Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 67
7:6-21
J u dges
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Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all
those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like
dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with
their mouths in the stream.” Only 300 of the men drank from their hands.
All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in
the stream.
The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give
you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.” So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them
home. But he kept the 300 men with him.
The Midianite camp was in the valley just below Gideon. That night the
Lord said, “Get up! Go down into the Midianite camp, for I have given
you victory over them! But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp
with your servant Purah. Listen to what the Midianites are saying, and you
will be greatly encouraged. Then you will be eager to attack.”
So Gideon took Purah and went down to the edge of the enemy camp.
The armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east had settled in the
valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels were like grains of sand on the
seashore—too many to count! Gideon crept up just as a man was telling
his companion about a dream. The man said, “I had this dream, and in my
dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp.
It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat!”
His companion answered, “Your dream can mean only one thing—God
has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all
its allies!”
When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted,
“Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes!”
He divided the 300 men into three groups and gave each man a ram’s horn
and a clay jar with a torch in it.
Then he said to them, “Keep your eyes on me. When I come to the edge
of the camp, do just as I do. As soon as I and those with me blow the rams’
horns, blow your horns, too, all around the entire camp, and shout, ‘For
the Lord and for Gideon!’”
It was just after midnight, after the changing of the guard, when Gideon
and the 100 men with him reached the edge of the Midianite camp. Suddenly, they blew the rams’ horns and broke their clay jars. Then all three
groups blew their horns and broke their jars. They held the blazing torches
in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, and they all shouted,
“A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
Each man stood at his position around the camp and watched as all the