Judges 7:15-23- How The LORD Encouraged The Faith Of The 300

Read Judges 7:15-23

Gideon was an ordinary man that God had called to be a judge in Israel. (6:15) Gideon was weak (6:15), so he knew needed to come boldly before the throne of grace to find grace and mercy in his time of need. (6:17,6:36-40, 7:10; Hebrews 4:16)

Gideon needed to do this when he was told to go fight the Midianites and he was afraid. Therefore, the LORD offered Gideon a means of grace. (7:10) When this means of grace was extended to Gideon he accepted it and he and his servant went down to the Midianite camp. (v.12) They got close enough to hear someone speaking about a dream that he had. (13-14)

Look at verse 13 which says, “When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, ‘Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.’”

Notice that the word ‘Behold’ appears three times. (ESV) This word is in the Hebrew text three times and it is an interjection that expresses a sudden emotion and strong feelings. Because this shows up three times we know that this is a climactic moment in this story. (9-10)

This word was used in Judges 6:25-28 to describe the towns peoples reaction after Gideon destroyed his father’s idols. In verse 28 we read, “And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it…”. We might ask, ‘What sort of strong feelings and response did those who ‘beheld’ these things have?’ Well, they immediately searched for who was responsible so that they could kill him. (30)

The use of this word (3x) is used for more than to draw us into the drama of this moment, but to show us what God is now doing. On the one hand, Gideon is now being strengthened by God’s grace. On the other hand, the Midianites are becoming fearful and hopeless. (13-14)

The first time this word it is used it is in connection to Gideon. He has been afraid but he came in faith for God to strengthen him. When he arrives at the front line, behold, just as the LORD had said, Gideon hears about a dream and its interpretation. As he hears these things God gives him grace that overcomes his fears, helps his faith, and he is moved to action. According to Judges 7:6 all this internal grace would express itself in two ways. He worshiped the LORD and then he gathered his troops to fight against their enemies.

The opposite, however, was happening to these two Midianite soldiers. The man who had this dream was moved by it. Therefore, as he speaks about it to the other man the word ‘behold’ is mentioned twice, saying, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold…”. Interestingly, God is letting the Midianites know about what is about to happen but they are powerless to stop it. At the same time Gideon, who is their enemy, is going to be strengthened by this dream.

As Gideon listened to this man he heard him equate Israel’s army to a ‘cake of barley’. You would think that Gideon would be discouraged by the description of his army in this way. You would also believe that the Midian soldiers would have been encouraged. How concerned should they be about a ‘cake of barley’?

The LORD describes these 300 men as a ‘cake of barley’ that ‘tumbles into the camp’. Some synonyms for ‘tumble’ are: stumbles, flops, rolls. This word would seems to make Israel’s army seem awkward, clumsy, and incompetent; but as we continue to read we see that this ‘cake of barley’ carries a powerful punch against the camp. When it strikes the Midianite camp it will send them into disaray and they will fall, be turn upside down, and lay it down flat.

If I were Gideon I would have wanted the LORD to make me sound tough and powerful. I would have wanted the LORD to call this invasion by a cool name like: ‘Operation Desert Storm’ or ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’. I would have wanted these Midianites to know that Israel’s ‘war department’ was now gunning for them.

Contrast this description of Israel to what we saw last week in the Book of Habakkuk where the Chaldean army is described with these words, “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. (Psalm 2) They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. They sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!” (1:6-11) This description would have terrified Israel, but made the Chaldean’s proud.

Contrast this with how Isaiah describes the armies that God was raising up against Israel in Isaiah 5:26-30, “He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come! None is weary, none stumbles or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap is broken; their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind. Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue. They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.” Again, this would have terrified Israel, but made the nations proud.

These things remind us that our strength and capabilities are not to be the focus (7:2,4), but God’s people must be content to be humble, lowly, and foolish. (1 Cor. 1:26-31) We must boast in our weaknesses; so that, God’s power will be perfected in us so that He gets all the glory for anything we do by His grace. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10; 2 Cor. 1:8-10)

After this Gideon hears the interpretation of this dream when the other man says, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.” (14) Let me make 3 observations about these words.

Observation#1- See how confident he speaks, saying, “This is none other than…God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp”. If this man was not confident Gideon would not have been encouraged.

Illustration: Consider Acts 4 when the apostles had been teaching the people boldly. This had such an impact that the apostles were arrested and brought before the religious leaders. Peter was filled with the Spirit and spoke boldly, saying, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (11-12) What impact did these bold words have upon the leaders? Acts 4:13 says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”

A close cross reference to the words, ‘This is nothing else but’ (KJV; 14), is found in Nehemiah 2:2 where King Artaxerxes says to Nehemiah, ‘This is nothing else but sorrow of heart’. In that passage Nehemiah had heard that Israel was suffering and he weep. One day he was before King Artaxerxes when he was exceedingly sad. The king had never seen Nehemiah’s face downcast and he says to him, “This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Similarly, this man who interprets this dream knows that there is only one explanation for this dream. ‘This is nothing else but’ that God is bringing judgment upon the whole camp of Midian.

Observation#2- Notice that this interpretation gives specific names, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash”. If Gideon did not have skin in the game before this, he does now! The enemy now knows who the judge of Israel is. Only the LORD could have given this man, who did not know Gideon or Joash, these specific names.

Observation#3- This man says, ‘God has given all of Midian into Gideon’s hand’. This language would have encouraged Gideon because this language has been used throughout this story by the LORD when he speaks to Gideon. For example,

• In Judges 6:36-40 we read, “Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”

• In Judges 7:9 the LORD told Gideon, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.”

As you can imagine, when Gideon hears these things his faith is greatly encouraged and he receives grace (strength) and his fears are relieved. (7:10-11) Then Gideon responds in two ways. First, Gideon immediately began to worship the LORD. Second, Gideon returns to the camp of Israel and says, “Arise for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.” (15)

We have spent the last eight weeks studying Gideon and how the LORD has often helped his faith for the task that was given to him. (6:11-24, 36-40, 7:10-11) This makes me ask, ‘What about the faith of these 300 men? How has God helped their faith?’

We are not given a whole lot of details but let me make nine observations from Judges 6&7.

1. At the beginning of this story we saw that Israel had finally cried out to the LORD for help.(6:6) The first thing God does is send a prophet to speak the Word of God to them so that they would repent, believe, and obey Him. When these things happen God’s people become sensitive to hear God’s Word, their faith grows, and they submit to the LORD’s Word more and more. I think that we can assume that this has been happening among these 300 men.

2. When the LORD came to Gideon and made him a Judge over Israel, He said to him in Judges 6:16, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” With these words the LORD was promising to raise up an army who would be one in spirit, mind, and ambition. Therefore, as much as God has been at work in Gideon, the LORD is promising to be at work to accomplish these things in this army of 300.

3. In Judges 6:33-35 we saw that Gideon was clothed with the Spirit and the result of this was that he began to sound the trumpet and send out messengers. So from the very beginning the Spirit has been mentioned in association with raising up the right people who would become the 300.

4. In Judges 7:2-3 we saw that 32,000 men were to many and the people would boast in themselves if the LORD gave them the victory. Therefore, the LORD told Gideon to send away anyone who was fearful and trembling. As a result, 22,000 of them left. Wouldn’t you agree that this was a good indication that these people did not possess the faith and the grace to go any farther in this process?

5. Now there were only 10,000 who remained but the LORD says again that there are to many. The LORD says in v. 4, “Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you’, shall go will you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go with you.” This does not seem like a random, accidental, arbitrary process. The LORD is very much involved in deciding who of all these men will go to war for Israel. God is sovereignly guiding this process from beginning to end. He even controls who will drink by kneeling and who will drink by lapped putting their hands to their mouth.

6. God chooses to work in and through these 300 men just as he had controlled what was happening to those two Midianite soldiers. God gave one man a dream and another man the interpretation of it. And even though the enemy now knows what God is going to do they are powerless to stop it. In fact, God is provoking fear in them and taking away their strength. Similarly, God is now encouraging Gideon’s 300 and providing them with grace.

7. Perhaps this is an assumption on my part but if God has truly been active among these 300 in giving them the faith and grace for what they have been called to do then imagine what that camp may have been like. This group was being united as one man. The faith of the individual was helping to encourage the faith of everyone else in the group. (Romans 1:11-12) O that every congregation would be united in this way. (Acts 4:32; Ephesians 4)

8. When Gideon comes back to the camp he says in verse 15, “Arise for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.” This call, like the call to repent and believe, will come effectually to these 300 men (Romans 1:5-6) which results in them going to fight a 135,000 well armed men with nothing but torches, jars, and trumpets. Just as the hearing of the dream and its interpretation brought faith and grace to Gideon, now Gideon’s confident words are used by God to bring faith and grace to these 300.

9. Even though God had done all of these things to help the faith of these 300, they will need to exercise a means of grace to support their faith as they come to the Midianite camp. For example, they will need to remember what Gideon has said, “Arise for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.” (15) They will also have to remember their leader Gideon and his faith (Hebrews 13:7,17) and how he gave them instructions in Judges 7:17-18, saying, “When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.” It would be dark and Israel’s 300 would be spread out on three sides of the battlefield, so Gideon shows them in camp what they are to do, saying, “When I blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’”

Proverbs 30:29-31 says, “Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride: the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any; the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him.”

I’d like to leave you with the picture of these 301 men who were going into battle that night, not in fear and overwhelmed with anxiety, but because they followed their LORD and King in faith, they were stately in their tread and in their stride.

Similarly, a believer is not supposed to live apart from others in the church. And as we gather together and encourage one another in the faith we will walk with a steady and stately stride. Hebrews 12:1-2, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."