BELFAST RB BOOKLET 2020 - Flipbook - Page 89
Ci t y of Belf ast Grand Bl ack Chapt er - Dem onst rat i on Bookl et 2020
THUS DID HE CHOOSE HIS THREE HUNDRED STRONG ARMY
Previously disobeying God, the Israelites soon found themselves
without the blessing of the Great Jehovah and just as before , they
again had to call upon His infinite mercy to protect them from the
oncoming, superior and outnumbering Midianite army.
In seeking the help of the Lord, Chapter 7 of
the Book of Judges explains how the Almighty
showed His powerful hand in guiding Gideon
as to the way he would go about selecting his
three hundred strong Israeli soldiers to fight
the Midianites, yet in actual fact he had been
in command of over 32,000 men, when he first
came face to face against the might of
135,000 Midianites at Mount Gilead.
Yet even then being outnumbered over
five to one; the Lord told Gideon that he
still had too many troops and, as the Great
Jehovah, He would assist His chosen
people to defeat the enemy.
So when addressing his army, Gideon first
called upon those who were afraid, to leave
the area, and surprisingly 22,000 defected
back to their homes, whilst the remaining
10,000 stayed true to their earthly commander.
When the Lord again spoke to Gideon He
told him that his army was still too large before
they could confront the Midianites; whereby
God commanded Gideon to lead his men
down to the water to drink, where he was
instructed to observe closely the various
mannerisms that each man used whilst
drinking from the water.
So after Gideon had led his soldiers to the
water's edge the Lord then said unto him …
'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.'
Gideon observed the
soldiers as God had
commanded and saw
that a number, totalling
three hundred who
lapped, by
cupping
their hands with water
then putting their hands
up to their mouths to drink, where by so doing,
able to keep watch around them for any sight
of the oncoming enemy.
When they had finished drinking the
water, the Lord told Gideon to select only
those three hundred men in preparation for
their fight against the Midianites, telling
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'.
Later that night, the Lord appeared unto
Gideon in a dream and 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 and thou shalt hear what they say;
and afterward shall thine hands be
strengthened to go down unto the host.'
So in his dream Gideon went down with his
servant to within earshot of the host (Midian
enemy) where he could listen to their plans for
the forthcoming combat with his own army.
When he awoke Gideon related what he had
seen whilst he slept, to his personal
oneirologist, an interpreter of dreams, saying ..
'behold, I dreamed a dream and lo and
behold 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.'
Whereby his dream
was then interpreted
as.. '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.'
IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN - 87 - AND THE FUTURE OF THE LIVING