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Judges
Chapter
7
{Verses
1-8: Activation of Gideon's Grenadiers}
1~~Then
Jerubbaal, who . . . {is} Gideon,
and
all the troops that were with him,
rose
up early and marched,
and
bivouacked beside the spring of Harod.
Now
the {camp of the} army/host of the Midianites
was
to the north of them,
by
the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2~~And
Jehovah/God said to Gideon,
"The
troops who are with you
are
too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands,
lest
Israel glorify themselves against me, saying,
'My
own ability/hand has delivered me'."
{Note: God's omniscience tells Him that the Jews will give only themselves the credit if these 32,000 troops defeat the 135,000 Arabs. So, God is going to lower the numbers of the Jewish troops . . . quite a lot! Many of the people in the Jewish Army here were there for self-glory.}
3~~"Now
therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying,
'Whosoever
is fearful and afraid
{see Deuteronomy 20:8 - cowardice is a reason for a dishonorable
discharge},
let
him return and depart early
from
the 'standard of the Gilead' {har Gil`ad}
{har Gil`ad - normally means Mount Gilead, but that is not even
close to the geographical location where they currently are. 'Har'
can also mean 'meeting point', 'rallying point', or standard. The
grandson of Manasseh's name was Gilead (Numbers 26:29-30)-
from whom Mt Gilead gets its name. Gilead was a tremendous
warrior - and the men of Manasseh were very proud of him. So, in
our day we might say 'rally around the standard of Stonewall
Jackson'. This is a reference to their rallying point. These 22,000
men departed from the rallying point of the warrior Gilead.}
And
therefore twenty and two thousand returned
of
the troops and there remained ten thousand
{so Gideon started with 32,000 and now 22,000 declare themselves
cowards and leave}.
{Gideon
Listening Instead of Talking}
4~~And
Jehovah/God said unto Gideon,
"The
troops/people are yet too many.
Cause
them to descend down to the water
{march them down to the water},
and
there I {God} will refine them {tsaraph} for you
{tsaraph -means to refine/smelt - assayer term used when
separating gold from the slag}.
Therefore,
it shall be, that he concerning whom I say unto you,
'This
one shall go with you, the same shall go with you.
What
ever one concerning whom I say to you,
This
one shall not go with you, the same shall not go.' "
5~~So
he {Gideon} marched the troops down to the water.
And
Jehovah/God said unto Gideon,
'You
will separate every one
who
laps of the water with his tongue as a dog laps.
Likewise
{separate into a new group}
every
one kneels/'who bows down upon his knees' to drink.
{Note: RBT says that a dog actually sticks his tongue out and bends it DOWN and scoops up water with the bottom of his tongue and throws the water into his mouth. Actually what the dog is really doing is staying alert. His eyes are up and he is ready. The professional soldiers are soldiers first and drinkers of water second. The other men were drinkers of water, and then soldiers. God wanted a small corps of alert men for the job at hand - these men will be tough for the Arabs to ambush.}
6~~And
the number of them that lapped,
putting
their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men.
But
all the rest of the troops knelt to drink water
{9,700 men out of this campaign}.
7~~And
Jehovah/God said to Gideon,
"By
the three hundred men who lapped,
I
will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand.
Therefore,
release the rest of the troops {from this operation}
{they are not cowards - so are not dishonorably discharged, but
they will not take part in the military operation to come}.
8~~So
the troops took victuals in their hand
{in earthen jugs later called 'pitchers'},
and
their trumpets
{each of the 300 men was given a trumpet from the quartermaster}
and
he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent,
and
retained {command over}
those
three hundred men {Gideon's Grenadiers}.
The
'bivouac/camp of the army' of Midian
was
beneath him in the valley.
{Note: RBT calls these men grenadiers because grenadiers are elite forces who have to be very brave and very alert. These men qualify. So they march to the enemy and set up a fireless bivouac only a few hundred yards above the enemy outpost (the 135,000 Arabs are spread out through the valley below them).}
{Verses
9-15: Gideon's Reconnaissance and Decision}
9~~And
that same night it came to pass,
that
Jehovah/God said to him,
Wake
up! {quwm - imperative mood - an order}
Go
down to the enemy camp
{yarad machaneh- imperative mood - again an order}
for
I have given it into your hand.
{Note: Gideon must have been tired from all this 'application of doctrine' so when he reached the enemy he probably set up sentries but did not make a reconnaissance of the enemy. God tells him to do it alone.}
10~~But
if you {Gideon} fear to go down,
go
down with Phurah, your orderly,
to
the enemy camp {machaneh}.
{Note: It often takes a man of great integrity to be subordinate to the 'boss'. We do not know much about Phurah, but he most likely was a SuperGrace believer. He must have been a man of great integrity and loyalty. God knew that this man was the right one to give Gideon the boost he needed to get cracking down the hill.}
11~~"And
you shall 'hear, listen and understand' {shama`}
the
words {dabar} that they say;
and
afterward your hands shall be strengthened
{idiom meaning his soul will be rid of the final hang-up and he will be
ready to act}
and
you will launch an assault against enemy bivouac.
Then
went he {Gideon} went down with Purah his orderly
and
infiltrated the enemy outpost
of
the armed men that were in bivouac.
12~~Now
the Midianites and the Amalekites
and
all the 'sons of the east' {Bedouins Arabs}
who
were strung out as numerous as locusts;
and
their camels were without number,
as
numerous as the sand by the shore of the sea.
{Verses
13-14: Dream of the Barley Bread and its Interpretation by Two
Serious Arab Soldiers}
13~~And
when Gideon 'penetrated the outpost'/'was come',
behold,
there was a man/soldier who told a dream unto his comrade,
and
said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream,
in
which a loaf/cake of barley bread
tumbled
into the army of Midian,
and
came unto a tent/'command post' {'ohel},
and
it struck so that not only did the tent fall,
but
it turned inside out."
14~~And
his comrade answered and said,
"This
is nothing else than the sword of Gideon,
the
son of Joash, a man of Israel.
For
the 'Elohiym /Godhead has given Midian
and
all the army into his hand."
{Note: Barley bread is cheap. The Jews were so deprived by the Arabs the last 7 years of occupation, that it is used as an analogy for them. These verses also tell us that the Arabs were aware that Gideon was raising an army, but in their arrogance, they did not send out scouts to do a reconnaissance. So, they do not know the size of his army or its location. RBT says arrogance and cowardice are two sides of the same coin. Add pressure to arrogance and you get cowardice. Remove pressure from a coward and they become arrogant.}
{Three
Actions of Gideon}
15~~So
it came to pass,
when
Gideon heard the telling of the dream
and
the interpretation thereof,
that
he 'bowed down'/worshipped
{1st action - recognition of grace of God in this matter - first
look is
UP - SuperGrace Orientation},
and
returned into the army of Israel
{2nd action - recognition of grace of God in this matter - second
look is sideways - action},
and
said, "Wake up {an order}
for
Jehovah/God has given the army of Midian into your hand
{3rd action - make a plan and then ready the attack; 'nathan' - to
give - is in the perfect tense - the action is in the future, but it is
so certain in Gideon's soul that it is completed action; and
notice 'your hand' - no arrogance in Gideon - the credit is the
Lord's and this is a team effort}.
{Verses
16-21: Victory of Gideon's Grenadiers - Combat Begins}
16~~Now
he {Gideon} divided the three hundred men
of
his company into three platoons {of 100 men each}
{a normal assault would have a pivot or attacking force; an
enveloping force, and reserves - but all three platoons will attack
in this night assault},
and
he issued a battle trumpet to every man,
and
an empty pitcher
{used to carry the rations to the field - now they will hide the light
of the lamps},
and
torches within the pitchers
{the men have swords in their sheaves - so a pitcher is held under
one arm with the lit torch in side, and a battle trumpet is in the
other hand}.
17~~And
he {Gideon} 'issued them the following orders',
"Guide
on me
{for the signal to attack - using their ears since it is night},
and
in like manner execute {your attack}.
Therefore,
be alert,
when
I come to the outer perimeter of the enemy camp,
it
shall come to pass, as I do, so shall execute.
18~~When
the 'assault platoon'/'I and all who are with me'
blow
with a trumpet,
then
you also blow your trumpets also around the camp, and shout,
"For
Jehovah/God . . . and for Gideon
{note: the KJV added 'swords' here but the swords are not used
this time}."
{Note: For Jehovah was for whom they were fighting. Why say 'for Gideon'? It fulfilled the dream of the Arab sentry to state this attack was by Gideon - and they were frightened before the battle began. And, RBT says this also was like a password so in the night they could tell who was shouting.}
19~~So
Gideon,
and
the hundred men that were with him {assault platoon},
came
unto the outer perimeter of the enemy camp
in
the beginning of the middle watch {12 midnight}
{1st watch was sundown to midnight; Second watch was midnight
to dawn; and the Third watch was dawn to sunset}
when
they had just posted the guard {guards for the second watch}.
So
they blew the trumpets,
and
smashed the {ration} pitchers that were in their hands.
{Note: So as the guard was changing all of a sudden, there was great LIGHT in the darkness, the strange loud sound of the breaking pottery, and the trumpets blowing and men shouting and blowing and shouting - the Arabs had pressure applied to their arrogance and they became cowards. With their camp followers at a ratio of 5 to 1 there might be 135,000 Arab soldiers and a half million Arabs in all in the valley.}
20~~So
the three platoons sounded their trumpets,
and
shattered their pitchers,
and
held the torch in their left hands,
while
their right hands held the trumpets for sounding off
and
also they shouted
"The
sword . . . for the Jehovah/God . . . and for Gideon'.
{Note: chereb - the sword - was not mentioned in the briefing. They say it suggesting they have their swords ready and more Arabs killed other Arabs then any other time in history.}
21~~And
they {the men of the 3 platoons}
took
position and stood fast in his place
on
the periphery of the enemy camp.
And
all the camp 'ran in panic' {ruwts/rutz},
and
'made panic noises' {ruwa`},
and
'were caused to run {in all directions}
in
fear' {nuwc - hiphil stem}.
{Verses
22-Chapter 8-12: The Pursuit and Exploitation of Victory}
22~~So
the three hundred sounded the trumpets,
and
Jehovah/God turned {suwm}
every
man's {Arab's} sword against his comrade,
even
throughout entire the enemy bivouac.
Therefore,
the 'enemy army' fled {moving out}
{killing each other as the survivors in panic get out}
to
Bethshittah {Beyth hash-Shittah}
{town not far from the Jordan river - this is to the south east of
where they were}
to
Zererath {Ts@rerah} {Arabs here were fleeing to the south},
and
to the border of Abelmeholah {'Abel M@chowlah}
{also known as the dancing meadow - where the Jews liked to
dance - in Jordan valley - fleeing north},
even
unto Tabbath
{so these Arabs were fleeing to the north - the Arab camp
therefore fled in 3 general directions}.
{Beginning
of Pursuit and Recall of 9,700
Who failed the Drinking Test}
23~~And
the army of Israel was recalled
from
Naphtali, and Asher, and out of all Manasseh,
and
kept on pursuing after the Midianites.
{Note: These men did such a great job, it is recorded in Psalms 83:10. They mopped up the Arabs at Endor (see also Judges 8:18-19). So they get the Arabs going north.}
{Pursuit
of the Southern Column of Fleeing Arabs}
24~~And
Gideon dispatched messengers
throughout
all the hill country of Ephraim, saying,
"
'Come down against'/'Cut off' the Midianites,
and
seize the fords before them
as
far as Bethbarah and the Jordan {River}.
Then
all the men of Ephraim assembled themselves together,
and
secured the fords unto Bethbarah and Jordan
{cutting off the escape of the Arabs fleeing in this direction}.
25~~And
they took two princes of the Midianites,
the
'Raven and the Wolf'/'Oreb and Zeeb'
and
they slaughtered/slew the Raven/Oreb
at
the rock of the Raven/Oreb.
And
they killed the Wolf/Zeeb
at
the winepress of the Wolf/Zeeb,
while
they pursued Midian.
Consequently,
they brought the heads of Oreb/Raven and Zeeb/Wolf to Gideon from
across the Jordan {River}.
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