"The Sword of the Lord”
Judges 7

May 14, 2006
by C.W. Powell

There are some geographical references in this passage that are obscure so that the actual places are difficult to determine these many centuries after the events. But these references are not important to our purpose today. I am more interested in the spiritual geography than the physical Hebrews 11, as does all the Bible, gives precedence to the spiritual, without denying the physical, when it says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” and follows this by saying that the things which are seen are not made of things which do appear.” The world is not illusion, but was actually created by God, but this does not mean that we are able to discern to the reality and essence of things by the use of our five senses. Jesus said that the pure in heart shall see God, showing that the evidence of the senses must give way to the sight of the heart. It is the sight and hearing of the heart that counts so much more in the mind of God than the acuity of any of the five senses. In another enigmatic statement, Jesus said, “He that has ears to hear, let him hear,” and “And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” (Joh 9:39 AV)

The passage before us is very much about the spiritual and the power of God. The sword of the Lord is not like other swords and cannot be compared to any of the devices of men. Observe the following passages:

“11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. 12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.” (Ps 7:11-12 AV)

“And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” (Jos 5:13 AV)

“Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.” (De 33:29 AV)

“And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.” (1Sa 17:47 AV) [David before Goliath]

“And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Re 19:15 AV)

We might consider that which comes from the mouth of God:

1. There are sweet and blessed words, that are like the water of life, that speak peace and joy and forgiveness and mercy to His people.

2. There are also bitter and harsh things that come from the mouth of God upon the ungodly. The sharp, two-edged sword are these decrees of God, for man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Man lives if God decrees he life and man dies if God decrees his death.

Having said these things by way of preface, I would like to consider this passage under the headings suggested by Matthew Henry. The headings are Matthew Henry’s, the comments are my own.

I. The direction God gave Gideon for the modeling of his army.

Judges 7:1-7: “Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 4 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. 6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

1. God seeks his own glory, and one certain way for an enterprise to fail is for a man to seek his own glory and not the glory of God. God looks for His own gifts in men, and there were two things that God looked for in the men of Gideon’s army, and these to things do not arise from the flesh or from men’s natural ability, but are the gifts of the Spirit of God.

2. We are not to be enamored of the flesh, but are to look for the gifts of the Spirit in men, for God rewards only His own gifts. It is shameful to think that you can prevail in the power of your own arm, but it is more shame-ful to submit to evil because you are afraid that you are too few in number to prevail by the will of God.

3. The two things looked for in Gideon’s men, the things that are the gifts of God’s spirit alone:

a. Faith. The fearful and the afraid were to be sent home. God does not care about the boasting of the flesh. God took them out where they could see the whole army of the Midianites which were as grasshoppers. More than 120, 000 of the Midianites would appointed for death in the coming encounter, but there was no way for Gideon’s army to know that except by faith. This was not bravado, for the flesh can be very proud and presumptuous. Faith is not self-will and arrogance, but comes from the humility of denying your own strength and your own wisdom. True faith is accompanied by self-doubt, the kind of humility that caused Gideon to put out the fleeces. Presumption is not faith, for faith rests on the promises of God, while presumption rests on human ability and vanity.

b. Self-Control. Those who indulge the flesh would be set aside. What happened here was not normal, but showed that there were three hundred appointed by God for this mission, that were endowed with extra grace of the Holy Spirit. Only these three hundred were appointed by God for the task before them.

i. Eliminated Self-indulgence: Those who were more concerned about the body than the warfare before them.
ii. Discipline and self-control: The needs of the body were secondary.

II. The Ecouragement of faith.

Judges 7:8-14: "So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. 9 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. 10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. 13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. 14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host."

1. What God had done for the 300, he had taken from the Midianites.

2. This was to be a great victory of faith, and no one but God would receive glory from this. Even the Midia-nites knew this.

3. Notice: their intelligence must have been pretty good. They knew the name of Israel’s commander. Certainly the Midianites knew of the power of Israel’s God and the history of Israel, just as the world today knows the power of Jesus Christ and the history of the church. This is the reason that the world fears the resurgence of biblical Christianity more than any thing else. But the power of Christianity is not just the doctrine that was once for all delivered to the saints, but also the faith that is the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the people of God. The faith written on the papers and documents of the church is terrible important and without this faith we are nothing; but this faith must also be written in the hearts and minds of the people of God, for we are weak and impotent without it.

4. This passage shows what God can do with a few whose hearts are so set aflame by the Spirit of God. This faith is not the result of your determination and self-will, but by the power of God.

III. Gideon’s warfare was not to the strength of the enemy, but to their overwhelming weakness. Gideon, by the Spirit of God, framed his attack on their fears, not their power.

Judges 7:15-20: "And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. 16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. 17 And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. 18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. 19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the out-side of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon."

1. This morale and the mental state of an army is far more important than anything else, but we are not talking about human psychology here, but by the power of faith.

2. The pitchers were of clay, with the lamps within them, so that the light could not be seen until the pitchers were broken. I don’t know the logistics of this, or how they managed the trumpets, the pitchers, and the lamps with only two hands, but I am sure that they had this all worked out. Probably the ram’s horns were at-tached by cords about their necks, so that when the specially formulated pitchers which held the lamps could be broken and the lights would shine forth. Once again, it is not the physical contours that are important, but the spiritual. It was done and men of ingenuity could figure out how to do it, and these were certainly men of ingenuity and cleverness, for God had equipped them for this task.

3. Note: the initiative is in God’s hands: Gideon didn’t pick the men and then expect God to equip them; no, he picked the men that God had equipped. This is a good lesson for us, and we can learn from this. Do not trust in your own wisdom and power and cleverness. God’s ways are not our ways.

IV. The success of the attack. The sword of the Lord confused the minds of the Midianites, and the hordes of the ungodly were no match for the heroes of the Lord of Host.

Judges 7:21-25: "And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. 22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites. 24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. 25 And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.”

1. Most of the men that were slain were slain by their own comrades, for in the night and confusion, the thou-sands of the Midianites could not tell friend from foe, and fled in panic, leaving the dead behind slain by their own friends.

2. Now the rest of the army of Gideon could be reassembled out of Naphtali, Asher, Manasseh. Ephraim was called to secure the water fords, and a great slaughter took place, including the deaths of to two great lords of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb, but we will consider the aftermath next week.

The applications we have tried to make as we went along and they should be greatly encouraging to the people of God.

Amen and Amen. May God bless you.