Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 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.
16. divided into three companies ] Cf. Jdg 9:43 ff., 1Sa 11:11; 1Sa 13:17 f., Job 1:17 for similar tactics. Gideon had to make up by wit and daring what he lacked in numbers.
trumpets ] Hebr. shphr, the curved horn of a cow or ram, used to give signals in war (Jdg 3:27, 2Sa 2:28, etc.); to be distinguished from the long metal harh, the trumpet proper, which was used for religious purposes (2Ki 12:13, 1Ch 13:8, etc.); see the illustrations in Driver’s Joel and Amos, p. 145. As a sacred instrument the shophar is mentioned chiefly by later writers, Lev 25:9 , 2Ch 15:14; cf. the rams’ horns Jos 6:4 ff. (E). The horns were put into the hands, not hung on the shoulders, of Gideon’s men.
torches within the pitchers ] The word generally, but not always (Jdg 15:4 f.), implies a lighted torch. If the torches were alight the pitchers were used to conceal them. The pitcher was a large earthenware vessel, cf. Gen 24:14 ff., 1Ki 17:12 ff. (‘barrel’).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
16 22. The night attack
The account of Gideon’s bold and successful stratagem is perfectly intelligible as a whole, though there is some confusion in the details, chiefly due to the repetitions in Jdg 7:17 (Gideon’s order), Jdg 7:20 (the blowing of the trumpets), Jdg 7:22 (the direction of the flight). It is usually objected that one pair of hands ( Jdg 7:16) could not have carried a trumpet and a pitcher with a lighted (?) torch inside; the objection is rather prosaic; such a difficulty would not, perhaps, have occurred to an ancient writer. But the fact remains that the text in Jdg 7:17 ; Jdg 7:20 ; Jdg 7:22 is clearly not in its original form; are we to explain the overloading as the work of subsequent editors, or as an attempt to combine two different narratives of the same event? The latter explanation is adopted by most recent commentators; it is supposed that in one narrative the trumpets played a leading part, in the other, the pitchers and torches. At any rate the trumpets cannot have been introduced by a later hand, for they form a prominent feature of the story; so perhaps we can only suppose that here, as elsewhere in the history of Gideon (cf. Jdg 6:11-32; Jdg 6:35 and Jdg 7:23), two versions have been harmonized with more or less success. But to separate them is difficult; none of the attempts at an analysis can be called satisfactory. The problem remains in much uncertainty.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gideon himself took the command of one company, and sent the other two under their respective captains to different sides of the camp Jdg 7:18, Jdg 7:21.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. He divided the three hundred men] Though the victory was to be from the Lord, yet he knew that he ought to use prudential means; and those which he employed on this occasion were the best calculated to answer the end. If he had not used these means, it is not likely that God would have delivered the Midianites into his hands. Sometimes, even in working a miracle, God will have natural means used: Go, dip thyself seven times in Jordan. Go, wash in the pool Siloam.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Into three companies; to make a show of a vast army encompassing them.
Lamps, or, torches, made of such materials as would quickly take fire, and keep it for some time.
Within the pitchers; partly to preserve the flame from the violence of wind and weather; and partly to conceal it, and surprise their enemy with sudden and unexpected flashes of light.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16-22. he divided the three hundredmen into three companiesThe object of dividing his forces was,that they might seem to be surrounding the enemy. The pitchers wereempty to conceal the torches, and made of earthenware, so as to beeasily broken; and the sudden blaze of the held-up lightsthe loudecho of the trumpets, and the shouts of Israel, always terrifying (Nu23:21), and now more terrible than ever by the use of suchstriking words, broke through the stillness of the midnight air. Thesleepers started from their rest; not a blow was dealt by theIsraelites; but the enemy ran tumultuously, uttering the wild,discordant cries peculiar to the Arab race. They foughtindiscriminately, not knowing friend from foe. The panic beinguniversal, they soon precipitately fled, directing their flight downto the Jordan, by the foot of the mountains of Ephraim, to placesknown as the “house of the acacia” [Beth-shittah], and “themeadow of the dance” [Abel-meholah].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he divided the three hundred men into three companies,…. One hundred in a company, partly to make the better figure, a show of an army, with a right and left wing, and partly that they might fall upon the camp of Midian in different parts:
and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand; they that returned of the trumpeters having left their trumpets behind them, whereby there was a sufficient number for three hundred men; and these were put into their hands, that when they blew them together, the, noise would be very great; and it would seem as if they were an exceeding great army, and so very much terrify their enemies:
with empty pitchers, and lamps with the pitchers; the pitchers were of earth, and so easily broken, and would make a great noise when clashed against each other; and these were empty of water, or otherwise would not have been fit to put lamps into, and the lamps put in them were not of oil; for then, when the pitchers were broken, the oil would have run out; but were a kind of torches, made of rosin, wax, pitch, and such like things; and these were put into the pitcher, partly to preserve them from the wind, and chiefly to conceal them from the enemy, till just they came upon them, and then held them out; which in a dark night would make a terrible blaze, as before they served to give them light down the hill into the camp.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Midianites Surprised. | B. C. 1249. |
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. 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 Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.
Here is, I. The alarm which Gideon gave to the hosts of Midian in the dead time of the night; for it was intended that those who had so long been a terror to Israel, and had so often frightened them, should themselves be routed and ruined purely by terror.
1. The attack here made was, in many circumstances, like that which Abraham made upon the army that had taken Lot captive. The number of men was much the same: Abraham had 318, Gideon 300; they both divided their forces, both made their attack by night, and were both victorious under great disadvantages (Gen 14:14; Gen 14:15); and Gideon is not only a son of Abraham (so were the Midianites by Keturah) but an heir of his faith. Gideon, (1.) Divided his army, small as it was, into three battalions (v. 16), one of which he himself commanded (v. 19), because great armies (and such a one he would make a show of) were usually divided into the right wing, and left wing, and the body of the army. (2.) He ordered them all to do as he did, v. 17. He told them now, it is very likely, what they must do, else the thing was so strange that they would scarcely have done it of a sudden, but he would, by doing it first, give notice to them when to do it, as officers exercise their soldiers with the word of command or by beat of drum: Look on me, and do likewise. Such is the word of command which our Lord Jesus, the captain of our salvation, gives his soldiers; for he has left us an example, with a charge to follow it: As I do, so shall you do. (3.) He made his descent in the night, when they were secure and least expected it, which would put them into great consternation, and when the smallness of his army would not be discovered. In the night all frights are most frightful, especially in the dead of the night, as this was, a little after midnight, when the middle watch began, and the alarm would wake them out of their sleep. We read of terror by night as very terrible (Ps. xci. 5), and fear in the night, Cant. iii. 8. (4.) That which Gideon aimed at was to frighten this huge host, to give them not only a fatal rout, but a very shameful one. He accoutred his army with every man a trumpet in his right hand, and an earthen pitcher, with a torch in it, in his left, and he himself thought it no disparagement to him to march before them thus armed. He would make but a jest of conquering this army, and goes out against them rather as against a company of children than against a host of soldiers. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn, Isa. xxxvii. 22. The fewness of his men favoured his design; for, being so few, they marched to the camp with the greater secresy and expedition, so that they were not discovered till they were close by the camp; and he contrived to give the alarm when they had just mounted the guards (v. 19), that the sentinels, being then wakeful, might the sooner disperse the alarm through the camp, which was the best service they could do him. Three ways Gideon contrived to strike a terror upon this army, and so put them into confusion. [1.] With a great noise. Every man must blow his trumpet in the most terrible manner he could and clatter an earthen pitcher to pieces at the same time; probably each dashed his pitcher to his next man’s, and so they were broken both together, which would not only make a great crash, but was a figure of what would be the effects of the fright, even the Midianites’ killing one another. [2.] With a great blaze. The lighted torches were hid in the pitchers, like a candle under a bushel, until they came to the camp, and then, being taken out all together of a sudden, would make a glaring show, and run through the camp like a flash of lightning. Perhaps with these they set some of the tents on the outside of the camp on fire, which would very much increase the confusion. [3.] With a great shout. Every man must cry, For the Lord, and for Gideon, so some think it should be read in v. 18, for there the sword is not in the original, but it is in v. 20, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. It should seem, he borrowed the word from the Midianite’s dream (v. 14): it is the sword of Gideon. Finding his name was a terror to them, he thus improves it against them, but prefixes the name of Jehovah, as the figure without which his own was but an insignificant cypher. This would put life into his own men, who might well take courage when they had such a God as Jehovah, and such a man as Gideon, both to fight for, and to fight for them; well might those follow who had such leaders. It would likewise put their enemies into a fright, who had of old heard of Jehovah’s great name, and of late of Gideon’s. The sword of the Lord is all in all to the success of the sword of Gideon, yet the sword of Gideon must be employed. Men the instruments, and God the principal agent, must both be considered in their places, but men, the greatest and best, always in subserviency and subordination to God. This army was to be defeated purely by terrors, and these are especially the sword of the Lord. These soldiers, if they had swords by their sides, that was all, they had none in their hands, but they gained the victory by shouting “The sword.” So the church’s enemies are routed by a sword out of the mouth, Rev. xix. 21. 2. These soldiers, if they had swords by their sides, that was all, they had none in their hands, but they gained the victory by shouting “The sword.” So the church’s enemies are routed by a sword out of the mouth, Rev. xix. 21.
2. This method here taken of defeating the Midianites may be alluded to, (1.) As typifying the destruction of the devil’s kingdom in the world by the preaching of the everlasting gospel, the sounding of that trumpet, and the holding forth of that light out of earthen vessels, for such the ministers of the gospel are, in whom the treasure of that light is deposited, 2 Cor. iv. 6, 7. Thus God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, a barley-cake to overthrow the tents of Midian, that the excellency of the power might be of God only; the gospel is a sword, not in the hand, but in the mouth, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, of God and Jesus Christ, him that sits on the throne and the Lamb. (2.) As representing the terrors of the great day. So the excellent bishop Hall applies it; if these pitchers, trumpets, and firebrands, did so daunt and dismay the proud troops of Midian and Amalek, who shall be able to stand before the last terror, when the trumpet of the archangel shall sound, the elements shall be on a flame, the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the Lord himself shall descend with a shout!
II. The wonderful success of this alarm. The Midianites were shouted out of their lives, as the walls of Jericho were shouted down, that Gideon might see what he lately despaired of ever seeing, the wonders that their fathers told them of. Gideon’s soldiers observed their orders, and stood every man in his place round about the camp (v. 21), sounding his trumpet to excite them to fight one another, and holding out his torch to light them to their ruin. They did not rush into the host of Midian, as greedy either of blood or spoil, but patiently stood still to see the salvation of the Lord, a salvation purely of his own working. Observe how the design took effect. 1. They feared the Israelites. All the host immediately took the alarm; it flew like lightning through all their lines, and they ran, and cried, and fled, v. 21. There was something natural in this fright. We may suppose they had not had intelligence of the great diminution of Gideon’s army, but rather concluded that since their last advices it had been growing greater and greater; and therefore they had reason to suspect, knowing how odious and grievous they had made themselves and what bold steps had been taken towards the throwing off of their yoke, that it was a very great army which was to be ushered in with all those trumpeters and torch-bearers. But there was more of a supernatural power impressing this terror upon them. God himself gave it the setting on, to show how that promise should have been fulfilled if they had not forfeited it, One of you shall chase a thousand. See the power of imagination, and how much it may become a terror at some times, as at other times it is a pleasure. 2. They fell foul upon one another: The Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow, v. 22. In this confusion, observing the trumpeters and torch-bearers to stand still without their camp, they concluded the body of the army had already entered and was in the midst of them, and therefore every one ran at the next he met, though a friend, supposing him an enemy, and one such mistake as this would occasion many, for then he that slew him would certainly be taken for an enemy, and would be dispatched immediately. It is our interest to preserve such a command of our own spirits as never to be afraid with any amazement, for we cannot conceive what mischiefs we thereby plunge ourselves into. See also how God often makes the enemies of his church instruments to destroy one another; it is a pity the church’s friends should ever be thus infatuated. 3. They fled for their lives. Perhaps when day-light came they were sensible of their mistake in fighting with one another, and concluded that by this fatal error they had so weakened themselves that now it was impossible to make any head against Israel, and therefore made the best of their way towards their own country, though, for aught that appears, the 300 men kept their ground. The wicked flee when none pursueth, Prov. xxviii. 1. Terrors make him afraid on every side, and drive him to his feet, Job xviii. 11.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(16) Into three companies.See Jdg. 9:43. This division of the attacking force was a common stratagem. We find it in Job. 1:17the Chaldans made out three bands and it was adopted by Saul against the Ammonites (1Sa. 11:11), and by David against Absalom (2Sa. 18:2). (Comp. Gen. 14:15.)
A trumpet.Hearing the sound of three hundred rams horns, the Midianites would naturally suppose that they were being attacked by three hundred companies.
Pitchers.The Hebrew word is caddim, which is connected with our caskthe Greek, kados. They were of earthenware (Jdg. 7:19-20), (LXX., hydrias), and hence the Vulgate rendering (lagenas) is mistaken.
Lamps.The LXX., perhaps, chose the word lampadas from its resemblance to lappdma principle by which they are often guided. Lampadas, however, here means not lamps, but (as the margin gives it) firebrands, or torches. The best illustration is furnished by a passage in Lanes Modern Egyptians (I., Judges 4), where he tells us that the zabit or agha of the police in Cairo carries with him at night a torch, which burns, soon after it is lighted, without a flame, excepting when it is waved through the air, when it suddenly blazes forth: it therefore answers the same purpose as our dark lantern. The burning end is sometimes concealed in a small pot or jar, or covered with something else when not required to give light. These torches are simply of wood dipped in turpentine or pitch, which are not easily extinguished.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Three companies So as to form three attacking columns, and thereby give them the semblance of a mighty host.
Empty pitchers Earthen jars, which served to hide the lamps or torches as they approached the enemy’s camp, and by their noise when broken served to confuse and terrify the Midianites.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them ram’s horns, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers. And he said to them, “Watch me, and do the same. And behold when I come to the extremity of the camp it shall be that as I do, so you shall do. When I blow the ram’s horn, I and all who are with me, then you blow the ram’s horns also on every side of the whole camp, and say ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon’.” ’
The strategy was simple. With the ram’s horns hanging by a cord from their necks and their swords at their sides, they would carry the empty pitchers and the torches within the pitchers, to a point just outside the enemy camp. They would go in three companies so that they could spread out widely on three different approaches to the camp.
Then Gideon would blow his ram’s horn first, a lone and disconcerting wail, alerting the camp that the attack was beginning. Thus would the camp be awoken and sleepily stirring when suddenly they would hear the sound of three hundred ram’s horns over a wide range, replying to the first and sounding the charge. Racing from their tents in the unnerving darkness they would then see three hundred lights appear over a wide range, each held by the leader of a military unit to rally his men (or so they would think). Thus they faced three hundred military units, a huge force. And they were already unnerved at the thought that the gods were with Gideon. No wonder panic set in.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
As the Holy Ghost, in his own comment on this battle, (Heb 11:32 ,) hath pronounced it to be a battle of faith, we have his authority to mark the prominent features of it, agreeable to this account. And hence I do not think the subject at all overstrained, if we behold in it somewhat strikingly typical of the glorious battle fought by the Lord Jesus and his little army, over all the host of enemies which opposed our salvation. Was not the sword of our Jesus the sword of Jehovah, and of the man Christ Jesus? In his sacred person do we not behold both God and man? And, as in the army of Gideon there was neither sword nor spear, so in the army of our Jesus the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. 2Co 10:4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 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.
Ver. 16. A trumpet in every man’s hand.] As if there had been so many troops as were trumpets. By a like stratagem, Pompey overcame Mithridates in Asia.
With empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lamps = torches, which smoulder till waved in the air.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
three companies: This small number of men, thus divided, would be able to encompass the whole camp of the Midianites. Concealing the lamps in the pitchers, they would pass unobserved to their appointed stations; then, in the dead of the night, when most of the enemy were fast asleep, all at once breaking their pitchers one against another, with as much noise as they could, and blowing the trumpets and shouting; they would occasion an exceedingly great alarm. The obedience of faith alone could have induced such an expedient, which no doubt God directed Gideon to employ. – Scott.
a trumpet: Heb. trumpets in the hand of all of them
empty: 2Co 4:7
lamps: or, fire-brands, or torches
Reciprocal: Num 10:9 – oppresseth Jdg 7:19 – brake Jdg 15:15 – slew 1Sa 11:11 – in three 1Sa 17:40 – staff 2Sa 18:2 – a third part 1Ki 20:14 – young men 1Ki 20:15 – two hundred 1Co 14:8 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 7:16-25. The Night Alarm and Rout.Gideons stratagem consisted in the division of his small force into three companies, who charged the enemy from three sides at once, making an uproar and producing a panic.
Jdg 7:18. The battle-cry agreed upon was For Yahweh and for Gideon! When the actual conflict began, many or all prefixed to this A sword, suggested by the gleaming weapons they had unsheathed. The words express with splendid terseness a double loyalty, to God and a trusted leader; an ideal, Yahwehs victory and glory; and a means of attaining it, the sword.
Jdg 7:20. If each soldier carried a trumpet, a torch, an empty pitcher, and a sword, his hands were too full. There are awkward repetitions in the narrative (see Jdg 7:20 and Jdg 7:22), and it is possible that the trumpets are derived from one source, the jars and torches from another.
Jdg 7:23. It is strange to see how the men who had no heart for the attack are ready to join in the pursuit. Some think that the verse is a later addition.
Jdg 7:24. The words even Jordan (twice) seem meaningless. Perhaps we should read with the Peshitto as far as Bethbara upon (the bank of) Jordan.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
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 {h} within the pitchers.
(h) These weak means God used to signify that the whole victory came from him.