Judges 7:9-10: “And it came to pass on the same night that the Lord said unto him: Arise get thee down unto the host, for I have delivered it into thine hand. But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host.”
The word arise is qom which is a rising up from slumber or despair. Gideon wasn’t asleep at this time so God was calling him to arise from his funk. In modern English terms God was telling Gideon, “Snap out of it and get your kester in line.
Ever feel like Gideon, here you sense God’s call on your life. You have seen the miracles of confirmation, heard the prophecies, sent out the call and it seems like everyone and their mother is behind you ready to join the battle to carry out the call on your life and then reality sets in and before your first big campaign 22,000 of the 32,000 who swore allegiance suddenly get cold feet, think of better things they could be doing or they have their own problems to deal with and decide to take a powder. You find yourself left with only 10,000 followers to go against 110,000 Midianites. Then you decide to really put them to test, are even these 10,000 really with you, are their minds really focused the task that God has laid before you or are they thinking of other things. You take them to the waters and just ask them to drink. You observe them knowing that those that get on their knees and splash the water in their mouths with both hands to get the most water they can are not focused, they are not thinking about the battle, they are only interested in getting as much as they can for themselves. They are not the true warriors, they are the ones who want to go home and brag about their great exploits so they can wow their congregation or really impress their brethren. But the ones who remain standing, ready for battle, sword in one hand and the other scooping up just enough water to wet their tongue, just enough to keep them going but not enough to really satisfy or quench their thirst, you know these are the ones who are focused on the coming battle and do not have their own agendas. When the smoke clears you find that out of the 32,000 who declared, “Yeah brother, we’re with you, go get ‘em, we’re behind you we’ve got your back,” has now dwindled down to 300 men and not only that you are the only one with a sword, the rest have nothing more than a clay pitcher and a torch to go against 110,000 Midianites. But those three hundred have one other thing, a burning desire to serve God to the death. Still, even after all the confirmations you can’t help but wonder, “Just three hundred against 110,000, God maybe I really did misunderstand your call, maybe you are showing me I am really outnumbered to tell me you have someone else in mind to fight this war.” But God is saying, “Nope, I just narrowed it down so you will know you really do have my call upon your life. The proof will be in a victory with just 300 against 110,000, then you will know it is me and not your talents, not your marketing schemes, your slick PR campaigns, or your personal charisma, that achieved the victory.
Despite all the direction Gideon received from God, the night of the battle he was still shaking in his boots wondering if he just made a big mistake and if he dares to make another move to fulfill this so called call on his life he is going to get his head loped off.
Then God asks him to do one more absolutely ridiculous thing. God orders him to go into the Midianites camp, just walk into the enemy camp as boldly as you please and he will get the confidence he needs. He also advises that if he were afraid he could take his servant Phurah along. The translation is too kind. The word for servant is na’ar which is the word for a child. So Gideon if you are too chicken to go down to the Midianites camp alone, then take a child with you. If I were Gideon I would probably have said: “How about, maybe, you know someone like the Archangel Michael?” There is some question as to the root word for servant. The root could also be ’arak which is one who arranges a battle, an estimator. Although I doubt a military strategist would be much help if you suddenly find yourself surrounded by 110,000 grinning Midianites with curved swords ready to lop your head off.
I do not know how God was speaking to Gideon. The Talmud seems to indicate that He spoke in dreams. Nonetheless, God spoke to Gideon quite clearly that he had given the Midianites into Gideon’s hands. The word give is nathan which is in a Qal perfect form. In other words God is saying“I have given” past tense. The whole thing has been signed, sealed and delivered, yet Gideon was still fearful. So God sent him down to spy out the land. God seems to be in the spy business. He sent out twelve spies to scout out the promised land. He sent two spies into Jericho. So He sends Gideon down to spy out the Midianites. Whenever you’re afraid, God seems to sends you right into the midst of your fears to see his promise of victory.
Fear is what kept the children of Israel from entering the promised land. Fear is what almost kept Jacob from reconciliation with his brother Esau. Jacob had to wrestle with God all night to overcome his fears. It is fear that could unravel all of God’s plans for this battle. So God sends Gideon into the Midianites camp to spy it out and all of a sudden he hears a soldier relate a dream that is interpreted as Gideon having a great victory over them. Gideon is now finally filled with the courage to go to battle.
Nice story, Huh? Is it really much help? Here you are facing your own Midianites and you too are fully outnumbered, shaking in your own boots. So where is your reassurance from God, where is your Phurah? In looking at the story in Numbers 14, I discovered that God pretty much gave the same order to the children of Israel as to Gideon. Go down into the area where I have already given you a victory and check it out for yourself. In other words you can either stick your head in the sand or walk into the enemy camp and scout it out to find God’s victory.
The twelve spies spent forty days in the promised land scouting it out. They spent forty nights sitting around a camp fire discussing what they had seen, discussing whether this Promised Land business was really God or not. Maybe He was sending these giants just to show this was not His perfect will. They made of the mistake of looking at the giants and not the milk and honey.
Gideon did not look at the giants. The Bible tells us that Gideon listened to his giants talk. He heard a Midianites soldier related a dream to a friend and the friend said that it meant Gideon would be victorious, Gideon worshipped God. The word used here is yashatahu. The root could be shachah or sachah. Shachah would be to have a moment of intimacy, sachah would be to go swimming or just be surrounded by the presence of God. One other possible root would be shatah which is to get drunk. Surround by 110,000 most of us would just go out and get shatah (drunk), Gideon got drunk in the Spirit of God. One thing all three roots have in common is that each are a picture of the Holy Spirit taking control. In Gideon’s spy mission he could have seen the armor and weapons and powerful men and become frightened, but instead he listened to someone talk about a dream and Gideon declared: “Yeah that’s my God talking.” Gideon went in search of a message from God.
So, maybe you are like me, you stand before a Midianites army and God commands you to scout out the enemy, what are you going to see? Are you looking at the giants or searching for a message from God. If you just look at the giants your heart will melt in fear, but if you listen to those Giants you will hear the promise of God, then maybe like Gideon you will get drunk, but not as ye suppose.
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