GIDEON
and the Three Hundred
Judges 6:1,2, “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.”
No other nation has ever been so blessed as Israel, and no other people have so squandered those blessings. God chose Israel when their only representative was one man, Abraham. He promised him a posterity when he was seventy-five years old, and gave him a son when he was a hundred years old. No other nation was more miraculously born, and no other nation was more miraculously multiplied and cared for.
Jacob’s sons sold their brother Joseph into bondage in Egypt, and for their troubles they wound up in Egyptian bondage themselves. God will not be mocked. He will bless his people, but he is just as faithful to chastise them when they misbehave.
Before Isaac the promised heir was born, God promised Abraham the land of Canaan. After he allowed the entire family to languish for four hundred years in Egyptian bondage, and grow to be at least two million strong, he brought them out of Egypt and into the promised land. He promised them great blessing if they obeyed his commands, and great affliction if they fell away to the idols of the land. They did fall away and that brings us to the situation described in our text.
We are told that “the children did evil in the sight of the Lord.” They turned away from the worship of Jehovah, and worshiped the demon-gods of the Canaanites.
You can be sure that Dagon, Moloch, Chemosh, and the various gods of the land were demon-gods. Paul tells us that “the sacrifices which the gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils (daimoniois—demons) and not to God.” The manner in which they worshiped those gods corresponded to the nature of the gods. Rather than embarrass myself and my readers by going into any detailed description of their religion, I will simply quote two texts of scripture. That should be enough.
Lev. 17:7, “And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring.”
Jer. 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Those texts do not need any explanation. They mean exactly what it sounds like they are saying. The priests of those demon-gods led their followers into the most vile and degrading conduct and called it worship. It is no wonder God was disgusted with the conduct of Israel and delivered them to the Midianites to be punished. The Lord loves his people, but that same love applies the chastening rod.
Israel’s experience in Canaan is a type of the experience of the family of God in this life. When they obeyed God, they experienced great blessing, but when they fell away they suffered almost unspeakable misery. God applies the chastening rod in love, but he does apply it. And he applies the chastening rod in a way that we know he means business. He does not look lightly on the disobedience of those on whom he has bestowed such blessing.
Vss. 3-6 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.
No doubt the Midianites enjoyed watching Israel work so hard putting out their crops. They knew that before Israel could harvest the crops, they would come and do the harvest for them. It did not matter to them that Israel was left to starve. So what if they and all their livestock starved, they intended to wipe them out and take their land anyway. One way was as good as the other. Surely the “way of transgres-sors is hard,” (Prov. 13:15). Israel was reaping what they had sown.
Vss. 7-10 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites, That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.
Their suffering was harsh, but they brought it on themselves.
The greatest pain of the chastening rod is knowing that it is our own fault. They knew what we were doing, and they suffered the consequences. God is longsuffering, far more longsuffering than any of us deserve. He would send deliverance, but first he would leave them to languish for a time under the chastening rod, and he would remind them they were suffering because, “Ye have not obeyed my voice.” (vs. 10).
Vss 11,12 And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
Gideon had managed to harvest his crop, and now he was threshing the wheat, but he did not doubt the Midianites were coming. When our ways displease the Lord, we live in doubt; we expect defeat. We expect the Midianites to come, and we do not expect that we will be able to resist. We run, we hide, we just try to maintain a low profile. Gideon did not expect to win the battle; he just wanted to hide enough wheat to stave off starvation. He had a very low opinion of himself, but the Lord called him “a mighty man of valour.”
Gideon was on the verge of receiving great deliverance, and all Israel was going to be delivered with him, but he had lived so long in defeat he could not believe it. God sends deliver-ance when we repent and turn to him, but we should never get the idea we can work up repentance on our own. The Scriptures allow no ground for us to glory in our repentance, as if it was entirely our doing.
We cannot just wake up one morning and say, “I think I will change my way; I think I will repent today.” There is more to it than that. Repentance is more than a momentary decision of the carnal mind. The carnal mind is too preoccupied with other things to produce true repentance.
2 Cor. 7:10, “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
Repenting is our act; but repentance is God’s gift. We cannot exercise the act of repenting, if God does not provide the gift of repentance. To imagine we can just make up our minds to repent before God grants repentance is somewhat like deciding we are going to drive our automobile when we do not own an automobile.
God gives repentance (Acts 5:31); he grants repentance (Acts 11:18); he leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4). And if he does not give it, if he does not grant it, if he does not lead us to it, we will never repent.
Vs. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
The time had come that God was going to grant national repentance and national deliverance to Israel, but Gideon could not believe it. He was sure the Lord had forsaken them, that he had “delivered them into the hands of the Midianites.” The fact was that he had delivered them into the hands of the Midianites, but he had not forsaken them. He had delivered them over to the Midianites, but now he was about to bring them out again.
Vss. 14-16 And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
God told Gideon to, “Go in this thy might.” That must have had a strange sound. Here he was slinking around trying to hide a few sacks of grain, and God tells him to, “Go in this thy might.” How could one man from a poor family in Manasseh stand up to the Midianite army. It might have made more sense if he had been a mighty prince from Judah the royal tribe, not a poor man in Manasseh. Who would follow him? But God does not work the way we work. He delights to use the unlikely, the unsuitable. He delights to use those who could never accomplish the task on their own.
Vss. 17-21, And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.
How very patient God is with us in our doubts and unbelief. If unbelief would keep us out of heaven, none of us would ever make it. The very Almighty himself was talking to Gideon, and he wanted to put God to the test. If anything, it should have been the other way around, but God is patient. Gideon asked for a sign and God gave him a sign.
Vss. 22-24, And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face. And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
It is hard to know what Gideon thought was going on up to this point, but when he realized this was really an angel, and he had been talking to God, it scared the living daylights out of him. He must have been terrified, because God reassured him, “Fear not; thou shalt not die.” That makes me think he thought he really was about to die. I can imagine most of us would have reacted about the same way.
Vss. 25,26 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.
Now comes the real test. Gideon had presumed to put God to the test, and God gave him a sign. Now God puts Gideon to the test. God was going to send deliverance to Israel, but they were suffering because of their sins. They had forsaken the worship of Jehovah and gone after the demon-god Baal.
It would have been easier for Gideon to comply if God had told him to tear down his neighbor’s idol. But Gideon’s father had built an altar to Baal, and God tells him he needs to start close to home. He tells him to “throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath.” It does not help to try to straighten out our neighbor; we all have more work to do at home than we will ever accomplish.
One of the mistakes, perhaps the greatest mistake, we preachers make is in spending so much time talking about what is wrong with the denominational church down the street, and how they get their doctrine and practice wrong, when there is more that needs attention at home than we are dealing with. But then it is easier to reprove those who are not looking us in the eye.
Verse 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
Gideon “took ten men of his servants,” because the job was too big for him to do alone. When Abraham sent Eliezar to Padan-Aram to fetch a bride for Isaac (Gen. 24), he did exactly the same thing and for the same reason. He “took ten camels of the camels of his master” (vs. 10). The load was heavier than he could carry by himself. It is the job of the pastor to be a shepherd to the flock, but if he ever gets the idea he can carry the load without the help of faithful helpers in the church, he is doomed to fail. Like Moses who could not hold up his hands without the help of Aaron and Hur (Exo. 17:12), we are every one of us dependent on others to help us carry our load.
Vss. 28-30, 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, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing. Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.
Gideon started at home; he and his ten helpers cut down the grove his father had planted for the worship of Baal. Then the fat hit the fire. Bear in mind that these men were all Israel-ites; they were all of them part of God’s chosen nation. They had received enormous blessing from God. They were symbolic of the children of God, and their experience was symbolic of the experience of the children of God in this life.
But the truly born again child of God can go astray, and do despicable things, and when he does—eventually—he suffers for it. In their rebellion they had become devoted to their pagan idols, and they were highly offended when they were taken away. God was pleased with what Gideon and his men had done, but these men were not. They were determined to do away with Gideon.
Vs. 31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.
When Gideon and his men began their work, they stood alone. That is often the case when somebody first finds the courage to stand up for the right. That was Paul’s experience.
2 Tim. 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
Paul was, no doubt, talking about that day (Gal. 2) when he withstood Peter and the brethren from Jerusalem at the Antioch church. But Paul did not stand entirely alone. God stood with him, and delivered him “out of the mouth of the lion.”
Vss. 17,18, Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
That was Gideon’s experience. It was Gideon’s father’s idol that Gideon and his men has cast down, but when his son found the courage to stand up, his father stood with him. When we once find the courage to do the right thing, we are often surprised to find who stands with us.
There is an abundance of misconduct in the land, but there are also a lot of good people out there. Many of them are ready and willing to come to the defense of the right, if only there is somebody brave enough to take the lead. We may stand by ourselves at the first; but, if we are still standing alone when the smoke clears, we may need to reconsider our own position.
Vs. 33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.
Satan does not take it lightly when he faces opposition. Good people will come to your defense, but the wicked have always been better politicians than the righteous. That is the reason that politics has never been the solution to our national problems. The wicked are better organized, and if you stand for the right, they are a force to contend with.
Vss. 34,35 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
The wicked are better organized; but God’s Spirit does not depend on organization. When God is ready to deliver Zion, he will raise up a deliverer, and his Spirit is able to energize the most timid. How often we have seen it in times of distress that God emboldens some of the most quiet and submissive of his servants and they manifest a courage the never had before nor after. When God is ready to deliver Zion he knows how to do it.
Vss. 36-38 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
The fact that his father had rallied to his defense should have sign enough. And if that was not sufficient, the way the people had followed this poor man from the tribe of Manasseh gave added indication that God was ready to deliver, but still Gideon was not satisfied. Our faith, and our confidence in God, and our willing obedience play a part in our blessing, but if God waited for us, we would be forever left out. We are, most of the time, like the father who prayed, “Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” Gideon still wanted more evidence and God gave him more evidence. The next morning he wrung a bowl full of water from the fleece.
Vss. 39,40 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
At some point our backwardness and unbelief becomes ridiculous. God gave Gideon the sign he asked for, and still he is not convinced. Now he wants God to do it the other way. Now he wants the fleece to be dry and the ground wet. Before we get too hasty in judging Gideon, we need to think about all the times we have been just as slow to believe God, just as slow to act on his commandments. You say Gideon was being childish, first wanting God to do it one way, and then the other. Of course he was being childish, but have you never been childish in the things you asked God for. I cannot imagine there is anyone among us who has the right to cast stones.
Ch. 7:1 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.
If we are serious in our service toward God, you can be sure the adversary is just as serious. Satan has been at war with God from the beginning, and he is at war with those who serve God. The more serious we become in our service toward God, the more fiercely the adversary will oppose us. If he is not bothering you, perhaps, it is because you are not bothering him. But if you start pulling down his idols, you will soon discover that he takes it seriously.
Vs. 2,3 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. 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.
The majority opinion in religious circles is that man can lift himself by his own bootstraps any time he gets ready, but that is not the case. Israel were outnumbered many times over, but with thirty-two thousand, if they prevailed, they would brag about it for generations to come. Israel got themselves into the trouble they were in, but God was not going to allow them to take credit for getting themselves out. He would deliver them, but he would be sure they knew it was God who delivered them.
He invited those who fearful and afraid to go back home and twenty two thousand took him up on it. There is really no room for a coward in the Lord’s service. Let one person turn tail and run, and better men will follow. It is better for those who don’t want to be there in the first place to go on home. Then those who are left will strengthen each other. It is easier to stand and fight if the person next to you is standing firm.
Vs. 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.
God really was determined for Israel to know that the battle was his. They would fight, but he would give the victory. Twenty two thousand would rather live in bondage and terror than to stand and fight. They went home before the fighting started. God can win the battle by many or by few.
Vss. 5-7, 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. 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. 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.
The lesson before us is full of symbolic lessons. Why did God choose the three hundred who put their hand to their mouth? There are at least two lessons; there are probably more, but there are two that are easy to see. First, if you bury your face in the water to drink, the only thing you can see is your own reflection. One of our greatest hindrances is getting too caught up with our own interests, our own projects, our own prejudices. Any time our minds are too much on ourselves we are of very little use to ourselves or anybody else.
The other lesson is that when we bury our face in the water we do not see anything that is going on around us. God told us to pray, but he also said, “Watch and pray.” We should be trusting, but we should never become so trusting that we forget the adversary is all around us. The attack often comes from the most unexpected source.
Vs. 8 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.
Notice that “Midian was beneath him in the valley.” You should never get the idea that you condescend to join the Lord’s church. The church is located on the top of Mount Zion. There is a line in one of our songs that reads, “Wouldst thou exalt me to thy feet.” The most exalted place on earth is at the Lord’s feet.
Vss. 9-11, 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. But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 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.
How very patient God is with all of us. God had given Gideon abundant evidence that he was going to give the battle into his hand, and Gideon still asked for two more signs with the fleece. Now without Gideon asking God gives him another sign. God knows our weakness and sends us strength at the very time we need it.
Vss. 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.
If ever there was a time when somebody needed encourage-ment, Gideon needed it. God had cut his number down to barely three hundred, and the enemy “lay along in the valley like grasshoppers.” There was no way to number their camels; the inspired writer compares them to the sands of the sea—and God tells Gideon that he will deliver them all into the hands of his little three hundred.
Vss. 13-15 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.
The entire lesson has to do with the conflict between the Lord’s obedient children and the adversary, between truth and falsehood. That being said, it is obvious that the “cake of barley bread that tumbled into the host of Midian” was gospel bread.
Notice that it tumbled—it did not roll. Gospel preachers usually would not win any prizes for oratory. We have tumbled, and stumbled, and stammered our way through many a sermon, but when that barley bread, that gospel bread, strikes your tent just right it will overturn it and lay it along. I never will forget when I first heard the gospel of the sovereign grace of God preached in power. I did not understand a lot of what I heard, but I have never been the same since that day.
Vss. 14-16, 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. And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshiped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. 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.
Gideon seems to have had his doubts up until this time, but as soon as he heard the Midianite soldier confess that God had given him the battle, he was satisfied; he was ready to go to battle. I wish I could say that has been my reaction. Much of the time my reaction has been like the three Hebrews who were about to be thrown into the burning fiery furnace. They did not know whether God would deliver them or not, but they still did not intend to worship the king’s image. That was good enough for them, and I believe it should be good enough for us.
Dan. 3:17,18 Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Vs. 17,18 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. 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.
How often we have heard some preacher say, “Do as I say, don’t do as I do.” That is poor advice. Gideon says, “As I do, so shall ye do.” Peter advised the elders that we are to be ensamples to the flock.
1 Pet. 5:13, The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.,”
The preacher who is not willing for his flock to follow his example needs to change his way. Paul advised us to “Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). We are only to follow the preacher so far as he follows the Lord, but we have every right to expect him to follow the Lord, and to instruct us to do likewise.
Vs. 19 So Gideon, and the three hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside 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.
The tens of thousands of the Midianites and Amalekites were beneath him in the valley, but Gideon and his three hundred had the enemy completely surrounded. It reminds me for all the world of the story of the Civil War general whose army was totally surrounded by the enemy. He called his troops together and told them, “Gentlemen, we have an opportunity that very few armies ever have—we can attack in any direction we want to.”
Vs. 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.
Paul tells us, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” There is some sacrifice necessary in the Lord’s service; we have to break the earthen vessel, and that can be painful. Their light was inside the vessel. When they broke the vessel; they let the light shine, and they sounded the gospel trumpet. What more could you ask of any obedient servant of the Lord.
Vs. 21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
No other expression this entire passage has the same effect on me as those words, “They stood every man in his place.” How very much can be accomplished in the Lord’s service when we simply stand in the place where God puts us, and how much havoc we work when we try to take somebody else’s place. We have no capacity to do the other man’s job. It is more than we can ever fully accomplish to fill our own place; but God uses his children in mighty ways they we humbly fill the place God has appointed for us.
Vs. 22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow.
“The Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow.” We can never defeat the adversary on his own ground. When the Lord’s church copies the enemy’s methods, we lose every time. They have us outnumbered. They are better organizers. They are better promoters. They know how to put together lavish programs that appeal to the carnal nature. But let the Lord’s three hundred stand every man in his place; let us let the gospel light shine; let us blow the gospel trumpet and God will give the victory.
THE END