Judg 7:2 | KingComments | STEP | Gideon is told a remarkable word: “The people who are with you are too many for Me.” Has anything like this ever been heard by a people who are going to wage war? His army consists of 32,000 men. But what do they mean against an army of at least 135,000 men ( )? The ratio is already 1 to 4. Yet God finds Gideon’s army too big. The reason He gives is that Israel will boast of having overcome in its own power when it wins. God will be forgotten. He wants to prevent the people from becoming arrogant and proud, so that the Israelites will again deviate from Him. They, and we, must know how God works: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts” ( ). It is instructive to compare what God says here with the events in Joshua 7-8. With all the conquests in the book of Joshua the whole people have to go up. In the case of little Ai, Joshua thinks it is not necessary. But God cannot do anything with human considerations. All He asks is obedience and then He takes care of the rest. The result is that Israel is defeated ( ). Luckily, there will be a second chance ( ). Then victory is achieved. But a lot of effort is required. They should have acted directly according to God’s will. That would have saved them all that extra trouble. In the book of Judges the time is over that the whole people can go up. Decay has left its mark on the condition of the people of God. It is the same now. We live in a time when the church is no longer building up a unity. It is also, however, a time when enormous challenges await those who wish to dedicate themselves entirely to the Lord.

‏ Judges 7:2

Too Many Soldiers

Gideon is told a remarkable word: “The people who are with you are too many for Me.” Has anything like this ever been heard by a people who are going to wage war? His army consists of 32,000 men. But what do they mean against an army of at least 135,000 men (Jdg 8:10)? The ratio is already 1 to 4.

Yet God finds Gideon’s army too big. The reason He gives is that Israel will boast of having overcome in its own power when it wins. God will be forgotten. He wants to prevent the people from becoming arrogant and proud, so that the Israelites will again deviate from Him. They, and we, must know how God works: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Zec 4:6).

It is instructive to compare what God says here with the events in Joshua 7-8. With all the conquests in the book of Joshua the whole people have to go up. In the case of little Ai, Joshua thinks it is not necessary. But God cannot do anything with human considerations. All He asks is obedience and then He takes care of the rest. The result is that Israel is defeated (Jos 7:1-5). Luckily, there will be a second chance (Jos 8:1-29). Then victory is achieved. But a lot of effort is required. They should have acted directly according to God’s will. That would have saved them all that extra trouble.

In the book of Judges the time is over that the whole people can go up. Decay has left its mark on the condition of the people of God. It is the same now. We live in a time when the church is no longer building up a unity. It is also, however, a time when enormous challenges await those who wish to dedicate themselves entirely to the Lord.