Sorry, you must have Windows Media Player 9 or higher.

THE PEOPLE ARE YET TOO MANY

03-04-12

(Judg 7:1)  Then Jerubbaal [Heb: Baal will contend with], who is Gideon [Heb: feller (warrior) /// to fell a tree, to cut asunder], and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod [Heb: fountain of trembling]: so that the host of the [135,000] Midianites [Heb: quarreling: brawling, contentious, discord, strife] [“they were Ishmaelites” Judg 8:24] were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh [Heb: a noose (for catching animals); by impl. a hook (for the nose): be ensnared, gin, snare, trap], in the valley.

(Judg 7:2,3)  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The [32,000] people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt [Heb: boast] 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 [i.e., whosoever did not believe God for the victory], let him return [to their homes] and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand [22,000]; and there remained ten thousand [10,000].

1.      Gilead = Heb: mound of stones, rocky region, strong, rocky, heap of testimony, the mass of testimony, heap of witness: rolling forever.

2.      Commentary: mount Gilead is a type and shadow of the OT brazen altar of burnt offering where the people offered up sacrifice, and the NT cross where the people offer up sacrifice.

3.      fearful = Heb: to fear; mor. to revere; to frighten: affright, be (make) afraid, dread (-ful), (put in) fear (-ful, -fully, -ing). (be had in) reverence, terrible (act, -ness, thing).

4.      afraid = Heb: fearful; also reverential:--afraid, trembling /// to shudder with terror; hence to fear; also to hasten (with anxiety):--be (make) afraid, be careful, discomfit, fray (away), quake, tremble.

5.      faith = Heb: to trust or believe.

6.      (Mat 13:31,32)  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

7.      (Mat 17:19-21)  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you [because it is God’s power that is working through you]. Howbeit this kind [of demon, or of unbelief, or both?] goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

(Judg 7:4-8)  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. 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 [9,700 saved] 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 [9,700 saved] people go every man unto his place [“unto his tent” v.8]. So the people took victuals [Gk: food] in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained [in a definite sense, “raptured”] those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

1.      (Eph 5:25-27)  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word [Gk: rhema], That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

2.      (1 Pet 5:8)  Be sober [Gk: to abstain from wine, watch], be vigilant [Gk: keep awake, watch: watchful]; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

3.      retained = Heb: to fasten upon; hence to seize.

4.      caught up = Gk: to take for oneself.

a.      (2 Cor 12:2-4)  I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven [typified by the Most Holy Place]. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise [typified by the Most Holy Place], and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

b.      (1 Th 4:16,17)  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

c.      (Rev 12:4-6)  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon [the Devil, Satan] stood before the woman [the church] which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne [typified by the Most Holy Place]. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days [3 ½ years].

Judg 7:16  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. Judg 7:17  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. Judg 7:18  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. Judg 7:19  So Gideon, and the 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. Judg 7:20  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. Judg 7:21  And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. Judg 7:22  And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath. Judg 7:23  And the men of Israel [the 9,700] gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.

Amen