b Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 9 During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. 10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.”

We see that not only does God have a specific plan in place for the battle, but He is also actively involved in and aware of what is going on in the hearts and minds of people on both sides of the conflict.  God has all the bases covered.

11 So he (Gideon) and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.  13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.” 14 His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”

These verses contain two different metaphors with radically different images.  On one hand, the enemy army is described as being thick as locusts and having camels as numerous as sand on the seashore.  Obviously, these words paint a picture of a very large army. However, contrast that image with the one from the enemy soldier’s dream – a round loaf of barley bread tumbling down a hill.  Of all the things to portray the way one army would defeat another one, a rolling loaf of bread doesn’t sound very intimidating.   Yet, given the miniscule size and makeup of the attacking army, a simple loaf of bread was the perfect image to symbolize what was about to take place!

After reading about this interaction between the two enemy soldiers, I’m struck by how quickly and confidently they assert that this dream about a tumbling loaf of barley bread was a sign they were going to be defeated by the Israelites.  Doesn’t it make you wonder why they would connect those dots?  I think one possibility is that these Midianite men were more knowledgeable about history than the Israelites were.

Remember, the Midianites were not too distant relatives of the Israelites.  Just like you and I were taught about the results of battles the United States has been involved in historically, the Midianites knew about victories that the Israelites underdogs had won in the past because God was on their side.  What were some of those examples?   The city of Jericho was conquered by men who walked around its walls, blowing trumpets, and shouting; Othniel had overpowered the king of Aram; Ehud led battles that killed 10,000 Moabites; Shamgar struck down 600 Philistines with an ox goad; and a woman named Deborah helped defeat the Canaanites.

God has given people ample proof that you don’t want to be against Him.  But, despite this evidence, people stubbornly go against Him. That’s what the Pharoah of Egypt did, that’s what non-Christians will do during the tribulation, and that’s what the Midianites were doing here.   

People can also be ignorant of evidence for God’s power and are therefore reluctant to go along with Him.  That describes the Israelites at this time – people who were out of tune with who God was and what He was up to.  God was working out a process where Gideon, the Israelites, and the Midianites, would come to know Him more.

15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” 16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

Although outnumbered 300 to 135,000, Gideon was confident God was going to lead them to victory.  He then combines the faith he has in God’s sovereignty, ability, and promise, with a good strategy of his own. Gideon splits the three-hundred remaining men into 3 groups of 100.   Each man was given a trumpet to hold in one hand, and a jar that concealed a burning torch in the other hand.  These three groups are going to come down from the hill in the middle of the night and surround the enemy camp.

17 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

Notice that Gideon proved his belief in what God was going to do by putting himself at risk.  He didn’t just stand back to have someone else do what needed to be done.

This strategy that involves surrounding the enemy, blowing trumpets, and shouting should sound familiar because that was the same one used 200 years earlier when the Israelites conquered Jericho.

19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets (shofar) and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

The battle takes place in the middle of the night.  Depending upon which definition of “middle watch” you apply, it was probably sometime between 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.  Attacking the Midianites in the dark was a great plan, for several reasons.  First, it helped conceal the fact the Israelites only had 300 men.  Second, the Israelites would be battling against an enemy who was trying to shake off the grogginess after being awakened from a deep sleep.   Third, darkness provided a perfect opportunity to use the burning torches.  

Let’s focus on the torches for a minute.  One burning torch does not provide a great amount of light.  In fact, someone who sees a torch from any distance would not be able to see much else illuminated around it.  Therefore, the torches got the attention of the Midianites without giving away the Israelites secret.  A “normal” army going into battle would want to arm as many soldiers as possible with weapons, and only dedicate the minimum number of men needed to carry torches.  In other words, when the Midianites saw 300 torches, they assumed they were lighting the way for a much larger army.

Now, let’s focus on the trumpets.  Although there are a variety of horned instruments in the Old Testament, the ones used by Gideon’s army were likely Shofars.  Shofars were an inexpensive way to fashion an instrument because they were made from a ram’s horn and were small enough to carry into battle.  Although relatively small, when blown, these horns made a very distinctive and intimidating sound (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtiEU7ZEKgs).

While these instruments were often used by Israel for a variety of reasons, we shouldn’t assume there was some kind of special magic or great spiritual force coming from them.  The power needed to succeed in this battle was going to come from somewhere else.  If you are in a spiritual battle today, blowing through one of these horns isn’t going to increase your odds of victory.  According to scripture, you are better off spending your time in prayer.

We all know what it is like to be woken in the middle of the night by some kind of loud noise like a clap of thunder or screeching tires.  Imagine your reaction upon hearing the sound of 300 of these instruments!  Keep in mind that the Midianites were encamped in a valley, so the sound of the horns would also have tended to reverberate off any nearby hills.

What happens when you combine darkness, burning torches, yelling, trumpets, an army suddenly woken from a deep sleep, and several of whom were afraid of an attack from the army of God?  The conditions were ideal for confusion and panic to set in.   God uses these circumstances for His purpose.

22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. 23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites.  24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah. 25 They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.

After many of the Midianites had been killed by friendly fire during the nighttime deception, the survivors fled south along the Jordan river.  With the enemy now on the run, Gideon called on the soldiers who had been part of the original army to get back in the game and take part in the final victory.  As the Midianites continued to flee, they split up.  This leads Gideon to also call upon soldiers from the tribe of Ephraim to get involved and defeat the group of Midianites who tried escaping to the south.  

SO WHAT

1.     God calls His followers to participate in spiritual warfare.

If God wanted the wicked enemy to be defeated, there were numerous ways He could have done it.  He could easily have used His power to just zap the enemy by Himself, but He didn’t.  God had always promised to be with the Israelites, but the battle to take the promised land had always been their responsibility.  In Judges 7, God used Gideon and 300 men to get the battle started.  Then the remaining men got back into the fight so they could participate in what God was doing, and gain experience fighting against the enemy. 

Defeating sin and Satan was made possible by God, but you and I must go into spiritual warfare personally.  No one else can do it for us. Being forced out of our comfort zone and participating with God helps us to know Him better than we could by just knowing His words or what He has done in the lives of others. 

James 1:22-27 - But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Colossians 3:5-6 - Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

2.     God is actively involved in our spiritual battles

I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m not the only Christian in the modern era who has struggled with thoughts and feelings about God’s level of involvement in the difficulties I face. If you are like me you can think of more than one example when, in the course of spiritual battle, it felt like you were an army of one.

When we read the account of Gideon in Judges 6 and 7, it seems obvious to us that God was actively involved in Gideon’s life.  God urged Gideon into spiritual battle through a one-one-one conversation.  God even gave Gideon tangible signs that He could be trusted.  First, using the fleece in Judges 6, then again in Judges 7 when God allowed Gideon to overhear a conversation between the enemy soldiers. 

Can we have the same confidence in God today that Gideon had in the past?  Maybe we can answer that question with the answers to a couple others. Isn’t it true that someone’s words that have been written down and signed are just as reliable and binding as words spoken audibly? Is God working through our everyday circumstances just as much as He was within the miraculous ones we read about in the Bible?

Just like God promised Gideon victory He has promised us victory.  While we might not have the same kind of evidence that Gideon had, we do have His word confirmed in scripture.  Even though we get surprised and discouraged about the way our spiritual battles are unfolding, we should remember to look back at God’s handiwork in our past and remain confident that God is still working all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

3.     Victory is possible despite our weakness

In Judges 6 we learned that God chose Gideon to lead the Israelites into battle even though he felt underqualified (Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”). In Judges 7, God also knew the poor spiritual condition and tendencies of the Israelite people as a whole.  He knew that if they went to battle on their own, pride would lead to their downfall.  Therefore, God put them into a position where they had to put their faith in Him.  

God also knows our weaknesses and the things that will get in the way of us maturing spiritually.  We need to be like Gideon and from the apostle Paul, who admitted their weaknesses and gained their strength from God.

2 Corinthians 12:9 - But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Romans 8:37 - Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

 

 

4.     God will arm His followers with the weapons it takes to win the victory.

Nowhere in Judges 7 does it say that the Israelites used “conventional” weapons of warfare, like swords.  In verse 14, the Midianite soldiers assumed the Israelites had swords.  In verses 18 and 20, the Israelites only implied they had swords as they yelled.  There were swords mentioned in verse 22, but those were ones the Midianites used to kill each other.  When Gideon and the 300 descended the hill, they had torches in one hand, and trumpets in the other.  There is no evidence in the text that they had swords at their side, nor used them in the battle.  Later, when the larger force of remaining Israelite soldiers joined back in the fight, some number of swords could have been used, but that was likely the exception to the rule. 

Many historians argue that since the enemy had lived in the land for much longer, their iron-working skills were more advanced than the Israelites (this was near the time when the iron age began – 1400 BC to 1000 BC. 12th century BC iron age began).  Remember too that the enemy had been pillaging the Israelites for some time, taking whatever they could.  The book of Judges specifically says that the Israelites at this time were under-equipped.  For example, Judges1:9 tells us that the enemy used iron in the construction of their chariots, but the Israelites did not.  In Judges 5:8, the song Deborah and Barak sang included the line that said there was “not a shield or spear among 40,000” Israelites.

Even though his army went into battle seemingly underequipped, Gideon had faith in God.  You and I don’t need physical swords in our spiritual battles either.  God has armed us with the Sword of the Spirit, the Bible.  You and I should be just as confident as Gideon because we have God’s word confirmed in the most reliable, sufficient, and popular book in human history, the one written by God Himself.  Know what it says about God’s character, abilities, and spiritual warfare.  We also can’t use the excuse that we don’t have great personal skills, because God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit to more than make up for that.

Hebrews 4:12 - For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

James 4:7 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Ephesians 6:10-18

5.     Those who follow God don’t have just favorable odds, but a guaranteed victory.

In reality, the specific number of Israelite soldiers or type of weapons had no bearing on who won the battle - the outcome was determined by God.  The same thing is true today.  People in this world believe victory is determined by who has the biggest military, who has the most votes, which leader is in office, or which news outlet has the largest audience.  That is a lie Satan wants people to believe.  

The Bible tells us that there is going to be a future climatic battle in which the enemies of Jesus are going to believe their alliances and might are going to lead them to victory over Him.  However, Jesus will be victorious over those who think they have superior odds.  The Jezreel valley, where Gideon’s battle took place is also known as the plain of Megiddo.  This is the same place where Jesus will one day defeat the forces of the Antichrist at the battle of Armageddon.  In the description of that future battle, Revelation 16:19 says that Jesus Christ “treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty, and all things will be made right.”  That verse sheds an interesting light on Judges 7:25, where we read the one of the Midianite leaders was also killed in a place called a winepress. 

As we learned, the geography of the Jezreel valley makes it not only a natural location for battle, but also a place where people were forced to travel through.  That sounds very similar to what Jesus Himself once said about Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…no man comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6)”.  Only by choosing the side of Jesus’ can we be assured that victory is ours.

1 Corinthians 15:17 - But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 2:14 - Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.