Gideon — Norman Grubb

Gideon and God’s Ways of Working Through Human Beings

Well, looking at one of those dramatic instances, you can pick out the Old Testament, where we can get a great understanding of the ways by which God operates by a human, and a human is God in action.

As God in action, these miraculous things happen, which happen in their different forms. And this is a very dramatic one, it stands out by itself in just two or three chapters. That is, the main instance in the life of Gideon, who went on to be one of the judges of Israel for forty years, the days before they had kings.

It's been found in the sixth chapter of Judges onwards. In those conditions, God always said, what you sow, you reap. And right away from Moses' time onwards, he said to them, if you are attentive to me, I am the living God, and you have a faith in the living God, I am a God who does things, who works for you, and that will put a quiet in you, as you know I do things that work for you, like Israel today, and you put it through.

But if you turn to me, you really turn to yourself, your false gods are merely a self-image of the kind of person you want to be, a sexy, gratifying, seeking person, you make a God like that. Well, there's no conviction in that, it's just yourself.

You know in your heart that isn't a living God at all. You've got no, no, put muscles into your operations, and so you sink under them. And when the people you oppose, you adopted their false gods, you've got no respect, they don't understand about their struggle, you reach up, says I warn you, if you exchange me for one of these heathen gods, down you go with them, they'll destroy you, and it will be good you'll be destroyed, that's how you learn you've got evil on the side.

That's always the history of Israel. Israel is history of all self, unredeemed self of course, there's different forms, but here it takes a national form. In this case, they're stripped into Baal worship almost, and Theobald and all the corruption and horrors that sits around Baal, Jezebel was the prophetess of Baal, and as a consequence they lost their spiritual muscle, their faith to operate, and these surrounding people, the Midianites, eat them up.

They were a very populous people, they said they're like grasshoppers of multitude, and they so oppressed Israel for seven years, that they went and hid in dens of caves, they ran out of their homes to hide, and then in order to make it worse, the Midianites would come and harvest them and burn all their harvests, so they starve them.

So they were terrified and hidden away, there wasn't a weapon among them. Now they did know God, these were not sinners of the Gentiles we say, they were God's people, so they knew how to cry to God. So we read after seven years, they would cry to God, well that's the first step.

Now turning back, that was their adoption, they hadn't cleaned up yet, but the Midianites all would say, God where are you, help us somewhere. So that was a condition for God to begin to move in among them.

Gideon’s Honest Questions and the Angel’s Commission

Now there was one young man, obviously this was a real cry, and a real argument. What's up? Therefore he had a basic faith. If God was the kind of God that took us out of Egypt, why didn't he work the day?

Is he dead? You know, you begin to criticize God, resent God, judge God. This was this man Gideon. There had also been a joke of his name, he's a bold man, he's a great man, they speak things out of him, of course very often they were tortured and destroyed for doing so.

They spoke the truth, and he came out and said, you've got what you deserve. He spoke to Israel. They came out and said, no one said a proper thing. He said, I told you, I got you out of Egypt, I told you, if you detach yourself from the living God and take on these false gods which are only mirages and you're back on your own self-loving self, you'll collapse.

So he didn't give them a remedy. He said, you've not obeyed my voice. In other words, he pinpointed the reason why they were in this appalling condition of being trampled under by these Midianite hosts.

That must have affected Gideon. And so the day came, and God knows a conditioned heart, any heart can be conditioned. We all have our different ways of conditioned hearts, when God begins to speak to us.

And this came in the form of an angel, appeared. Whether that was a presumably, probably a visionary one, we don't know, or whether in some sense he came in those days in actual physical form, it doesn't matter to us.

And this man came, Gideon was in the final condition of terror. He tended to preserve a harvest, so he threshed his wheat in the winepress, hidden away in the winepress, and it wasn't wheat at all, he was preserving daily bread, that means, hidden away in the winepress.

And this angel of the Lord spoke to him, and said the startling words. Too much for me to take at the moment. He just said to him, the Lord is with you, thou mighty man of valour. That's what we are. We've walked to a place, we've recognised why we are mighty, and we are mighty.

We are mighty. This is what we've got to relearn. This is a person who has found the secret of power, and I am mighty. I can do all things. This was a little too much for Gideon at the moment, but it was farce of him.

Straight away, the Lord is with thee, that's the reason why you're mighty, you're mighty, there's a consequence. Well, Gideon reacted, because he was an honest man, he couldn't say at the moment, he turned around, but he did show he was in a consequence of God.

He said, so why didn't you rescue us? He turned back on him. He said, if the Lord did all these miracles, where I'd be in the miracles today. He said, you say if the Lord is with us. He didn't say with me.

He didn't go that far. He answered the angel, oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why is he before us? Where are the miracles? So he said, rightful controversy with God. Controversy with God with him.

He turned round and turned around. But this day, he was a conditioned person, alive, with this battle of argument going on between himself and this controversy with God. The angel never deals with reasons, he deals with faith.

God doesn't deal with reasons. He bypassed it. God didn't attempt on something. He turned right back and said more this time. He said, go in this dying life and thou shalt save Israel from the hands of the million knives.

He said, the Lord is with you. You are a mighty man of valour. He bypassed that and turned to us and said, I can't take that on. Why has the Lord left us? And the angel said, God left us to come back to you.

Because that's all we ever have is ourselves. God only operates you by you, me by me. Maybe we can be cooperative. But we never get through this thing, except as we are the person of God, each of us are the we, the I, that God uses.

We've got to get back there. Then it comes to us. It may cooperate with others, but that's the main point. That's where God comes in effectively through humans. And so, what about that? All this reasoning and arguing and said, this strong point.

But it's very interesting. In saying that, it says, the Lord looked upon him. Verse 14. I said, go in this dying life and thou shalt save Israel. He looked upon him. And he caught his eye. Now that meant, the Lord, this is the angel of the Lord.

We'll see later how the Lord talked inside Gideon. But I presume this still came through the angel, I suppose. I'm not sure. He caught his eye. I'm talking to you. And I'm saying it to you. And I caught him.

He was conditioned. He first tried to escape. Well, you do. But he didn't really escape, because he'd been arguing with God. He was the one man who was bothered about this. And so he was conditioned. Because he now talked to you.

That's what comes next. I have said something to you. And he said this to Gideon. And Gideon began to take it. He said, I say to you, I look upon you. And I say to you, go and dish your might. And you who will save Israel.

That's the Midianites. This one man hidden away in the winepress. And the Midianites are grasshoppers of multitude. Have not I sent you? And Gideon did take it. But then he began, how could it be? Just the same as Moses.

When he turned up to Moses, burning Moses, he said, come now, I send you. Oh, Moses said, OK, but how can I do it? They won't listen to me. They've already rejected me once. How can I prove it? You spoke to me.

I haven't got any voice. I'm poor speaker and stuff. All right, that's good. That's human argument. It's negative. False settles the positive. You must have the negatives out. And then suddenly you get replaced by the positive.

So Moses was like that. So Gideon said, wait a minute. He said, wait a minute. He says, what if people are just an insignificant family in Manasseh. Well, insignificant. As I'm the least insignificant in my father's house, I'm the least of my father's house.

So there's nothing which had to be. Because you look on either my family or me, which means you can say, I can say it is laughable from the hands of the Midianites. And then still he's stuck to the one man.

You've got to get it. No. Oh, Gideon, I'm not taking about that. I gave no answer on this family being too poor or being insignificant. That he came to himself. He reasoned the faith. I said, surely I will be with thee.

And thou shalt respect me as one man. A vast host. No, it's you and they. They're going to be one man. I'm going to do it by you. I don't know how you do it. I'm going to reduce that host to one man, as it were.

And you're going to be the one who knocks the whole host out in one blow. That's something. You're the man. It's going to happen by you. And something's going to happen by you which will put the whole Midianite army out of action.

That's something. We're catching more and more. We have to do it. I'm the one. God said, it's got to come to me. Others may be in and out of it. But for myself, each of us, when we see it, have it in our consciousness.

That's you and me. And so he kept nailing down it. It's you, Gideon. You're the man. Because the Lord's with you. Because the Lord said it. But you're the man. Finally got him. And so now, Gideon turns around and says, well, I better have a sign on that.

Angel. Lord. I'm going to sign this. It's ridiculous. But he began to get it. There's something here. I'm to be your man. Well, I can't do it unless you make me short of it. You better give me a sign.

And so he made, built up his sign. He said, look here. I don't know what you intend to do with it. He said, I've got to make a meal. A sacrifice, I suppose. And he says, will you wait here? I'll go and bring forth my present, he called it.

My present. And the angel said, oh, I'll wait. And he went in and he roasted a kid. And got some iron and took a little time, I suppose. Flesh and salt. Brought it in a basket. Put it under the oak where this angel was there.

Or the angel said to him, take it now and put it on this rock. And pour out the broth. As a kind of sacrifice, I suppose. And then what happened, this was a miracle. Because we thought that the fire came out.

Burned it up. Right, I mean, God has his own ways of confirming to us. We just say that's the way it happened then. We also can have confirmations. And then the angel disappeared. And that confirmed to Gideon that God had spoken to him.

Jehovah Shalom and Union With God

But now Gideon had to move into a place of familiarity with God. See, all the flesh always says God's awful. He's judgmental. He's rough and dangerous. I'm afraid of him. If I meet him face to face, I die.

All that sort of flesh idea of God. It came through law without grace. There's no grace. You've got to pass the law to grace. And so Gideon says, oh, I shall die. I've seen God face to face. And this is the first time it says that God spoke to him.

Not the angel of God now. It disappeared. This was the Lord in him. Now we begin the life, our life, where the Lord in Gideon is saying this to him. And it says the Lord said to him, peace be unto thee.

You will not die. And this meant to Gideon his acceptance. Because he then produced a new name, which is used today. Shalom. This came in here. And God did. Gideon built an altar. And he called it Jehovah Shalom, which is peace.

It's the word, of course, he used today to produce peace. Peace meant, oh, it's okay. I didn't be afraid of God. God and I have a relationship. We're in with each other. We have an inn now. Inn, or what we call a union.

In those terms. He could be in good terms with God now. He had no fear stuff and distance stuff had gone. And he entered into what we call a union. Now, it's always a relaxed life. He got it now. Something happened.

What could happen in this fantastic situation? What could happen? Now, you don't push yourself. Because, of course, it's God who's the pusher. He's in you. So we don't know. We don't have to push it. We just find the next thing happens.

Gideon Destroys Baal’s Altar

And this next thing happened was that same night. Again, the Lord spoke to him. And touched him on the spot. He said, look here, Gideon. You can't be my mighty man. And I'll do things for you while you're a co-idolater.

And your own township, the Abiezrites, Abiza. The township. They have an island of Baal. They have a high, you know, hills. And they have a temple to Baal in their bay. It's supposed to be godly people.

You can't let that stand. And you ought to go at night. You ought to go and destroy that thing. Now, you see. Now, we can say it again. In this life, there is a death. There's a death which you die. That's the other element.

You die in yourself. Crucified with Christ. There's also death in ministry. Now, we didn't make it up. But there is. You always find somewhere. There's something somewhere. I know it in my own life. Well, you take a step which puts you out a step.

Maybe in the world you can redevelop a vision someday. You've got to do something which has a danger in it. You're risking something. And you'll find that goes all the way through the Bible. Like Abraham had to sacrifice his house.

It would be delivered. Had to cross the river. All these things, they're risks. So, we didn't make it up. But you'll find as we follow. There's something which puts you differently. Something which makes you a peculiar person.

And this, of course, was his life. He knew it. And he used sense. He couldn't use sense. Ten men. So, he had some, I mean servants. They must have been quite wealthy people. They said they were poor. They had ten servants.

And these men, either willingly or because they respected Gideon or something, went with him at night. Now, he said he, like all men, he had a fear. He was a man of fear. Because faith comes out of fear.

Faith is the conquest of fear. Because fear is negative believing. Faith is positive believing. Fear always means I believe in evil things. I'm paralysed with me. It's the same. Fear is faith. It's really faith in reverse.

So, all men fear. Why do you believe negative? Fear. Turn around. Turn to the faith. Because now what you believe in is God. So, it's really the reverse of it. Fear is just faith in reverse. Or faith is fear in reverse.

Whatever way you like it. And he feared. But he did sensibly. I suppose he knew he couldn't do it by day and night. Do it by night. And he said because he feared them. He said he took of them as the Lord said to him.

Because he feared the household. He could not do it by day nor by night. It was just sensible caution. But he was fulfilling his pointless thing. And built an altar to the Lord. Now, he has to get to the next stage.

Who could tell? You can't tell. We follow the Lord. We can't tell where the deliverance will come. Because he did face the fact. They were sure to kill him the next day. He destroyed their abundance. It was the centre of their worship.

And so, when they found next door, that their temple had been destroyed and the altar had been raised to God, these men said, who did this? And they found it, Gideon, the son of Joash. He did this. He gave up.

He killed him. Bring out thy son, according to Joash, that he may die. Because he had cast down the altar of Baal and cut down the growth of his body. Now, this miracle happened. Of course, these men were underneath men of God.

We see later on, the whole Abbey of Zion. The whole town turned round. Because the roots were there. But it came out this time, in this very bold statement, a very wonderful statement, with wisdom in it from Joash.

Evidently, Joash had a conviction that he had allowed this to take place and he saw his son, maybe he saw him resenting to him. I don't know. His son had been dead of God and was speaking in the power of God, not praying in the faithfulness of God.

He rose up. And he said a very clever thing. He said, OK, my son has destroyed the temple of Baal. Let him come back and pay his own prime. Let him take vengeance. Let us see if Baal has something to give you.

Don't you do anything. He said, let us see if Baal will do it. Very much the same as Elijah. Elijah said to the prophet of Baal, Call on him. If he is willing, come and send fire. So shook, and probably got at the underneath conviction of the Abbey Israelites, that they didn't touch the other Joash.

No good. They did nothing. I think they began to know where truth lay. The effect of this was, you see again, God, start the things by you. You don't make it up. It's because God calls you to do it. You move it or something.

In a typical way, they build up this union life. Little things, I mean something startling, which makes something come known. And this did, I'm very sorry to say, it ran around. This city, this family of the city, had this toyed Baal, built to turn him out and put God back.

It ran like lightning. But it not only ran like lightning through Israel, or at least the northern part, this was the northern part of Israel. It ran like lightning through the Midianites. And they heard, and shook them, that Israel rising up, and said, we're going to defy this Baal, and strike the name of the Lord.

The Spirit of the Lord Comes Upon Gideon

So the next thing that happened was, that they called the army, they do when you call the army together, I forget the name, they called the army together. And it says, all the, verse 33, all the Malachites, the Midianites, and the Malachites, they were the old enemies.

And the children of the east, the whole lot, were gathered together, where there were 135 ,000 of them. We'll get the number a little later on. And they were pitched in a certain valley, for war. They were going to eat.

Now you get this, this wonderful statement, care upon Gideon. Verse 34. The exact translation is, he clothed himself with Gideon. That's a beautiful expression. Because that's exactly what we are. The Spirit of the Lord is clothed in the name of Gideon.

That's exactly what it is. We're the clothing of the Spirit of the Lord. And in a specific way like, clothed in the name of Gideon, he was a spirit operated by Gideon. So there's no other place in the Bible where that phrase is used.

My translation says, the Spirit of the Lord care upon Gideon, but the margin is, that he clothed himself with Gideon. The, just now moved Gideon, he had to come into action, get forced. He has, he's for it now.

He had this word, which he accepted, that he was to smite the army as one man. And he was the man who had the power to do it, for him to go with it now. So to get the place, the Spirit of the Lord forced him to take action.

First it was local action, cleaning things up on their own, the local situation. And we see here, as he called the people together, the whole, every village, so he won the whole town. And he, he blew a trumpet, which was the way they did things in those days.

Some way we say, like Africa, we did by the hollow drums, and the drum would call village to village, to village to village, you'd pass the message by the drums. Here by some way, I suppose, one trumpeter went to another trumpeter, and so on, through Israel, calling the people to action.

And he called the people of Manasseh, his own tribe, and Asher, and Zebulun, and Nephilah, if you look on the map, they were the northern tribes, which was the northern area of Israel. And they were gathered together with him.

And I've forgotten where it says, that when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, the Abiebites were gathered with him, the Abies, his own city, so they came to the right village now. And then with him came the large number of the other tribes, up to 32 ,000, a big number, but ours were 135 ,000, some difference.

And as far as we know, they hadn't one weapon among them. They'd hid and carry, they hadn't got one weapon among them. The others were armed. So they were released into Tasman, and he went cautiously, and the place, we should go cautiously, he still felt that this side he needed, and this distance he needed another side, and this distance he needed another side.

That's famous. That's the side of the fleece. Christians use all those, put on a fleece. Now I don't know why he did it, except in his mind, he evidently wanted something which would make the God particularly with him.

Apparently that's why he did it, so he put it out two ways down in some way. The first way, he said, I put it down in Kenya, meaning you could do it. There is a place where you can do it, meaning you've done it maybe.

All right, you could do it. Humans, in situations, perhaps it pleases God that we should move in and to confirm ourselves with signs. That's not wrong. And the sign he asked was, I'll do a thing which is again impossible.

I'll put another fleece, lay a fleece on the ground, and I say to you God, if tomorrow morning there is no Jew on the ground around, and the fleece is full of Jew, I know that you're with me. And even then the sign wasn't quite strong enough.

He said, I'll do it once more. That's all right. God loves us to push things through and we're his servants and get our confirmation. That's all right. And he said, I hope you won't be annoyed with me.

He said, let not the anger be hot against me. I reversed it, he said. This time, let the fleece be dry and the ground all around me with you. And it was so. And God did so that night. When it was dry upon the fleece over there, there was Jew on the ground.

A unique way God was hit with him. He was an expression of God. The others hadn't got God. That was the idea, I suppose. And the Jew, and no Jew, and in the other case, Jew and no, and dry Jew. In each case, he was a peculiar person.

And things happened to him which didn't happen to the others. And he, therefore, was a peculiar person to what we're doing. Well, that's a good confirmation. His army together, had come out of their holes and caves.

And we've seen them as far as we know, not a weapon among them. 30 ,000 of them, 32 ,000 of them. And they're up in the hills here. And this vast army of 135 ,000, like camels, all lay in some big valley.

And here the Israelites with Gideon were overlooking this cloud in the valley. Now God, again, very significantly, in some ways, in which what God did, God did not by the powers of man. And also, I suppose, it works out that way, that in a number like that, you'd have, hadn't got the same quality of faith, how could they have the same quality of faith as Gideon?

Somebody said they'd go with him, but they had doubted, is it sense? What on earth, we'd be destroyed. So they followed, said to him, all right, we follow, we're called, we follow, but we can't serve him really.

It was that Gideon could discern that. Maybe Gideon, he must have people who really mean business. Because we're going to have business. We have to be bold. And risk their lives, if you're risking your life.

We can't just hang us on. And if they are hanging us on, something happens, they may take all the credit and hang us on, and we all dig it. So this guidance came, may change to Gideon's common sense, where the Lord said, make a division, and be quite free, and say to the people, now look here, this is a big thing, and you join me.

Now you may not all quite as I do, but God's going to do this thing, I presume he said to himself, somehow or other, God's going to do it. But you can't see that, and it's better you go home, unless you really feel you can be so involved with us, that you can take this risk of taking with us, and somehow God will put it through.

So he said, if any of you are afraid, OK, go home. And he said, whosoever is fearful and afraid, chapter 7, verse 3, let him return, and depart early from Mount Gilead, and return it with twenty and two thousand, and remain ten thousand.

Of course, Gideon had it fixed now, that somehow God's going to do it. Gideon was a man of faith. His faith had to be confirmed every now and then, but basically he wasn't failing, he had no idea, he had no idea it would happen.

Like usually, but almost like one of these God-issuing jokes. He couldn't see it. And there's no evidence he couldn't see it. He only goes step by step, but he had the confidence, something God is in this thing.

So he had ten thousand. That's a considerable number, not much against 135 ,000. And then again it came, to him in this sense, I think again he could see it. He was going to be called to make a mission, go into action, and risk their lives.

Not just passively be in this thing, but be ready to jump into the action, be ready for action. There's something God's going to do by us in action. So it's called, God led him to a further step, practical, simple, testing step.

They were on the march apparently, hadn't got there, apparently, or anyhow there wasn't water or something. They're thirsty. They came to, this crowd of ten thousand came to some kind of stream. And he said, now I'm going to test it for you.

And he says, you watch. He says, those who are, not all that set on getting into this thing at any price. They're with you. They won't be thinking of getting into it. They'll be thinking at the moment they're thirsty.

So they'll get down, have a good old drink. They'll lie down, dip their mouth in the stream and get a good old drink. But they're thinking more about their own sustenance than they are how long they'll go to put this thing for God.

Some among you are thinking about their sustenance and their thirst. They're thinking, we're ready. We're ready. We're going to do this thing. We're going to jackdash in on it. And they won't lie down and drink because they may turn up or something.

They'll just scoop up some water in their hands or something and take a drink and go on. Those are your men. Three hundred. Let those go. I have only those who are a whole set on their beings. They're with you.

They'll go, whatever God shows us we'll do, even if we turn to be the ones who will die because they won't die because they believe God. So they came to Thursday. The next Thursday which they brought down out of three hundred men who didn't mean business and were ready for action.

The Three Hundred and the Sign of the Fleece

Now once more, now they're gone. Now they're back in the valley over the hills. They're in a series of hills overlooking this vast mass spread out in this valley with their camels and so on. I suppose it's pretty casual that they wouldn't have to do much to knock the Israelites out I presume.

Not quite so as we see in a moment but perhaps the majority had that idea. Now once again you get this cautious man who has human fear. He doesn't know what to do. What should he do? What do you do? Three hundred unarmed men with two hundred and thirty-five thousand behind you down there waiting to slay you.

What do you do? And the owner said now to Gideon, verse seven, By the three hundred men that are left will I save you and deliver Midian into thy hand and all the rest go. And so he said now these now they took vittles in their hand.

It turned out they had dishes. Whether it is they put their food like an African would in a kind of pot they carry it with them or whether that means they had a pitcher of water as well as the food. And all they had was trumpets in one hand and this food presumably a pitcher with food in it in the other hand all they had not a soul among them.

And they this is all they had with them. And the rest went. And now he says there and look there is a host of Midian down in the valley. And so quite naturally he said what next? There is no sign he knew what.

What next? What can I do? And now the guidance came. Again as it were to meet fear he said God said here Midian go down at night in the early part of the night outside the host listen to them catch something they are saying.

Get on the edges of this great probably casual mass chattering together in their tents in the form that tents took in those days. Go on here. And so it said he took his servant Fuhrer to went down the hill and there was some tent some people and there he heard a conversation a remarkable conversation.

Nearest he could get it was like like Rahab in Jericho. He says one of these men these Malachites these heathen these men they are grasshoppers it says they lay along it says they lay along the valley sleeping I think casual sleeping like grasshoppers of multitude and their camels are numbered as if by the sand by the sea it is signed by multitude that they look like to give these great crowds sleeping like grasshoppers when he came down he listened here was a man he said I have just had a dream a nearest dream a great big cake a barley bread that means a great big thing like kind of almost like a big little thing like a big not just a cake as we call it a big thing rolled down he says this great thing came rolling down on us what he called tumbling it tumbled it wasn't didn't come down didn't come didn't come it didn't mean it didn't come it rolled down man's action it just rolled down that's an important word I think it came rolling down it hit on the tent and the tent collapsed the people this is my dream and this remarkable man showing that they believe us right among the heaven all the time and we go in the heaven we know of this man is meeting I said I'll tell you what that means.

He knew of Gideon. He evidently heard the word of the Lord. He heard of Gideon and probably made him Moses the Lord. And they destroyed the Temple of Baal. And this man significantly knew this is the living God.

He went back to Moses and thought in his mind, I don't know. And he said, they're all people now too. Faith does do something. This was a living faith. People would relate themselves to a living faith.

And this man knew it. He said, I'll tell you what that was. He said, as nothingness the sword of Gideon, a man of Joash, a man of Israel, for it is his hand God has delivered Midianites and all the hostages.

Isn't that something? This soldier like Rahab in Jericho says, I know it's his God. I know it's God. And this man of God, it's his sword and God's delivered the Midianites. This man's hand. Somehow he knew it.

So whether Gideon had made that public move because God was going to smite the Midianites by me, I don't know. It sounds like it. And this came back to him. What did Gideon do? He worshipped. He worshipped.

Oh, he said, he forgot the host. He forgot what to do. He forgot. It was in Moses' face. It says, as Gideon heard telling of the dream, it's a bit he worshipped. When he'd been plotting around Jericho what to do as an older man and so the Lord, the captain of the Lord came and he worshipped.

And there, in that, God speaks to him. You're free now. You're not plotting. You're worshipping God, isn't he? And as you do that, something comes to you which is God. And this is what came to him. And I think it's quite obvious at that time.

Trumpets, Torches, and the Victory God Gives

I think he saw at that moment, don't do what you have got. You've got a sword. Don't dash in and cut. We haven't got a sword to fight with. You have got trumpets. And trumpets can make a noise. And somewhere it occurred to him, it doesn't say so, they had torches of some kind with them or could make them.

And you've got pitchers. What we can do? We can shout the word. And he saw the trick. Presumably he was worshipping. He saw the trick. Isn't it? It's night. And it says, they waited until the guard was changing.

A fresh nervous guard taking on. They had to come to this camp. And they were changing guards. And the guards were going over there. And he said, guys and people together must have been pretty sharp that same night.

Because they must have got their torches ready. And he said, we'll divide them into three companies. You go on that hill there. I'll go here. And we'll go here. And you all have trumpets. In fact, they all carried trumpets in those days.