Too Many To See God’s Power

 God had chosen Gideon to lead in delivering Israel from their enemies, but for years, he and his family had worshipped Baal.  He needed to commit to obey God before he could be given the job of leading an army against the huge Midianite army.  God ordered him to destroy the altar to Baal to force him to choose who he would obey.  By destroying the altar to Baal, Gideon made a commitment to trust God and not to worship Baal anymore.  Now God could send him to fight the Midianites because he could focus on serving God.   

 

Once he had made that commitment, the Holy Spirit came upon him, and the local people flocked to him, as we see in Judges 6:33-35.  “Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.  But the spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him.  And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.”  The Midianite invaders had occupied the land from the border with Egypt north to the border with Syria.  Their main camp was at Jezreel, southwest of the Sea of Galilee.  Gideon contacted the nearby tribes to come and help fight the Midianites.   

 

Gideon had never led an army before, and he was nervous about what might happen.  He requested a sign that this was really what God wanted him to do, in Judges 6:36-40.  “And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.  And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

 

And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.  And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.” 

 

When the fleece was wet and the ground was dry, Gideon realized it was possible that the fleece might have naturally prevented the evaporation of the dew, so the second night he asked for the opposite effect, so that it would be clear this was not a natural effect.  When the fleece was dry the second morning, there was no question this was a miraculous sign.  Gideon was assured it was what God wanted. 

 

Facing famine and possible starvation, many people had flocked to Gideon.   For years they had worshipped other gods, and God wanted them to know it was his power that delivered them, not themselves, or some false god. He ordered that anyone who afraid to go home, in Judges 7:1- 3.  “Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt 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, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.”  Convinced the Midianites were to strong, only thirty two thousand Jews showed up to help fight them.  When they realized how badly outnumbered they were, twenty two thousand of them welcomed the opportunity to go back home, leaving just ten thousand to fight.   

 

Even though they were seriously outnumbered, people might still be able to think ten thousand could defeat the Midianite army.  To further reduce the size of the army, God commanded Gideon to have them all get drink of water and separate them according to how they got a drink from the brook.  He then sent the larger group home, leaving only three hundred to accompany Gideon, as Judges 7:4-7 tells us.  “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 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 people go every man unto his place.”

 

Some have speculated that God chose the ones that lapped out of their hands because they were more watchful, but the scripture definitely implies that it was solely because there weren’t as many of them.  The fewer there were, the more obvious it would be that the victory came from God.  We humans tend to think we can do more with more people on our side, forgetting that any Christian has full access to all God’s power, and having more people will not make him more powerful.  We need to trust him even when there is no one else on our side.  As Jonathan said in I Samuel 14:6, “…for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.”  More is not always better, nor does it indicate God’s blessings.  Sometimes it prevents seeing God’s power.