Bible Study March 26, 2024
Judges 7:4 – 8 (Legacy Standard Bible)
4 Then Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. And it will 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.” 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And Yahweh said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set him aside by himself, and so also everyone who kneels to drink.” 6 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. 7 And Yahweh said to Gideon, “I will save 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 place.” 8 So the 300 men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.”
This is one of my favorite stories from the Old Testament. Gideon was a farmer that God called into service. Gideon was called to go against the mighty army of the Midianites and he had his own plan. You will remember that he put out a couple of fleeces to insure he had it right.
He makes his plans (without asking God) and gathers 32,000 men to fight in his army. But God had other plans He reduces it to 10,000 then reduces it even further down to 300 men. The amazing thing was the weapons they took into battle they had only torches and trumpets, Gideon must have thought God missed it here but as we all know God had it exactly right as He always does.
Gideon and his 300 men soundly defeat the Midianites and God once again is the victor in the battle. There are two things I see in this story. First, do not test God by putting out some type of challenge to God just trust Him. Second, we can plan all we want, gather all the troops we want but the final victory lies with the hand of God.
“We never test the resources of God until we attempt the impossible.” F. B. Meyer.
God Bless.
Asbury Chapel 