Gideon’s 300 men smashed their jars and held torches in one hand and ram’s horns in the other, blowing them. They shouted, “The sword for YAHWEH and for Gideon!” That’s enough!
Judges 7
21 And they stood, every man in his place, all around the camp, and the whole camp ran and shouted with a loud voice and fled.
22 Then the three hundred blew ram’s horns, and the LORD placed every man’s sword against his neighbor throughout the camp…
I will fight for you
Utter confusion broke out in the enemy camp, and they began to fight. It says that it was God himself who caused the Midianites to rise against each other. After all, He had foretold that the people would be saved by His hand (7:2).
Sword
The only thing the men do is shout: “The sword for YAHWEH and for Gideon!” What these men do is sound out the word, and we saw earlier that the sword is a type of the word of God. It is God who fights, and He defeats the enemy only by speaking (2 Thessalonians 2:8; Rev. 19:15). These men know His word and have it on their lips.
22 … And the camp fled as far as Beth-hassita, by the way to Zerah, to the ridge of Abel-meholah, near Tabbath.
23 Then the men of Israel, from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, were called out, and they pursued Midian.
24 Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Go down against Midian, and take from them the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” And all the men of Ephraim were called up, and they captured the waters up to Beth-barah and the Jordan.
The Jordan
The place names mentioned are all located near the Jordan. Gideon orders his men to capture the waters up to Beth-barah and the Jordan, so that the Midianites cannot cross them. The Jordan speaks of death, and when one passes or crosses the Jordan, this is a picture of resurrection. Beth-barah means house of crossing. The armies are denied this way; they are killed.
The battle between Gideon and his men and the Midianites in the Valley of Jezreel foreshadows the battle that will take place at the end of this eon in the Plain of Megiddo. More about that in a future blog post.