SCRIPTURE: JUDGES 7
As Gideon with his men were prepared to fight against the midianites, the Lord told Gideon that there were too many men for the battle. Anyone who was afraid to fight may turn back. So two thousand men left while ten thousand remained. But God said that there were still too many men. He told Gideon to take the men down to the water. Only those who lapped with their hands to drink will go to war. So, only 300 mens were kept.
To encourage Gideon, God let Gideon listen to a dream of conversation between two persons. One said: “God has given the Midianites the whole camp into Gideon hands”. Then Gideon got up and divided the 300 men into 3 groups. He placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them with torches inside. So they went and bless their friends, smashed the jars and shouted: “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon”. When the trumpets sounded, the Lord caused all the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. Then they called out Israelites from Napthali, Asher, Manasseh, Ephraim to come out and fight against the Midianites. They captured two Midianite leaders Oreb and Zeeb and killed them.
THOUGHTS:
The men of Gideon’s army were tested by the way the drank water. The Israelites were tested by thirst and Moses was tested by people’s complains. We never know how God will use the everyday things of life to test our faith. wE must be constantly on guard so that we won’t fail the test.
Three things that Gideon used to fight the Midianites and their spiritual meaning: (By Warren Wiersbe)
- Empty jar to break – we must be clean, yielded vessels for God to use
- Torches to burn – we must let our lights shine
- Trumpet to blow – we must be a witness for Christ.
God reduced the number of Gideon soldiers from 32 thousand to 2300 so that the men could not take the credit for themselves. We must not depend on our own strength because victory belongs to the Lord and we must give glory to His name. Victory depends not on strength we have but on obedience and commitment to Him.