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Judges 7

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1 And Jerubbaal—he is Gideon—and all the people who were with him got·​·up·​·early and encamped by the fount of Harod, and the camp of Midian was on the north of it from the hill of Moreh in the valley.

2 And Jehovah said to Gideon, The people who are with thee are too many for Me to give Midian into their hand, lest Israel vaunt himself over Me, saying, My own hand has saved me.

3 And now, I pray thee, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and frightened, let him turn·​·back and turn about from Mount Gilead; and twenty and two thousand of the people turned·​·back; and ten thousand were·​·left.

4 And Jehovah said to Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring· them ·down to the waters, and I will examine them for thee there; and it shall be that of whom I say to thee, This one shall go with thee, he shall go with thee; and all of whom I shall say to thee, This one shall not go with thee, he shall not go.

5 And he brought· the people ·down to the water, and Jehovah said to Gideon, Everyone who laps·​·up from the water with his tongue as the dog laps, him thou shalt place by·​·himself, and everyone who stoops·​·down on his knees to drink.

6 And the number of those who lapped, with their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the remainder of the people stooped·​·down on their knees to drink water.

7 And Jehovah said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped will I save you, and will give Midian into thy hand; and let all the people go every man to his place.

8 And the people took victuals in their hand and their shophars*; and he sent· every man of Israel ·away, a man to his tent; but he held·​·firmly the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

9 And it was, in that night, that Jehovah said unto him, Arise, go·​·down into the camp, for I have given it into thy hand.

10 But if thou fear to go·​·down, go·​·down, thou and Purah thy lad, to the camp;

11 and thou shalt hear what they speak, and afterwards shall thy hands be made·​·firm, and thou shalt go·​·down into the camp. And he and Purah, his lad, went·​·down to the edge of those girded·​·to·​·the·​·fifth* who were in the camp.

12 And Midian and Amalek and all the sons of the east lay along in the valley as the locust for multitude, and their camels without number, as the sand by the lip of the sea for multitude.

13 And Gideon came, and, behold, a man recounted a dream to his companion and said, Behold I dreamed a dream, and, behold, a roasted barley bread turned·​·over and over into the camp of Midian and came unto a tent and smote it and it fell, and it overturned it upward, and the tent fell.

14 And his companion answered and said, This is nothing else than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; into his hand has God given Midian and all the camp.

15 And it was, as Gideon heard the recounting of the dream and its interpretation* of it, that he bowed·​·down and returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for Jehovah has given into your hand the camp of Midian.

16 And he divided* the three hundred men into three companies, and he gave shophars into the hand of all of them, and empty pitchers, and torches in the midst of the pitchers;

17 and he said to them, From me you shall see, and thus you shall do. And behold, I shall come into the end of the camp, and it shall be, as I do, thus shall you do.

18 And I shall sound with a shophar, I and all that are with me, then also you shall sound with the shophar, around all the camp, and you shall say, For Jehovah and for Gideon!

19 And Gideon came, and a hundred men who were with him, to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch. Surely raising they had just raised the guards. And they sounded the shophars and shattered the pitchers that were in their hands.

20 And the three companies blew the shophars and broke the pitchers and held· their torches ·firmly with their left hand and the shophars with their right hand to sound, and they called out, The sword for Jehovah and for Gideon!

21 And they stood every man in his place all around the camp, and all the camp ran, and they shouted and fled.

22 And the three hundred sounded the shophars, and Jehovah set the sword of each·​·man against his companion, and against all the camp, and the camp fled even·​·to Beth-shittah, toward Zererath, even·​·to the border* of Abel-meholah by Tabbath.

23 And the men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.

24 And Gideon sent messengers into all Mount Ephraim, saying, Come·​·down to meet Midian, and capture before them the waters, even·​·to Beth-barah and the Jordan. And every man of Ephraim was summoned, and they captured the waters even·​·to Beth-barah and the Jordan.

25 And they captured two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they killed Oreb on the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb in the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and of Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Exploring the Meaning of Judges 7

Написано New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Judges 7: Gideon’s valiant three hundred men.

Gideon and all his men camped by the well of Harod, which can mean “eager”, and also “trembling.” The Lord told Gideon that his army was too large, which could lead Israel to boast that they won by their own efforts (rather than the Lord’s power). Gideon was instructed to send away anyone who was afraid; 22,000 went home, leaving 10,000.

Even still, the Lord said the army was too large, so Gideon tested the men by taking them down to the water to drink. The Lord directed Gideon to call out those who lapped water from out of their hands rather than kneeling down to drink with their mouths. Three hundred men were chosen by this method of selection.

The Lord then commanded Gideon to go down to the Midianite camp, and if he was afraid, to take his servant, Phurah. There, Gideon overheard one of the soldiers telling his companion that he’d had a dream, in which a loaf of bread came tumbling into the camp and struck one of the tents so that it collapsed. The other soldier said that this meant the Lord would give victory to Gideon.

Gideon gave each of his men a trumpet, and a pitcher containing a lit torch. They surrounded the Midianite camp, and at the command of Gideon, they blew their trumpets, broke their pitchers to show the torches, and shouted, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” This caused panic in the camp, and every Midianite drew his sword against another, and many fled. Then Gideon ordered the capture and killing of the two Midianite princes, whose heads were brought to him.

*****

We must give glory to the Lord for successes that we seem to earn, as He alone does what is good. The Lord told Gideon to reduce the size of his army, to avoid the dangers of growing too proud. Since we live our lives as if we do everything ourselves, this is a constant threat. The fact that about two-thirds of Gideon’s army were afraid and went home shows the reality of our nature (see Swedenborg’s work, True Christian Religion 442).

Lapping water from the hand reflects our need to see and examine what we take into our minds. Water stands for truth, but it can also stand for false ideas. If we drink directly from the water, we accept indiscriminately and examine nothing. Cupping and holding the water in our hands means that we can see how to apply this truth through our attitudes and actions (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 6047[2]).

Gideon’s army of only three hundred men was all it took to defeat the Midianites. The number ‘three’ stands for something which is complete or full in itself. Some spiritual examples include mind, body and soul, as well as celestial, spiritual and natural (see Swedenborg’s Apocalypse Explained 435[3] and 532[2]).

The dream Gideon overheard stands for the power of good (the bread) to break down the apparent power of what is evil and false (the tent) (Arcana Caelestia 4247[3]). The name of Gideon’s servant, Phurah, means “fruitfulness”, or “a winepress”, which is where Gideon was first called by the angel of the Lord.

The trumpet and the torch both stand for the power of truth to overcome evil and false ideas, the trumpet by its penetrating sound, and the torch by its illuminating light. There is no mention of swords for the army of Israel.

Finally, the oppression by the Midianites represents knowing what is true, but living a life governed by our own desires. This leads us increasingly further away from obeying the Lord. Of course, this must be addressed. The Midianites destroyed each other in their panic, meaning what is disorderly and against the Lord holds no validity, and eventually destroys itself (Arcana Caelestia 9320).

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Arcana Coelestia # 4247

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4247. 'The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother, to Esau, and he also is coming to meet you' means that good flows in constantly so as to make them, that is to say, truths, its own. This is clear from the meaning of 'brother', who in this case is Esau, as good - that is to say, the good of the Lord's Divine Natural, dealt with above; and from the meaning of 'coming to meet' as flowing in, dealt with below. And because flowing in is meant, making its own is meant also.

[2] From what has been stated several times already on these matters one may see what the situation is with regard to good and truth, and with the influx of good into truth, and in this connection with good making truth its own. That is to say, one may see that good flows constantly into truth, and truth receives good, since truths are the vessels for good. The only vessels into which Divine Good can be placed are genuine truths, for good and truth match each other. When a person is moved by the affection for truth, as everyone is at first prior to being regenerated, good is constantly flowing in even then, but as yet it has no vessels, that is, no truths in which to place itself or make its own; for nobody at the outset of regeneration possesses any cognitions as yet. But because good at that time is flowing in constantly it produces the affection for truth, for there is no origin to the affection for truth other than the constant endeavour of Divine good to flow in. This shows that even at that time good occupies the first position and plays the leading role, although it seems as though truth did so. When a person is being regenerated however, which takes place in adult years when he possesses cognitions, good reveals itself, for he is then moved not so much by the affection for knowing truth as for doing it. For previously truth had been in the understanding, but now it is in his will, and when in his will it is in the person's true self, since the will constitutes the person's true self. With man the recurrent cycle of events exists in which every fact and every bit of knowledge is introduced through sight or hearing into his thought-process, and from there into his will, then passing from the will through thought into action. A similar cycle also exists starting from the memory which is so to speak an inner eye or inner sight. Starting from that inner sight it passes through the thought-process into the will, and from the will through thought into action; or else if some obstacle stands in the way it passes into the endeavour to act, that endeavour being actualized the moment the obstacle is removed.

[3] All of this shows the way in which good flows into truth and makes it its own. That is to say, it shows that first of all truths which belong to faith are introduced through hearing or sight and are then stored away in the memory, from where they are raised up one after another into the person's thought-process and at length introduced into his will. Once in the will they pass from there through thought into action, or if they are not able to pass into action they remain in the endeavour. The very endeavour is internal action, for as often as the opportunity exists it is made an external action. It should be realized however that although there is this cycle of events it is nevertheless good which produces the cycle. For the life which comes from the Lord flows solely into good, and thus through good, doing so from things that are inmost. It may be seen by anyone that the life flowing in through the things that are inmost produces the cycle, for without life nothing is produced. And since the life which comes from the Lord flows only into good and through good, good is consequently that which produces and that which flows into truths and makes them its own, to the extent that a person possesses cognitions of truth and at the same time is a willing recipient.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.