A Complete History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament, Biblical tract · Volume 2 · Commentary on the book of Judges · Chapter 7
Judges CHAP. VII.
JUdges the Seventh contains Gideon's famous Fight with the Midianites, &c. The Hiſtory of this Battle conſiſts of three parts. (1.) Antecedents. (2.) Concomitants. And (3.) Conſequents.
Firſt, The Antecedents of it are the preparation, and double purgation God commands Gideon to make, and to take in order to it.
The Firſt Remark upon this firſt part is, Though Gideon's Army which he had prepared for the Battel, conſiſted only of Thirty two Thouſand Men, and the Host of Midian, with their Confederates, was made up of an Hundred Thirty and Five Thouſand at the leaſt, Judg. 8.10. ſo that they were above four to one odds againſt Iſrael: Yet God ſaith to Gideon, [Thy Men are too many,] ver. 2. This was at the firſt Purgation; they then thought-themſelves too few, yet God thought them too many, (his Thoughts being not as ours, Iſa. 55.8.) and therefore that Law of Moſes [every Man that is fearful and faint-hearted, let him return home, leſt his Brethrens heart faint as well as his,] Deut. 20.8. muſt be proclaimed in the Ears of this new-raiſed Army, upon which no fewer than Two and Twenty Thouſand trips off, becauſe they feared that they were too few to grapple with Midian's Multitudes, ver. 3. Now muſt there be a ſecond Purgation when but Ten Thouſand be left, and ſtill they were too many, ver. 4. N.B. God is ſometime troubled with too much help, but never with too little: He will have all the Glory of this Miraculous Victory: And therefore again, he ſhrinks in this Ten Thouſand into the ſmall Remnant of Three Hundred, ver. 5, 6. God knows what is in Man, John 2.24, 25. that he is a Self-vaunting Creature, apt to Autotheiſm, which is a Man's falling down to Worſhip himſelf, and to ſay as here, [Mine own hand hath ſaved me,] ver. 2. mine own Valour hath got me the Victory: So prone are Men to Sacrifice to their own Nets, Habak. 1.16. which the Lord prevented here.
The Second Remark from the firſt part is, The marvelous means God uſed to reduce this Army of many Thouſands into ſo poor a Remnant as only Three Hundred.
The firſt Means was a Proclamation, that, becauſe Cowardiſe is catching, the Cowards are commanded to caſhire themſelves, leaſt they ſhould infect their Brethren, Deut. 20.8. and what was become of that Courage they ſeem'd to have in their firſt coming into Gideon, where they had God's Promiſe of Conquering their Enemies (who had ſo long oppreſſed them after a moſt grievous manner, and now had a fair opportunity of recovering their Ancient Liberty, which they could not but long for as much as the Rich Glutton did for a drop of cold Water to cool his Tongue, when tormented in Hell-fire, yet away went Two and twenty Thouſand Cowards, and deſerted their Brethren, ſo little truſt is there to be put (as one ſaith here) in the fickle and faithleſs Multitude. N. B. The Reaſon why two parts of three were ſo timerous and returned home, is ſuppoſed to be that they now underſtood the prodigious Multitudes of Midianites, &c. all well Arm'd and Diſciplin'd, yea, and in great heart, becauſe of their long ſucceſs; whereas on the other hand the Army of Iſrael was but a ſmall handful (in compariſon of their Innumerable Enemies) and of ſuch as were diſpirited by long Slavery, and many of them unfurniſh'd with Arms, and neceſſary Proviſions: Both thoſe Conſiderations might probably cool that courage they ſeem'd to have before.
But the Second Means of purging the Ten Thouſand into Three Hundred by the poſture of drinking Water, was far more Remarkable, than was the purging of Two and thirty Thouſand into Ten Thouſand by Proclamation only, which referred the matter to themſelves either for going or ſtaying, as their Courage had brought them Voluntiers to Gideon, ſo their Cowardice carried them off Voluntiers from Gideon: But this Proclamation not making a thorough Purgation, many that were fearful indeed, yet loath to be accounted Cowardly Diſſerters, did put on a good Face, and deſired the good Opinion of Gideon, that he might look upon them as more Valiant Soldiers than thoſe Twenty two Thouſands that had ſhamefully deſerted him: Therefore God bids Gideon try one Trick more, to make a ſtricter Scrutiny, which made a Diſcovery by an Occult and Indiſcernible Evidence of Nine Thouſand Seven Hundred more Cowards that ſtill remained with him as ſeemingly Couragious, ver. 5, 6. All excepting Three Hundred did lay them down to drink, whereas the Excepted and Accepted number only took up a little Water into the Palms of their Hands to put into their Mouths: This latter poſture of lapping Water like a Dog, was an Indication of ſtoutneſs of Body, and of Temperance of Mind; they only drank a little of the Brook in the way to relieve Nature in neceſſity, then lift up their Heads to purſue their Deſign, Pſal. 110.7. Thoſe were the fitteſt to follow the Lord, not ſurfeiting with wordly Pleaſures, but taking only a little taſt of them: Whereas the bowing of the Body, and falling flat to the ground (which had been their poſture in Worſhiping Baal) thruſting their Mouths into the Water as thirſty Horſes do, that they might drink their fill with Greedineſs, was a ſign of a weak weary Body, and of an Intemperate Mind, &c.
N. B. Gideon had ask'd of God two Signs before, and both were granted him about the Fleece in an open and obvious way of Ocular Demonſtration; and now God gives Gideon here unask'd a third Sign of an Occult Nature, and of an obſcure Quality for no Natural Reaſons can be rendred why ſo many of the Ten Thouſand did fall down proſtrate upon the ground to drink like an Horſe, and ſo few of them did lap Water out of their Hands like a Dog, ſave only ſuch as are uncertain Conjectures: And therefore it is ſafeſt to ſay, That there was an over-ruling Hand of God in this matter of diſpoſing the Minds and Bodies of thoſe Ten Thouſand ſo, that all of them, ſave Three Hundred only, ſhould lay down to drink, becauſe it was his Divine Pleaſure to have thoſe over-lowly and over-liberal Drinkers diſmiſſed home, and to ſave Iſrael from Midian by the hands of Three Hundred Men only.
The Third Remark upon the Antecedents of the Battel is, A new Confirmation of General Gideon's Faith; needful enough another Sign ſeems to be, when his Army and Auxiliaries were ſhrivel'd away, and ſhrunk up into ſo narrow a compaſs of Three Hundred Men, which the Midianites might ſcornfully call Gideon's Three Hundred Lap-Dogs: How might their Army that conſiſted of above an Hundred Thirty and Five Thouſand Soldiers, ridicule this deſpicable handful, and contemn them far more than Great Goliah did the Stripling David; and no doubt but Gideon himſelf (had he conſulted with Fleſh and Bloud, as 'tis ſaid, Gal. 1.16.) muſt have ſome miſgiving Motions in his Mind about his preſent Enterprize: Surely Senſe and Carnal Reaſon was not Gideon's Counſeller in this caſe, but Faith upon God's Promiſe ſtill bears him up, believing [it was all one with God to ſave by few, or by many.] 1 Sam. 14.6. and a little help in God's hands, will help God's People to Victory, Dan. 11.34. that through weaker means they may ſee God's greater ſtrength: Auguſtin ſaith God is, Magnus in magnis, nec minimus in parvis.
N. B. Howbeit, Though Gideon was famous for his Faith upon Record, Hebr. 11.32. yet doubtleſs his own humane Imperfection muſt ſuggeſt ſome Doubts to him; 'tis but rational to argue (according to Chriſt's Parable) that Ten Thouſand Men may not preſumptuouſly wage War againſt Twenty Thouſand, becauſe two to one is great odds; Ne Hercules contra duos, in all probability, as they are over-matched, ſo they will be over-maſtered by them, Luke 14.31. How much more improbable was it in Gideon's caſe, that his Three Hundred Men ſhould be able to match and Maſter an Hundred Thouſand and upwards of Midianites, &c? Therefore we may well ſuppoſe that he here cryed out with that Man in the Goſpel, [Lord, I believe, help my Ʋnbelief,] Mark 9.24. at which cry of Gideon, the Lord condeſcendingly came, and did corroborate his ſtaggering Faith by Three Marvelous Means.
The Firſt was God's expreſs Precept to proceed, and promiſe to proſper with his contemptible Company, ver. 9. God came to Gideon in a Dream, or Viſion in the Night, and thus aſſured him to be as certain of the Victory, as if he had already obtained it: That his Faith, thus fortified, might devour the difficulty, and deſpiſe the danger of ſo hard a Duty, but hard, or not hard, Duty muſt be done, God bids him go down, &c.
The Second Means was, If he feared to go down to the Hoſt of Midian alone, God bids him take Phurah his Armour-bearer with him, ver. 10. Juſt as Jonathan and his Armour-bearer went down to the Camp of the Philiſtines, 1 Sam. 14.1.6. The ſame God that ſaid at the Creation, ['Tis not good for Man to be alone,] in another ſenſe, Gen. 2.18. conſents here, that Gideon ſhould have his Companion: Optimum ſolatium eſt ſodalitium, & Comes pro Vehiculo eſt; 'Tis a comfort to have Company, and in Society is ſafety: But woe to him that is alone, two are better than one, for if one fall, the other helps his Fellow, ſaith S…lomon, Eccleſ. 4.9, 10. Therefore Chriſt ſent out his Seventy Diſciples, by two and two, Luke 10.1. as he did his Twelve Apoſtles alſo, Mark 6.7. 'Tis probable Gideon fear'd to go alone, becauſe God ſuppoſeth it ſaying, [If thou feareſt, &c.] One would think, his Servant Pharah (though faithful, therefore recorded by Name, when many mighty Monarchs have no Name in God's Book, but are either paſſed over in Obſcurity, or wrap'd up in the ſheet of ſhame) muſt needs be but a ſorry Anodyne, and an Inſufficient Antidote to his Maſter's Fears: For the Scouts, or Watch of the Hoſt of Midian might have ſnap'd up Gideon, when Phurah with all his faithfulneſs could not have protected him; yea, both Maſter and Man might both have been taken Priſoners, and what would or could the Three Hundred Men have done, had they loſt their General, and his Armour-bearer: But God was the beſt Guard to Gideon; he that commanded him to go, was his covering from danger, and conveyed him ſafely and ſecurely both to and fro, Bleſſing him in his goings out, and comings in, according to his Promiſe, Deut. 28.6. While we keep in God's Precincts, we are kept by God's Protection, Pſal. 91.11. but we take God's ſaying to Gideon, [if thou fearest to go,] that is, with thy Three Hundred Men to fight the Midianites, becauſe thou art ſo ſmall in number, and they ſo many and mighty; then go thou firſt with Phurah down privately to the Hoſt, where thou ſhalt hear ſomething that may confirm thy Faith againſt thy Fear; and though thy Servant cannot protect thee, yet I am both able and willing, and thy Servant may ſerve for a Witneſs of my Wonder, though not for a Protector of thy Perſon, yet for an Ear-Witneſs of this Fourth Sign I will ſhew thee to ſtrengthen thy Faith; and this muſt be
The Third Means, namely, The Dream of an Enemy, ver. 11, 12, 13, 14. for Gideon's encouragement to his prodigious Undertaking: Herein we have a Bundle of Wonders. As,
Firſt, Behold here the Wonderful Divine Tenderneſs and Condeſcenſion to Humane Frailty and Faint-heartedneſs. Gideon had ſaid to God, [Let not the Lord be angry, if I ask a ſecond Sign,] Judg. 6.39. So gracious was God to Gideon, and ſo far from being angry with him for ſo doing, that he not only gratified him with granting that Sign he there asked, but he alſo freely and of his own accord, even unask'd, gives him a Secret Third Sign, a private Character, whereby Gideon might know who were the Men, though but few whom God would employ as his Inſtruments in conjunction with him, and honour with a compleat Conqueſt over the numberleſs number of his Enemies, and this was to be done by a few Lappers only.
N. B. Now as if this were not ſtill enough for a gracious God to grant freely and without asking unto Gideon; God comes again out of his good will to Gideon, and gives him, without any ſuit from him, a Fourth Sign, as remarkable as any of the reſt; thus low doth the Moſt High God liberally ſtoop to Man's Meanneſs.
The Second Wonder here is, Gideon goes down to the out-ſide of the Armed Men, where the prime ſtrength of the Midianitiſh Army lay, and where the very Centinels ſtood, that he might there hear the deſpondency of their chiefest hopes in a Dream, and this Dream that he heard muſt be a Dream of Deſpair and Deſpondency, to intimate unto him, that if the ſtrongeſt part of their Army did now deſpair of Victory, he might well imagine, the reſt of that over-grown Body (as 'tis deſcribed, ver. 12.) did accordingly deſpond much more thereof, ſeeing all this while, the Lord hid it from Midian, how he had contracted Gideon's Army into ſo narrow a compaſs as Three Hundred Men, they know nothing of it, but their fear was from his firſt Muſtering of Thirty two Thouſand Men, whom (as Solomon ſaith) Oppreſſion had made mad for Revenge, Eccleſ. 7.7.
The Third Wonder was, How Gideon and Phurah could come ſo near thoſe Armed Men as to over hear their Diſcourſe one with another, and not be diſcovered; for though it was in the Night-time, when the whole Body of the Midianites Army was aſleep, yet muſt their Centinels be awake, and we may well ſuppoſe theſe were the two Midianites, that were talking together, the one was the Dreamer, and the other was the Interpreter; and both were diſcourſing each to other within Gideon's hearing, who could better hear them in the Night, than they could ſee him without light: However ſeeing Gideon goeth here the Lord's Errand at his Command, therefore it may well be preſumed, that the Lord hid him and Phurah, as he did Jeremy and Baruch afterwards from being diſcovered, Jer. 36.26.
But the Fourth and greateſt Wonder was, The Dream it ſelf, and the Interpretation thereof; 'tis both wonderful in its Subſtance, and wonderful in all its Circumſtances.
Firſt, For the Subſtanee of it, [I have Dreamed a Dream,] ver. 13. no doubt but this Dream was to be ranked among thoſe Dreams that are call'd foreign, ſent of God, a Divine, and neither a Natural, or a Diabolical Dream, (ſee the difference of thoſe Dreams more largely handled in the firſt Volume upon Joſeph's and Pharaoh's Dreams.) Homer himſelf, though an Heathen, telleth of ſome Dreams that are foreign, ſent of Jove; he ſhould have ſaid, [ſent of Jehovah,] and the Sacred Scripture gives ſundry Examples of ſignificant Dreams given by God to Heathens; as to Pharaoh, Gen. 41. and to Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 2. and Dan. 4. and to Filate's Wife, Matth. 27.19. So likewiſe ſome Heathens had the Gift of Interpreting Dreams, which ſometimes they did by Study, and ſometimes by Divine Direction; even Wicked Men may have common Gifts, as the Interpreter of this Dream had, God ſpake thorough this Fellow, as thorough a Trunk, and enabled him to give a right Interpretation, ver. 14. making the Cake to be Gideon, &c.
Secondly, The Circumſtances of it.
Inquiry 1. Why muſt Gideon be this Barley-Cake baked, that acts thoſe Feats, &c?
Anſwer. For various Reaſons rendred by the Learned.
The Firſt Reaſon, Some read [Tſelil lechem] a Cake that made an hideous noiſe, ſaying, A Cake, that is baked under hot Aſhes, (eſpecially if made of Barley, which is colder and moiſter than Wheat) will by the force of heat, make a noiſe, and ſometimes flie forth of the fire, like a Thunderbolt leaping out with violence, as we oft ſee roſting Cheſnuts to do: This was a lively Repreſentation of Gideon, that ruſhed ſuddenly upon them with ſounding his Horns, and the rather becauſe the Dreamer uſed the Hebrew Language, and as one of thoſe Hebrew words Tſelil] comes of Tſalal to make a noiſe; ſo the other word [lechem] is an Ambiguous word, and ſignifies either Bread or War; and War never wants noiſe.
Secondly, Barley-Bread is vile and contemptible, compared with Wheat-Bread, and now had the Midianites ſo robb'd the Iſraelites of their better food, that they had made them glad to eat Barley-Bread, and well might Gideon be compared to ſuch a contemptible Cake, ſeeing he Characterizeth himſelf as one in a mean and deſpicable caſe, Judg. 6.15. Much more was he deſpiſed by the Midianites, who fed upon the Wheat of the Land, but ſcorned to eat Barley-Cokes, the forced food of the pooreſt People.
Thirdly, God will have Gideon call'd a Cake in the Dream, becauſe he had in his Hoſpitality to the Angel of the Lord, or rather to the Lord of Angels, entertain'd him liberally with Cakes of Flour, &c. Judg. 6.19. probably made of the Flour of Barley, the beſt that the Midianites had left him, for he was but threſhing his Wheat when the Lord came to him, ſo had not time to turn it into Flour: Therefore the Lord made Gideon hear this Dream of a Cake, as an happy Omen of his Victory, for a Reward of his Hoſpitality to himſelf, &c.
Enquiry 2. Why this Cake tumbled down a Tent, &c?
Anſwer. This Cake being of a round and Orbicular form (made like a Loaf) might the better tumble down the Hill with violence, and daſh againſt a Tent, which Joſephus calls the King's Tent, and not improbably, for the Hebrew word [Haohel] with its notifying Article [He] ſignifies, Tentorium omnium elegantiſſimum & fortiſſimum, the faireſt and ſtrongeſt Tent. Now the Analogy and Compariſon in the Dream ſtandeth thus N. B. As 'tis no leſs than a great Miracle if ſo poor a thing as a Barley-Loaf, ſhould (by rolling down upon it) overturn a well pitched Tent, though of it ſelf it be as unable to remove a Mountain, as to over-throw a Tent, yet being thrown by a Divine Hand, overturns and ruines not only the King's Tent, foreign, by way of Eminency, but even all the Tents of the whole Camp of Midian, even ſo Gideon, a Man kept long under Vaſſalage, (ſo that he durſt not ſhew his Head) muſt be as wonderfully employed in the Lord's Hand even with a ſmall handful of deſpiſed Fugitives gathered together, to rout and ruine ſuch a prodigious Army as they were; what this Dreamer ſaw done in his Dream, that, his Interpreter told him, (which was repreſented by it) he would certainly ſee would come to paſs.
Now come we to the ſecond part of the Concomitants of the Battel, from ver. 15. to 21. The Remarks hence are,
Firſt, No ſooner had Gideon heard this Dream, and the breaking thereof, Hebr. (a Metaphor from breaking a Nut to come at the Kernel) or its Interpretation (which he might underſtand, though ſpoke in the Midian Language, being only a differing Dialect from the Hebrew, and being accuſtomed to it for Seven Years Slavery: But he immediately falls upon a double Work.
Firſt. Upon Praiſing of God for confirming his Faith in ſuch a miraculous manner.
And Secondly. Upon Praying to God, that he would ſignally bleſs him with ſucceſs in his Enterprize, ver. 15.
The Second Remark is, The Marvelous Stratagem Gideon makes uſe of in Aſſaulting the Enemy in the Night. Joſephus ſaith in the Fourth Watch of the Night, which was the very time wherein Chriſt came to comfort his Diſciples half Dead with a long Storm, Matth. 14.24, 25, 26, 27. and now the ſame Meſſiah comes at the ſame time here to comfort diſtreſſed Iſrael, &c. but the Scripture of truth ſaith it was [in the beginning of the Midnight Watch.] Gideon chuſed the Midnight, ver. 19. becauſe then the Watches were changed, and the Army ſoundeſt on Sleep, and ſo moſt ſubject to aſtoniſhment, if ſuddenly awakened. N. B. Now comes Chriſt to comfort Iſrael after an hard Apprentiſhip of Seven Years under Midian, even now when Iſrael was low enough, even as low as God would have them, and reduced from Thirty two Thouſand Men to Three Hundred only, then the Lord comes foreign, as out of an Engine, to reſcue them out of the hands of their Oppreſſors, who were now high enough alſo: And this the Lord did by ſo ſtrange a Stratagem, he directed Gideon unto, as cannot eaſily be parallel'd; as Joſhua did Conquer Jericho only by the noiſe of Trumpets and Aſtoniſhments, &c. So Gideon with his Three Hundred Men Conquers this vaſt Hoſt, only with each Man's holding a Jug-pot with a lighted Torch in it in one hand, and a Rams-Horn for a Trumpet in the other hand; no light was to be ſeen, no noiſe was to be made until they ſet themſelves on all ſides of the Army, ver. 16. Then muſt they break their Pitchers at Gideon's Example, that their Lamps might give a ſudden light, ver. 17. And then muſt they ſound their Trumpets, as if there had been ſo many Troops at their Heels following them, as there were Trumpets ſounded, ver. 18. And then muſt they likewiſe each Man give a moſt luſty Shout, and cry, [The Sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.] All this being done by Divine Direction, the whole Hoſt ran, and cryed, and fled, ver. 19.20, 21. They were ſo daunted and diſmayed both with ſudden light and noiſe, that the Curtains of Midian Trembled, as 'tis ſaid, Hab. 3.7. and all the Tents both of King and People were over-turned by this Barley-Cake.
The Third part is the Conſequents, The Lord ſet every Man's Sword againſt his Fellow ver. 22. Such a Spirit of Giddineſs was upon them, that they took Friends for Foes, and ſlaughtered one another in the place; ſo that (as Joſephus ſaith) there was little need of the Sword of Gideon: Who yet out of Modeſty, and not willing to ingroſs the Glory of the Victory to himſelf, ſent a Summons to the White-liver'd Deſerters, namely, the Two and Twenty Thouſand Timerous Soldiers, who firſt forſook the Army out of fear; and to the Nine Thouſand Seven Hundred Slothful and intemperate Water-Drinkers alſo, none of which were ſo far honoured by God, as either to bear a Torch, or to break a Pitcher, or to blow a Trumpet; yet all thoſe Cowards can come with courage, at Gideon's Summons, to purſue a flying Enemy, and to ſhare in the Spoil of thoſe who had already ſlain one another; for they being frighted out of their dead Sleep, with the ſudden noiſe, &c. ſo could not diſtinguiſh Friends from Foes; or (as Joſephus ſaith) they underſtood not the Language one of another, being made up of many Nations, Judg. 6.3. ſo hereby a great part of the Army was ſlain, through the Darkneſs of the Night; and perhaps (as God would have it) ſuſpecting Treachery among themſelves under Divine Infatuations, as in other caſes is exemplify'd in Scripture, 1 Sam. 14.20. and 2 Chron. 20.23. Now upon Gideon's Summons the Ephraimites beſtir themſelves, take the Paſſes of Jordan, ſtop the Midianites from fleeing home to their own Land, ſlew the two Princes of Midian, whoſe Names ſhewed their Natures, Oreb ſignifying a Raven, or Carrion-Crow, and Zeeb a Wolf. Conveniunt rebus nomina ſaepe ſuis.
N. B. The former was ſlain upon the Rock, becauſe he had oft forced Iſrael to hide themſelves among the Rocks; and the latter at the Wine-preſs, becauſe he had oft driven the Iſraelites to lurk in the Vineyards, where now the Midianites fled to hide themſelves, but were found out by the Hand of God's Juſtice, which wrote their Sin upon their Puniſhment. …er quod quis peccat, per idem punitur & ipſe. From hence were they Ferreted forth and ſlain, in all to the number of an Hundred and Twenty Thouſand, ver. 23.24, 25. and Judg. 8.10.
N. B. This was a juſt Reward againſt Midian, that had ſo cruelly oppreſs'd their near Kinſmen Iſrael, for Midian was the Son of Abraham by Keturah, Gen. 25.1, 2. ſo nigh a Kin to Iſrael, whom they oppreſſed ſeven Years; and no doubt but the great Loſſes that the Iſraelit…s ſuſtained by that long Oppreſſion, God marvelouſly made up out of the vaſt Spoils of thoſe Midianites that came forth of their Countrey into Canaan, to refund all that Riches they had brought along with them, and what they had plundered from their near Kinſmen: 'Tis marvellous, that all the time the Midianites were killing one another, the Three Hundred Men ſtood in their places, ver. 21. Not only to make the Midianites think they ſtood to light a great Army coming to ſurprize them, but eſpecially to ſhew, the Lord only fought the Battle and got the Victory.