29 – Gideon’s Battle

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BATTLE PREPARATIONS

Gideon’s life and battle against the Midianites are very prophetic for our time.

Judges 7:1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod. Midian’s camp was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 

All the people who were with him were the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali.

For some Geography: The spring is located in the Harod Valley in the eastern part of the Jezreel Valley. The Jezreel Valley drains into the Kishon River and then to the Mediterranean Sea. The Harod Valley drains through the Harod Stream to the Jordan River.

THE BATTLE AREA

Judges 7:2 YHVH said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel brag against me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 

This is the first time YHVH has required less warriors for a battle. It is the first time in Israel’s history He has said too many warriors showed up. In the past, YHVH has called for a certain number of warriors or for an entire tribe but He has never said there were too many before now.

The reason YHVH stated this was because all Israel had not returned to Him yet. He now needs a mighty miracle to cause the people to return so His call will now be to His remnant, those who were still faithful to Him when all the rest of Israel had departed from Him. This is prophetic for the end times.

Judges 7:3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’” So, twenty-two-thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained. 

Deuteronomy 20:8 The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, “What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother’s heart melt as his heart.” 

This is the first separation.

Judges 7:4 YHVH said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. It shall be, that those whom I tell you, ‘This shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and whoever I tell you, ‘This shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.” 

“Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there”. The water equates to Yeshua who gives us living water. YHVH does the testing of His people through watching what they do with the living water.

YHVH tests, but Gideon had to do the separating according to who YHVH said goes and who He said stays.

Judges 7:5 So he brought down the people to the water; and YHVH said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, like a dog laps, you shall set him by himself; likewise, everyone who bows down on his knees to drink.”
Judges 7:6 The number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water. 

Gideon sneaked his 10,000 men to the spring of Harod. Some people believe he used the cave at the base of the mountain where the spring of Harod flows through. That makes sense if you are trying to hide men. And it is probable that the men went in courses, not all at once. Smaller quantities of men are easier to observe than all of the 10,000 at one time.

The men who lapped like dogs were those who stooped to reach into the water with their hands and then drank the water from their hands rather than kneeling to put their mouths in the water. This showed who was always alert for the enemy and who was not. A body kneeling and face in the water is not watching for danger.

Only 300 men qualified. I will delve into this prophecy more at the end of this teaching. Suffice to say this is the same selection process as for the 144,000.

Judges 7:7 YHVH said to Gideon, “I will save you by the three hundred men who lapped, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, each to his own place.” 
Judges 7:8 So the people took food in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel, every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley
Judges 7:9 That same night, YHVH said to him, “Arise, go down into the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand.
Judges 7:10 But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp.
Judges 7:11 You will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened to go down into the camp.” Then went he down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp. 

Gideon took Purah which meant he was afraid. This was the reason for his fleeces. YHVH wanted Gideon to hear something reassuring from his men.

Judges 7:12 The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is on the seashore for multitude.
Judges 7:13 When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his fellow. 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.” 

The cake of barley bread was Gideon. Barley bread is unleavened. This battle probably happened between Passover and Shavuot. Passover is the barley Feast and Shavuot is the wheat Feast. Gideon had been found by YHVH grinding wheat but he was still counting the omer. He was still in the season of the unleavened barley bread.

Judges 7:14 His fellow answered, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian into his hand, with all the army.” 

The dream was prophetic. Gideon heard the dream and the interpretation which gave him confidence that he had, indeed, heard from YHVH.

Judges 7:15 It was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and its interpretation, that he worshiped. Then he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise; for YHVH has delivered the army of Midian into your hand!”
Judges 7:16 He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all them trumpets [shofars], and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers. 

Each company had 100 men. Gideon’s company was stationed at Mount Moreh. The other 2 groups were to the west and south. They would push the enemy to the east across the Jordan river. The companies were not in clusters. They were spread out along the perimeter of the enemy camp.

Judges 7:17 He said to them, “Watch me, and do likewise. Behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so you shall do.
Judges 7:18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and shout, ‘For YHVH and for Gideon!’” 

The trumpets in verse 18 were not the silver trumpets that call Israel to war in Numbers 10:9-10. These were shofars. Only Aaronites were permitted to blow the silver trumpets but there were no Aaronites in this battle.

The shout, “For YHVH and for Gideon”, now begins telling us something not so good about Gideon. Whereas he was scared before, now he is confident, so confident that he will be willing to make a claim of glory WITH YHVH. The better shout would have been “for YHVH” or “for YHVH and Israel”, right? None of the prior Judges of Israel ever promoted themselves or claimed any of YHVH’s glory. Gideon’s self-aggrandizement would become a slippery slope that ended as a snare to him and all Israel.

Judges 7:19 So Gideon, and the hundred men who were with him, came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch. Then they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. 

Night watch is in the middle of the night, of course. It is the time when sleepy men are roused to guard the camp by tired men who are going to bed. The Midianites were likely lackadaisical because who in the world could attack the Midianites with their great number of men? Thus, they were not really alert.

Judges 7:20 The three companies blew the trumpets, broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they shouted, “The sword of YHVH and of Gideon!” 

The three companies would have been positioned on three sides of the camp with Gideon toward the northern end of the Midianite camp at Mount Moreh (verse 1), one company westward from the camp and the other southward to make it appear to the Midianites that they were surrounded by a huge Israelite army.

The shofars were sounded together at Gideon’s command, a sound that surrounded the entire enemy’s camp. The shofars being blown by the scouts with the simultaneous lighting of the surroundings by torches confused the Midianites because shofar blowers and torch light teams were always followed by thousands behind them. But these were not teams of men. These were singular warriors doing both jobs of blowing the shofars and casting light all around.

As soon as they had blown the shofars, they dropped them and broke the pitchers to expose the smoldering torches which now lit up fully again because they received more oxygen.

The prophecy of successful war says:

Leviticus 26:8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

According to the prophecy, 30,000 was the minimum number of warriors attacking. Each company of 100 would chase 10,000. There were 3 companies, thus the expected minimum army was 30,000.

The noise made by breaking the pitchers to expose the torches was another of YHVH’s ruses. The noise is not that great when 1 pot is broken. It isn’t that great when hundreds of pots are broken simultaneously, either, even though the sound is louder. One whack on a 100 clay pots and its over. BUT that is during the day. The 100 pitchers being broken would be noticed because sound reverberates and is louder at night. With no activity, no dust in the air to deflect sound, no walking bodies to absorb and muffle the sound and no people talking to reduce the sound, the effect was much greater.

Let’s talk about the shout. This was a psychological war attack on Midian. That’s right. YHVH used a psyop against the Midianites. (NOPE: Jericho was the first). YHVH had promised:

Exodus 23:27 I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

Deuteronomy 7:23 But the Lord your God will deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

We will see a similar battle to this one in our own future. Yeshua’s army of 144,000 against the entire world’s armies will succeed because they will come with shofars blaring, voices shouting and with the light of Yeshua.

Notice how the shout has changed from “for YHVH and for Gideon” to “the sword of YHVH and of Gideon”.

Judges 7:21 They each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight. 

The phrase “all the army” refers to the Midianite army shouting and fleeing from this unexpected attack.

Here is the rest of the psyop. The 300 men, 100 in each company, didn’t move! Normally, the frontline troops lead the way into the battle with the thousands of men behind them. Not so here.

Notice that the 300 “stood”. They did not run into the battle. They simply frightened the Midianites so badly with their SHOUT that the Midianites killed each other and fled!

Let me say a word about standing our ground. Well, that’s the word. STAND YOUR GROUND! You have nothing to fear when you are in YHVH’s will in the midst of a battle.

Judges 7:22 They blew the three hundred trumpets, and YHVH set every man’s sword against his fellow, and against all the army [of the Midianites and their coalition]; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath. 

“Every man’s sword against his fellow” means the Midianites were killing each other while the 300 of YHVH stood their ground.

Judges 7:23 The men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued Midian. 
Judges 7:24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian, and take the waters before them, as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan!” So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and took the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan.
Judges 7:25 They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at Oreb’s rock, and Zeeb they killed at Zeeb’s wine press; and pursued Midian. Then they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan. 

Once there was total confusion in the enemy camp, the other tribes entered the battle. This is also prophetic for our time.

Gideon’s 300 plus the warriors from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, Manasseh and Ephraim chased the Midianites, the Amalekites and the other “children of the east” across, and beyond, the Jordan river. That is where Gideon was when the heads of Oreb and Zeeb were brought to him.

Prophetically, this tells us that the 144,000 will be those who start the return of Biblical Israel. Gideon’s 300 is a type and shadow of the 144,000, not by the numbers but by their actions and how they were selected.

This modern UN-created political STATE of Israel is NOT Biblical Israel. Biblical Israel has not yet returned. The return of Biblical Israel will begin with the appearance of the 144,000 in secret (as Gideon’s 300 were chosen in secret). The 144,000 will surround the enemy and they will not be moved just like the 300 who “stood” in verse 21 to encourage all Israel to fight for the Kingdom.

And like Joshua’s battles where ALL the people engaged in the wars, including old men, women and children, ALL Israel will fight, will travail to bring forth YHVH’s holy Kingdom.

Oreb and Zeeb represent the beast and false prophet of Revelation.

Gideon was not the first to have such a small army. Abram had 318 men in his army when he went to rescue Lot. Abram routed 4 entire nations to get Lot and his family and some other people back from that first King of the North comprised of Amraphel, king of Shinar; Arioch, king of Ellasar; Chedorlaomer, king of Elam; and Tidal, king of Goiim.

We don’t get the details of that battle in Genesis but Jasher tells us that Abram and his 318 warriors defeated an army of 800,000.

In the end of days, there will be this same coalition of the 4 nations in the northern Middle East. Daniel called this coalition the ‘King of the North’ (Daniel 11:40-45). By the time Yeshua comes to do battle, the King of the North will have gone out around the world conquering and converting or killing infidels. He will then unite and lead the nations of the entire earth against Jerusalem, to the Battle of Armageddon, to FINALLY take the city and land of Israel away from Jacob/Israel.

Yeshua YHVH’s tactic of using less than 1% of Israelites who qualified and received the honor of being the fighting elites will happen again. He will again choose less than 1% of faithful men of Israel to fight the final battle to bring His people home. It simply will be that the remnant of righteous Israelite men will have qualified for the honor of serving directly under Yeshua. They will be those who have guarded the honor of YHVH’s Kingdom with no thought for their flesh or their own desires at all. They will have been always alert for the enemy who wants to enter into the fellowships to destroy with false doctrine and contentions between brethren which divide. They will only seek YHVH’s voice and speak only HIS words, and no other.

Behind every individual man of the 144,000 will be thousands of believers who are willing to join the battle after it gets started just like in the days of Gideon.

Women will not be among the warriors of the 144,000. Women are not permitted to serve as warriors in YHVH’s Kingdom, Israel. Plain and simple. Some claim this is not so but YHVH’s Torah is before the earth was formed and it will be after the earth passes away. His Word never changes because He never changes, and it is plainly commanded in the Torah that women will wear nothing that pertains to men, namely a warrior’s uniform and the weapons that go with it. But women will join with the old men, the children and the believers from the other tribes to battle Satan’s kingdom. Joshua’s battles and Gideon’s are both prophetic.

Gideon’s 300 were those chosen to announce to the Midianites that Israel had returned to take its rightful place. The 144,000’s job will be the same. Their appearance will announce the return of YHVH’s Kingdom on earth. Small and outnumbered, when they arise, it will be with the message that Israel is BACK! And this time, the Kingdom will never be defeated again because sin will also be defeated in those who are resurrected or transformed. By the start of the 8^th Millennium, sin will not exist in humanity at all.

Let’s remember that it was not Gideon’s 300 that won the war, nor will it be the 144,000 that win the coming war. Gideon won because of unspoken intervention by YHVH. If anyone thinks the ruse of using 300 men could have succeeded unless YHVH intervened behind the scenes they need to think again.

The 144,000 will win because of great intervention by YHVH. The glory and honor go only to Yeshua YHVH not only for His great victory but for who He chose to stand with Him so that Israel could travail to bring forth His Kingdom.

The travailing of YHVH’s woman has to do with her having a vested interest in the Kingdom. Jeremiah said YHVH would not take Israel by the hand to deliver as He did with the first generation in Egypt. They failed because they did not have enough struggle even though they groaned under the weight of oppression. Oppression sets the stage for the actual fight for freedom but there must be a fight for freedom which that first generation did not have. They were delivered by the hand, not by travail.es It is the fight for freedom that gives people a vested interest in their nation.

Israel is our nation. The Kingdom of Israel is not a religion. The Christian churches, Jewish synagogues and Islamic mosques don’t represent nations. They are religions of Babylon and Egypt which we must come out of. We will be led by what all appearances will seem to be a losing proposition because YHVH’s remnant is so small. Remember YHVH’s promises: The 100 / 60 / 30.