Most of us who have grown up in church have heard the story (in Judges 7) of Gideon defeating the Midianites with an army that God reduced from 32,000 to 300 soldiers:
3 ". . . Announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead."' So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
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5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." 6 Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. (All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version of the Bible.)
And most of us have heard and liked the following interpretation:
"The first group eliminated (22,000) were those who trembled with fear. They were trembling with fear because they did not trust God. We can conclude that God cannot use fearful, trembling Christians!
"The second group eliminated (9,700) were those who knelt to drink water rather than lapping like a dog (raising the water to their mouths with their hands?). The kneelers (we are told) were not prepared and alert to fight. Application: God has no use for Christians that will not stay alert and watchful for battle."
Probably most of us accept this interpretation because it sounds plausible. But those who have reached and preached these conclusions did not understand and interpret these events in light of the then-and-there cultural setting.
Actually, the first group eliminated--the tremblers with fear--were the normal people. Normal people fear battle! Only abnormal people--dare we say crazy people?--do not fear entering battle. So the first group God discarded were normal soldiers; God kept the crazies.
Then, the second group sent home were those who knelt to drink. Were these really soldiers who were not prepared and alert for battle? No. Rather these were those who so completely trusted in God Almighty that they confidently knelt to drink. Those who lapped like dogs were untrusting. (This reference to dogs clues us in to the fact that these men lacked God's favor.)
So, God retained 300 crazy, untrusting dogs to whip the Midianites! And thus showed us that we who trust Him and have normal fears will never be sent into battle--surely a wonderful promise of God!
Do you find this analysis and interpretation absurd? But the first one allows a wrong conclusion: God cannot use weak, imperfect Christians. And the second one allows an observation that magnifies God's handiwork: He won the battle with the poorest 300 soldiers He could find!
Still having trouble with this proposed position? Your lack of confidence in my suggested interpretaion is probably justified. But my conclusions are no more preposterous than the first ones you found plausible! Both are eisegetical; neither is supported by the text. What does the text actually tell us? Not nearly as much as some have inferred. Consider what is revealed in the part of the text we did not read at the outset:
2 The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her . . ."
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7 The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place." 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.
Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 9 During that night the LORD said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands."
The text tells us that God reduced the army so that everyone would know that He alone had defeated the Midianites and won the battle. But the text does not tell us that the eliminated soldiers were inferior in any way. We may so infer, but it does not imply it.
God help us to be more interested in gaining His intention in Scripture than in making Scripture fit our needs and goals in preaching and teaching. And when the Bible is silent, let us either remain silent or clearly label our speculation as such.
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Copyright (C) 1997 Steve Badger
Document last revised: February 7, 1997
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