Then the
LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them down to
the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of
whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go with you; but
everyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not
go." So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to
Gideon, "You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as
a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink." Now the number of
those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the
rest of the people kneeled to drink water. The LORD said to Gideon, "I
will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into
your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his home." Judges 7:4-7
The Second Sifting
Having reduced the chosen army to fight the Midianites by
two-thirds, God put Gideon’s surviving 10,000 men through a second test by
asking them all to take a drink down at the river.
We never know when God is testing us in some ordinary
experience of life. More than one
prospective employee has ruined his or her chances for a job while having lunch
with the boss, not realizing they were being evaluated.
“Make
every occasion a great occasion, for you can never tell when somebody
may be taking your measure for a larger place.”
may be taking your measure for a larger place.”
What significance was there in the two different ways the
men drank from the river? Since the
Scriptures don’t tell us, we’d be wise not to read into the text some weighty
spiritual lesson that God never put there.
Most expositors say the men who bowed down to drink were making
themselves vulnerable to the enemy, while the 300 who lapped water from their
hands stayed alert. But the enemy was four miles away (v.1), waiting to see
what the Jews would do; and Gideon wouldn’t have led his men into a dangerous
situation like that.
One well-known preacher claims that the 300 men drank as
they did so they could keep their eyes on Gideon, but the text doesn’t say that
either. My assumption is that God chose this method of sifting the army because
it was simple, unassuming (no soldier knew he was being tested), and easy to
apply. Since the men undoubtedly came to
the water by groups, Gideon was able to watch them and identify the 300. It
wasn’t until after the event that the men discovered they had been tested.
Some churches today are mesmerized by statistics and think
they’re strong because they’re big and wealthy, but numbers are no guarantee of
God’s blessing. Moses assured the Jews
that if they would obey the Lord, one soldier could chase a thousand and two
would “put
ten thousand to flight” (Deut. 32:30).
All Gideon needed was 27 soldiers to defeat the whole Midianite army of 135,000
men (Judges 8:10), but God gave him 300.
God graciously gave Gideon one more promise of victory: "I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and
will give the Midianites into your hands; (v. 7). By claiming this promise and obeying the
Lord’s directions, Gideon defeated the enemy and brought peace to the land for
forty years.
J.G. Stipe said that faith is like a toothbrush: Everybody
should have one and use it regularly, but it isn’t safe to use somebody
else’s. We can follow men and women of
faith and share in their exploits, but we can’t succeed in our own personal
lives by depending on somebody else’s faith.
There is no doubt God has given us enough for every battle we face…for
He is enough.
Scripture to Claim:
“There
is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.” I Samuel 14:6
