Gideon equipped his army with ram’s horns, jars, and torches. In the previous blog post, we looked at the meaning of the ram’s horn or trumpet. We encounter them throughout the Hebrew Bible. In the New Testament, they sound at various times around the Second Coming of Christ.
Judges 7
19 Now Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had set the watchmen. They blew the ram’s horns and smashed the jars that were in their hands.
Empty Jars
Gideon had given his men jars. A jar or vessel, in Scripture, is a representation of humankind: fragile and perishable. Gideon had given them empty jars (v. 16), because a vessel needed to be filled.
Filled
Throughout the Bible, we see vessels and jars being filled with water (Gen. 24:16; John 2:7), salt (2 Kings 2:20), flour (1 Kings 17:12), manna (Ex. 16:33; Hebrews 9:4), honey (1 Kings 14:3), oil (1 Samuel 1:10; 2 Kings 4:2), and wine (2 Samuel 16:1; John 2:9). These images consistently convey the same idea: a person would be filled with spirit, namely, with the word of God (Eph. 5:18; Col. 3:16). This is also the idea behind the torches the men hold in the jars.
Paul speaks of us believers as “an earthen vessel” when he speaks of the word of God (2 Cor. 4:2) and the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4) that dwells in us.
2 Corinthians 4
6 For the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
the word
The treasure we have in our “earthen vessel” is the word of God. That is the light with which God shines in our hearts. The torches of Gideon and his men are a picture of this word. So that the victory they gain comes from the excellency of God’s power, not from man.
revealed with Him in glory
The jars are broken, and what was hidden in the jar is revealed: the light is revealed. At midnight (Matt. 25:6; 1 Thess. 5:2), when the world is in darkness, Christ will appear. Then the veil will be taken away, and Christ will be revealed, and then we also will be revealed with Him in glory (Col.3:4).