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Our scripture reading this morning comes from the Book of Judges, chapter 7, beginning at verse 9.
That same night the Lord said to him, Gideon, ‘Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Pura your servant, and you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.’
Then he went down with Pura his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance.
When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade, and 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 it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.’
And his comrade answered, ‘This is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’
As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped, and he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.’
And he divided the three men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars with torches inside the jars. He said to them, ‘Look at me and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 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 the Lord and for Gideon.’
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. They blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 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.
They cried out, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!’ Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 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 Shitta toward Zara, as far as the border of Abel Melolah by Tabbath.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray. Father, your word gives us strength. You are gracious to encourage us, to give us hope by the witness and testimony of your word and by what you placed before us in our lives. Help us to always hear your word, to remain confident in you. Let you be our only hope for victory, and let us stand with you in triumph when you return as we cry out with Gideon and his men, ‘A sword for the Lord.’ Amen.
So Gideon was assured that the Lord was with him personally. Gideon, as a leader of men, was obedient to the Lord in faith, having dismissed 99 of his army, leaving him with only 300 men.
The Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the East were encamped down in the Jezreel Valley below the Israelites. They covered the valley floor like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. Their presence and their foraging was a persistent plague upon the people and the land.
Gideon only had 300 men under his command while the enemy had numbers without end. The description of the Midianite encampment suggests that even if Gideon had retained the original 32,000 strong army, they would still have been outnumbered and outmatched.
But scripture, however, shows us over and again that one person, just one person standing on the Lord’s side in faith is never outnumbered and never outmatched because they are part of the Lord’s majority. Regardless, Gideon and his men here appear to be underdogs, and I’m sure they felt like it. Yet they remain certain in purpose and will, resolute in faith, trust, and confidence in the Lord.
They were taking a stand for their people, their homes, their country, and their God. History has shown that men with similar conviction who fight for those kinds of things are exceedingly dangerous and capable of astonishing things.
Now I think that the story of Gideon and his 300 men may well be the greatest and most impressive military victory achieved against such overwhelming odds in human history.
Why would I say that? I say that because when we look at the scriptural account, an Israelite victory seems so unlikely when you compare the two armies. Gideon’s plan and his likelihood of success were so improbable that it could only happen through the grace and power of God.
The successive chain of events in the story are also so reasonable and plausible that we can accept both the story and the victory, understanding it without the skeptics saying that we need to appeal to overt supernatural miracles.
We do not need to dismiss it as an exaggeration of mythology. We don’t need to suspend our disbelief or depend upon a divine hand wave, as the old modernists and liberal Christians, or the modern present progressive Christians might say that we would need to, as they do with every other occasion of the Lord’s wondrous miracles of deliverance, like the parting of the Red Sea, the virgin birth, or the resurrection.
However, just because there is a clear natural explanation does not negate or prohibit God’s divine hand of providence from being the root and primary cause. He often, most often, works in this world through people.
Now this story of Gideon’s 300 is even more amazing and impressive than that other story about 300 fighting men which took place at Thermopylae, Greece, around 800 years afterwards. It’s more impressive because of what Gideon’s example teaches us concerning the character of the men who were fighting on both sides of the conflict.
First, let’s place both of those stories within the history of God’s people. Gideon’s battle took place around 1210 BC, about 200 years after the Exodus from Egypt, whereas the more famous and popularly known battle between the Greeks and the Persians occurred around 480 BC.
Those Persians were led by Xerxes the First, Ahasuerus as the Hebrew will say, and he was the son of Darius the Great. Darius was the one during whose reign the reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple was completed, and Darius was the successor to Cyrus the king, who returned the Jews home from exile.
The Xerxes is also the same Persian king who elevates the Jewish woman Esther to be his queen. Lastly, it’s relevant to note that Xerxes’ battle against the Greeks took place 150 years before Alexander the Great’s nearly global conquest.
So knowing where that takes place, we see that there are still striking similarities and differences between both of these battles that go beyond just the obvious connection of 300 men fighting against overwhelming odds.
The ancient historian Herodotus records that when Xerxes invaded Greece, he was opposed by a coalition of forces from several Greek city-states, and they were led by the Spartan King Leonidas. This is much like the Hebrews, their coalition of four tribes being led by Gideon. Although they had many allies, a special note is paid particularly to these Spartan forces, who were 300 men chosen by the king himself, each of whom were fathers of living sons.
Compare that against Gideon’s 300, chosen by God, all of whom should have had children, people to carry on their lineage. The Greeks’ chosen place of defense was a narrow pass between the Aegean Sea and a sheer cliff face, a bottleneck of about 500 feet wide, through which the Persian forces must travel, where only a few men could hold the line against a great many.
This contrasts with Gideon’s forces surrounding a vast army down in a valley, where they’re surrounded by mountains.
After several days of fighting, during which the Persians suffered a great many losses compared to the Greeks, very few of the Greeks were informed of an impending betrayal. Persian forces were being led around a previously unknown path by a local to flank and surround them.
Knowing that they would be unable to continue holding the narrow pass, King Leonidas dismissed most all of the Greek forces to retreat and regroup while he and his 300ish Spartans remained behind to further delay Xerxes’ army and allow the bulk of the Greeks the opportunity to escape.
When the final day of battle came, knowing that they were vastly outnumbered and would be slaughtered without mercy, Leonidas led his men further forward into a wider space than they had previously held, where they fought and died to the last man.
But the character of King Leonidas was such that before the battle, when Xerxes offered the Spartans terms of peace, offering them the opportunity to lay down their weapons and surrender, he responded saying, ‘Lay down your arms or come and take them,’ fully knowing that they could not hold out against the Persians.
Leonidas and his Spartans did not remain behind merely as a delaying tactic, selflessly sacrificing themselves for the good of the other Greeks. Rather, they stayed to earn human honor and glory for their memory. Some other historians suggest that Spartan law prohibited them from retreating, so to them, abandoning the place of battle would have been viewed as a disgrace.
But Leonidas and the Spartans stayed. They fought and died more for spite’s sake, just to spit in the eye of the Persians and to strike fear into their hearts, rather than in defense of the independent city-states of Greece or even their own home. They did not stay and fight for love of country, for love of their countrymen, or even because they had faith in some kind of divine providence. They stayed and fought for purely human reasons, selfish and belligerent reasons.
Although the cascading effect of their battle and their glorious defeat was the slowing and eventual end of Xerxes’ invasion, the death of these 300 noble men was not a noble sacrifice. Instead, it was a tragic display of human pride, hubris, and sinful intransigence.
King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans are not a worthy moral example of sacrificial love to be raised up and held in high esteem by Christians. But Gideon and his 300 men were different. Gideon’s men were not fearful as they went into battle; they had faith in the Lord and confidence in their leader.
Presumably, they were capable soldiers like the Spartans. They had wives and sons back home; they were called to face their foe against incredible odds, like the Spartans. But unlike the Spartans, they only finally gathered at the Lord’s command rather than coming to battle at their own initiative in response to these invaders.
Unlike the Spartans, who only brought the 300 that they were allowed to by their ceremonial law, Gideon originally had a much larger army that was intentionally reduced at the Lord’s command: 300 men to demonstrate God’s glory versus 300 men seeking their own glory in combat.
Gideon’s army gathered to fight for and preserve the lives of their people, their friends, their neighbors, and family, while the Spartans gathered to fight and die for their own honor and their own lasting remembrance.
King Leonidas led his men into battle without fearing the outcome because he knew, he knew that the battle was lost. His only uncertainty was when the battle would be lost. Gideon, he led his men into battle confident that the Lord’s power and decree that Israel’s victory was a foregone conclusion, that their battle was already won.
So after dismissing 99 of his army, that same night the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Pura your servant, and you shall hear what they say. And afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.’
After all of Gideon’s prior doubts and concerns, God volunteered to give him some more assurance of his favor and greater certainty of the Lord’s victory. God did this because He knows and understands us. He acknowledges our human failings; therefore, he helps us in our weakness.
He gives us his Holy Spirit; He listens and answers when we pray; He gives us His Holy Word. He illuminates our heart and mind with wisdom and understanding, encouraging us and strengthening us through all the many challenges we face in life.
So Gideon, at the Lord’s invitation, snuck down to the enemy camp, bringing along his servant Pura as another person to witness and experience God’s encouragement.
And when Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, ‘Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came down to the tent and struck it, so that it fell and turned upside down so that the tent lay flat.’
And his comrade answered, ‘This is none other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’
As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. Hiding somewhere in the bushes nearby in the dark, in the early evening, Gideon and Pura overheard one of their enemies describing a dream they just had, while another person interpreted it.
The interpretation of prophetic dreams was a very common practice in the ancient Near East. It required a broad knowledge base, personal wisdom, and a certain skill, but it was far from an exact science. Scripture tells us how both Jacob’s son Joseph in Egypt and the prophet Daniel in Babylon were known for their interpretation of dreams, both men through the Lord’s gifting correctly interpreting dreams for their respective masters, while all the other local diviners, astrologers, sorcerers, magicians were clueless about their meaning.
So just as God gifted His own prophets, the Lord gifted this unnamed soldier with the correct interpretation. While I cannot speak to the significance of a loaf of bread knocking over a tent, the important thing here is the interpretation as being the sword of Gideon and as a sign of God granting him victory over the Midianites.
Those who heard this dream and its interpretation responded in one of two ways. The hearts of Israel’s enemies became fearful or concerned, and they lost confidence in their own superiority, while the faithful men of Israel, Gideon and Pura, they immediately worshiped the Lord as their hearts became confident and sure.
It’s then Gideon went to gather his forces. He rushed back to the Israelite camp, woke everybody up calling them to battle, saying, ‘Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.’
So the Israelites formed themselves into ranks as he divided them into three companies, each company of 100 men. They armed themselves not with swords and shields and spears like the Spartans, but with trumpets, torches, and empty jars—a most unusual form of armament.
Then Gideon instructed them, saying, ‘Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 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 the Lord and for Gideon.’
And that certainly sounds like a strange and crazy battle plan, doesn’t it? Did Gideon really think they were going to drive the Midianites off simply by shouting at them and tooting their horns at them?
We have to remember that this was actually God’s plan. He’s the one who clothed Gideon in the Holy Spirit, and He is the one empowering him for this role.
So this is God’s plan. What value are swords and shields and spears against the mighty power of the Lord, the Sovereign of all creation? No artifice of man can stand against or thwart the decrees of the Almighty God.
God could give Gideon the victory with such an unorthodox plan because the Lord is their deliverer, and nothing can stop Him from rescuing His chosen people whom He loves. Just as the Midianites could not harm anyone in Israel against the Lord’s will.
Like Paul writes, ‘For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
Next, Gideon’s three companies took their trumpets, their jars, and their torches and crept down into the valley in the dark of night. They spread out and surrounded the enemy camp.
Then at the beginning of the middle watch, at the darkest time of night, when they had just set the watch, when a third of their army was sleeping, a third was heading towards bed, and a third had recently been awoken, then Gideon and his company blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.
It was the middle of the night, and these crazy Israelites were making all sorts of noise! They made such a ruckus, and then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars they held in their left hands, their torches, and in their right hands, the trumpets to blow.
They cried out, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!’ They were shouting war cries, the rise and fall of loud human voices, some of which could be heard clearly and some of which could not. Trumpets were blaring! They were signaling who knows what—maybe commands to charge, maybe commands to retreat—maybe they were just being blown purely for intimidation.
They all heard the sounds of pottery being shattered, a distinct sound of things being broken. Then torches—torches were being lit! Flames were passing from one torch to the next; lights were suddenly appearing all around them in the darkness, too quickly and too distant to count, disguising their numbers and their bearers with a mix of shadow and light.
There were so many sounds of destruction, a veritable cacophony of noise, of chaos and confusion.
Panic was suddenly upon the Midianites! At least, the sound of that of combat was upon them, and every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army.
The Midianite commanders best surely responded like, ‘What now is the matter?’ As such a clatter arose, they sprang from the bank to see what was the matter. Away to the window they flew like a flash and tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
So that when they looked out of their tents, it was not a miniature sleigh and a tiny reindeer that they saw, but instead an enemy, an army that was attacking them in the middle of the night which had already pushed deep into their camp and was trying to slay them all.
As the Israelites began blowing their trumpets, everyone in the camp must have started sounding the alarm: ‘To arms! Defend yourselves!’ They all drew their swords, everyone grabbing whatever weapon was near at hand, and began to attack the nearest foe.
As the Lord said, every man’s sword was turned against his comrade and against all the army. The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the Eastern peoples were surprised. They were scared, they were confused, they could not tell a friend from foe; strangers were all around them, allies indistinguishable from enemies.
Israel’s enemy began to quickly massacre itself. The army disintegrated, the morale failed. The Midianites cried out and fled while the Israelites, every man stood, every man stood in his place around the camp, and all of the enemy army ran.
That’s partly how we envision the day of Christ’s return. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel, and the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
On that day, all the believers, the elect of God, will stand firm in our places at the sound of the trumpet of God. While those people without faith, those who do not believe and trust in Jesus as their only comfort and hope, those who are the enemies of God, they will respond like the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come; who can stand?’
The Lord raised Gideon up to deliver Israel, to save them and rescue them from the depredations of their enemies. He also raised Gideon up to be a judge, to execute the Lord’s judgment upon his enemies. Jesus Christ, who is the greater and perfect judge, will do likewise at His second coming. Even as the wicked try to flee from His wrath, they will all be destroyed, just as the Lord destroyed the Midianites before Gideon and his 300.
Gideon and his army did not need to draw their swords to fight because the Lord fought on their behalf alone. The Lord fought before them, and they stood as witnesses to His power, His glory, and His victory.
Although the men of the Israelite army were not necessary for the battle, the Lord still invited them and allowed their participation in His victory.
Gideon’s battle plan was unorthodox. It required the perfection and alignment of so many different variables that no mere human commander would ever have committed their soldiers to a plan with such slim and delicate hopes for success.
It would have been irresponsible on their part; it might even be considered treasonous because failure and defeat was such a probable outcome.
Gideon’s midnight victory over the Midianites was truly a miracle of God because it was so improbable— even though vaguely plausible. If any of our modern military leaders want to consider Gideon’s plan, they could only conclude, ‘Man, this is impossible!’
But Gideon and the faithful men of Israel knew the truth that with God, all things are possible.
It was, however, also a logical and plausible plan, and the chaotic, confused response of the Midianites was a reasonable expectation. But such confidence in the plan would not have been reasonable. Confidence in the men of either army’s strength of arms would not have been reassured of the victory unless it was the Lord’s plan, and it would be achieved by the Lord Himself.
When Christ returns in victory and judgment, the elect will stand with Him in triumph, for we shall also be partakers of His great victory and His defeat of the wicked.
We will stand there as witnesses to His glory, much like Gideon’s 300. They were the faithful few; they belonged to the Lord, and they stood against the innumerable many who belong to Satan, as do we.
Because that’s what God has called all of His chosen people to do over and again throughout scripture. The Lord has promised to always preserve for Himself a people, a faithful remnant.
History has shown us all, the history of the Bible, and everything following the resurrection that the fortunes of the church of Israel will rise and fall in this world. We will experience times of revival, and we will experience times of desolation, faithfulness, and apostasy.
Yet even still, through it all, the Lord will preserve the elect, His saints, the agios, His holy ones. Jesus called Himself the True Vine and our Heavenly Father the vine dresser.
The vine dresser comes to prune the vine to cut off the parts that do not yield good fruit so that other parts of the vine may grow stronger. The Lord certainly pruned Gideon’s army, and I’m sure that He’s doing the same in our country, in our city, and in our many individual congregations.
It is certain that we have experienced pruning over time, but I believe that we are now becoming much stronger. We’re surely healthier here as this expression of Christ’s Church than we were in years past, and all of that is part of the providential work of our Lord Jesus.
God prunes, and God gives the increase however and wherever He wills. Yet the lesson of Gideon and his army of 300 remains.
Although we are fewer in number than we may wish, as we continue to trust Him and continue to stand firm in faith on His side, we will soon be partakers and witnesses of miracles that we would not even dream of.
It’s not about our numbers; it’s about why we stand and fight and for whom—Christ and His glory, not our own. It’s about trusting in Him and the tools and weapons that He gives us to use.
We’re not called to use the world’s own weapons against it—swords and shields and spears—because the world is better trained and better equipped to use them. Instead, we’re charged to use the weapons which God gives us: trumpets and jars and torches, our voices—preaching the Gospel, reading God’s Word, doing works of mercy for Christ’s sake.
When we use those weapons against Satan and all his forces, the Lord will cause confusion in their midst just as He did the Midianites, and we shall witness their defeat through God’s unorthodox, unusual, and unconventional means.
We’re not standing on the Lord’s side for our own glory. We share the gospel for God’s glory. We share what we know and believe because we want to see others come to true faith in Christ—to trust Him for their eternal salvation as we do.
Our duty is to be obedient, to go and make as much noise for the Lord as we can—to preach His gospel and be His witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
The Lord and His Holy Spirit is the one who will move in the hearts of those who hear, turning their hearts towards life or towards destruction as He wills. We stand in the world as His faithful witnesses, as martyrs to the Lord’s deliverance of us in ages past, and we even now stand firm in our places, surrounding Satan’s camp, waiting to join with all the saints in the glorious victory: ‘A sword for the Lord and for Jesus Christ,’ and watch Satan’s final defeat.
Then we may finally fully enter into the kingdom of God, enjoying the restoration of all things. And then, once all of the old has passed away and the new comes, then we shall be welcomed by our Brother and our Heavenly Father, and we shall finally enter into their complete Sabbath rest. Amen.
Please stand, and let us say what we believe using the words of the Apostles’ Creed.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended to hell. The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended to heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Our closing hymn is number 314, ‘What Wondrous Love Is This.’ [Music]
Thank you. [Music]