Year 1, Day 268: Judges 7

God’s Might vs. Human Might

God is about to do an amazing thing with Gideon.  But before we get to that amazing thing, let’s look at what happens.  The support for Gideon whittles down into virtually nothing.  The first thing God does is get rid of 22,000 (out of 32,000) troops.  68.75% of Gideon’s support abandoned him with permission just because they were afraid.  Having removed the fearful, God then takes over and removes more based on His own decision making process.  9,700 more people leave.  For those of you keeping track, that is another 97% (Cumulative 99%) who leave.

Imagine how Gideon felt knowing that he was a fledgling in the faith and God had called him to be a judge.  Imagine how he felt knowing that God had called him to be the person of faith among the Hebrew people who brings his people back into a relationship with God and frees them from the hand of Midian.  Now imagine thinking that you are going to do it with 32,000 people and the night before the big battle you find out that you are actually going to do it with 300.  Imagine how Gideon must have felt.  Imagine how deflated he couldn’t have helped to be at this moment.  Imagine how confused he surely got.  Imagine how lost he must have felt.  Imagine how vulnerable and exposed he surely felt.

Then came the dream.  God knew Gideon needed bolstering in order to make the transition from human might to depending upon godly might.  So Gideon hears about a dream telling of his triumph over Midian!  God sends that as a sign for him to remain faithful.

Gideon’s Response to God’s Provision

Gideon falls down and worships at that moment because now is the time of his faith!  Notice that he worshipped before he returned to the camp of Israel – meaning that he chose worship over his safety at that point!  God was going to do a great thing through him.  Here is the point where Gideon stops looking around him while seeing through eyes of doubt and instead he begins to look around him while seeing with the eyes of God.  Here is the point where his faith takes on new and deeper meaning.  Here is the point where he is no longer one who is afraid and acting boldly outside the cover of darkness but one who worships God even in the midst of the enemy!

Battle Tactics and Strategy

Of course, we know that Gideon’s tactics were not about actually fighting this initial battle.  The tactics Gideon sets out were relying upon God to use the moment of surprise to confuse and oppress the Midianite armies.  The pitchers would hide the torches as well as make a great noise when broken.  So from the perspective of the camp of the Midianites, suddenly they would see a force appearing as if through magic.  This force would appear close and undetected.  They would make a great noise, throwing the Midianite camp into confusion.  Being that it was in the middle of the night and most of the camp would be waking up from sleep, the natural instinct would be to flee and regroup in order to escape the imminent surprise threat.  Gideon knew that it would be up to God at this point.

God would throw them into confusion.  God would let this massive army flee from 300 men.  God would prove His ability to fight for Himself.  God would demonstrate His power not only to the Midianites but to the rebellious Hebrews as well.  And He did just that.

Power in These Verses

For me, though, I think the power of this passage is way back in the beginning.  God is able to work through less than 1% of the original force Gideon has available.  God is able to bring about incredible change through the fraction of a percent who are truly faithful.  The fearful go home until it is safe and the battle is assured; God is able to work through whoever happens to remain in their faith.

All Gideon has to do is let God work, and be willing to help along the way.  It isn’t about Gideon, his power, his charisma, or his leadership ability.  God’s character is more important than all of those things.  What is important in this chapter is that he is willing to learn and walk along the path.

God’s Motivation

That being said, though, we do need to look at God’s motivation.  He does demonstrate His power greatly through the faith of Gideon and the loyal few around him.  But why does not need to do such a miraculous event?  So Israel could not boast.  God needs to work in this manner because God knows that if He doesn’t then Israel is going to simply say, “we did it under our own power because we are such good fighting men.”

Want to see evidence of this?  What is it that the people shout when they break their pitchers and startle the Midianites?  They shout, “For God and for Gideon.”  Look at those words.  Does Gideon really need to be a part of that?  Is Gideon really the focus here?  No, God knows the heart of the people – even the non-fearful ones.  God knows that these people want something tangible to believe in.  Yes, they acknowledge God.  But they also want something more.  They also want that human leadership they can touch, hear, and see.  Isn’t it sad that even here in a story where God’s hand is so mightily prevalent we see humanity creeping into view!

Unfortunately, this thought only helps us set up what we’ll discover tomorrow in the end of Gideon’s story.

<><