Judges 7:19-25--Gideon Defeats Midian

Judges 7:19-25
English Standard Version

Gideon Defeats Midian
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.
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24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan. 25 And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.

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I'm publishing this article that is for 9/23/2022 a day early as I'm going out of town this weekend.  I may write an article (more of a blog-type article) about what I learned at the conference when I return.

Gideon has divided the 300 remaining men into three companies of 100 and issues each man a trumpet, a pot and a torch (the torch was to stay covered under the pot until the command was given to break the pots and sound the trumpets).  They came to the outskirts of the camp, and on Gideon's signal (Gideon blew his trumpet first), all the others blew their trumpets and smashed their clay pots so that their torches were revealed, and all the men cried out "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon."  All the Israelites stood firm and all the Midianites were gripped with fear and ran for their lives.  In fact, the LORD caused so much fear and confusion to fall upon the Midianites that when the trumpets blasted, and the clay pots were smashed, they attacked one another with their swords and the few that remained fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath (they started to run towards home and get out of Israel by the fastest route that they can).  I've included a map below to help a bit.

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The last part of this passage (and the chapter) tells of how Gideon called for reinforcements from the tribe of Ephraim when the Midianite army split into two groups.  Ephraim pursued the southern group (Ephraim shown by the blue arrow on the map and the southern group shown by the dotted black arrow).  The part where the armies crossed over the Jordan River will be covered in the next article when we talk about chapter 8.

The end of chapter 7 tells of how Israel captured and killed two of the Midianite princes.  Oreb was killed at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb was killed at the winepress of Zeeb.  These would be places that the people knew the names of at that time (and they possibly still know the names and locations of to this day).  Even though the story is written so that it sounds as if Gideon is the one who won the victory, it is obvious that the LORD is the one that fought this battle for them and caused so much fear to be in the hearts of the Midianites by the dreams He sent to them that they killed one another, some probably fell on their own swords, and many simply ran for their lives.  The LORD alone deservers the glory for this miraculous victory.