Judges, Chapter 7 - The Impossible | Prophets of Israel Daily

Shalom friends and welcome back to Judges chapter 7. Brought to you by the Land of Israel Network at the landofisrael.com and this is Jeremy Gimpel or this, I don't know which side they put him on. But Jeremy, it's good to see you. Yes, good to be here. All right everybody, if you had to choose one chapter in all of Shofetim in the entire book of Judges that captures the true spirit of the book, uh you know, one story that contains within it everything the Torah is trying to teach about faith, about human limitations, about the way Hashem works, if you ask me, this might be the one. And while I know that you shouldn't really play favorites with Torah, I must admit that this one is among my favorites. You know, not only because the name of my IDF battalion in the Golani infantry unit was Gideon with Gideon, but because of what the story of Gideon teaches us. So in chapter 7, uh you know, it's it's really a stripping away of of everything Gideon thought he needed in order to win. And it begins with a line that flies in the face of every military conquest in world history. God says to Gideon, verse two, Rav ha'am asher itcha mitachtai, the people with you are too many for me to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel boast against me saying, "My own hand has saved me." Right? Too many. Too many. I imagine Gideon did not love hearing that. Gideon had 32,000 men. The Midianite army fills the valley like locusts, 135,000 soldiers, and Hashem says, "You have too many." Too many for what? Too many for victory? No. Too many for the right kind of victory, the kind that leaves no doubt about who actually won. And right there, before a single sword is lifted, we're told what this battle is really about. Not Midian, not territory, not even survival. Identity. Who are you, oh Israel, when you win? Because there is a danger Hashem is identifying here. One of the deepest dangers in all of the human experience, not just Israel, all of humanity. The moment we look at what Hashem has done and say, "My own hand has saved me. I did this." Kochi va otzem yadi. That is the spiritual catastrophe Hashem is trying to prevent before the battle even begins. So, the reduction of soldiers begins so that won't happen. Right? Anyone who is afraid may leave. 22,000 men walk home. More than 2/3 of the army, just like that. I was really surprised. I can't imagine if they were to say that in my army unit that anyone would have gotten up and leave, but who knows? I guess we were never facing odds like that. Anyways, 10,000 remain. And Hashem says, "Still too many." I just love it. Right? So, he brings them to the water. The men who lap water with their hands, right? With their hands, 300 of them, though they're chosen. The 9,700 who kneel and drink directly from the stream, sent home. Why? Well, one explanation that really spoke to my heart is that kneeling to drink was a posture associated with pagan worship. And that Hashem is not just reducing an army, but filtering for something deeper. Men whose knees bend only before Hashem. Right? They're not even bowing to idols, but those who fear Hashem so much won't even allow their body to go into that formation. That's how much they have an aversion to idolatry and a fear of Hashem. So, whatever the precise reason, the fundamental point is unmistakable. He is selecting for something internal, something that cannot be measured by numbers. I mean, what did they end up with at the end, right? 400 Midianite soldiers for every single Israelite. I actually think it was 440 enemies for every Israeli soldier. I mean, Gideon's entire army was whittled down to 300 men, less than 1% of where they started. And that's exactly the point. Because sometimes Hashem doesn't just reduce your strength, he reduces your ability to even believe in your strength. It's really a gift. It's difficult, but it's a gift. So, and why does he do that? So that when salvation comes, there's no confusion, no illusion, no my own hand and my own strength are what saved me. There's no room for that nonsense in this world, especially, you know, when it comes to war. Right? Only him. Only Hashem. You know, Ari, this setup, 300 men against all of Midian's army, it's really unprecedented. I mean, 7 years Israel was oppressed and pillaged. And now Gideon is mounting a revolution backed with a few hundred men. I mean, this chapter, we really watch Gideon go through such a transformation. Gideon becomes a real faith warrior. I mean, he started off the story with questions about God, questions and doubts about divine providence and miracles. And now he's being called to express and live out Emunah Sheleimah, complete faith, faith in action, and trust that God is going to deliver. And you know, this process, preparing his army for the war, it takes his Emunah journey to a whole new level. You know, he's living out the tension between human effort and divine authorship. I mean, we're supposed to act. Hishtadlut is real. Show up, train, fight, work. But, the Torah is always insistent that the outcome is never really in our hands. And Gideon's story shows us this step by agonizing step what it actually feels like to navigate that tension between self-assertion and action and depending entirely on Hashem. Right. And I think that's exactly what makes the next moment so so striking. You know, because Hashem could simply say, "Go. Attack." Instead, he says something that surprises us. Verse 10. But, if you are afraid to go down, the you're up the red dead. Hashem right, he said he sees Gideon's fear. If you're afraid to go down, he says, because he sees it. He sees his heart. He knows his heart. He doesn't condemn it. He doesn't say, "A man of faith wouldn't be afraid." He says, "If you're afraid, go down to the edge of the enemy camp. Listen. And what you hear will strengthen your hands." That is Hashem meeting Gideon exactly where he is. And Jeremy, I think that's exactly what we're talking about here. Hishtadlut, like you said, self-assertion. Moving forward with bold action. It doesn't require the absence of fear. It just requires that you keep moving anyways and let Hashem fill in what you lack. Right? So, Gideon goes. He and his servant Purah slip down the edge of the vast sleeping enemy camp and he overhears two Midianite soldiers talking. One is describing a dream. Verse 13. He nets leel lechem sayurim mitapech bamachaneh. Behold, a loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the camp of Midian and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell. A loaf of barley bread. Now, remember, barley was the food of the poor. The food of slaves. The cheapest, the most humble grain. The Midianites had been plundering Israel for 7 years taking everything. And now one of their own soldiers dreams that a barley loaf destroys the entire camp. And even his companion immediately understands. A man said be all tea and there's nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash a man of Israel. Into his hand God has given Midian. Now Jeremy, let's take a second and actually think about that. These are enemy soldiers, Midianites, and they are the ones saying with complete conviction before the battle, before a single trumpet is sounded, that God has given them over into Gideon's hands. Right? At least in this moment the faith of the enemy in Hashem's power exceeds the faith of Gideon himself. And that image that humble barley loaf tumbling through a vast enemy camp and toppling it is the perfect symbol for everything this chapter is about. The the most despised thing, the symbol of poverty and oppression, and it is that which brings the entire empire down. Not iron, not chariots, it's not it's not about military genius, a barley loaf rolling down a hill. And Gideon hears this. And what is the first thing he does? Verse 15. Vayishtachu and he bowed in worship. And he bowed down. Right? Before the victory, before the battle, before he wakes his men or issues a single order, he stops and he bows and he worships. That one word Vayishtachu is the hinge of the entire chapter. He pauses in the darkness outside the enemy camp with 300 men and an impossible mission and he stops to worship. Right? You cannot fight with faith if you haven't first paused to acknowledge who you're truly fighting with. You know, Jeremy, I think I told you this story, but my great uncle flew bombing missions over Nazi Germany in World War II. And he once told me that the bravest man he ever knew was his bombardier, a man who um at times was overcome with fear that it showed up in the most human way imaginable. Let's put it that way. I'm trying not to get too graphic. Anyways, and yet he said that man was the bravest man he knew. Because courage is not the absence of fear. It's the presence of it. The willingness to step forward anyways, to carry out your mission, to trust even when every part of you is trembling. And that's what Gideon does in that moment. He's afraid. Hashem knew he was afraid, and that's why he sent him to over to hear the dream in the first place. And yet he bows, and then he gets up, and he goes back to his 300 men and gives them the most unusual battle plan, maybe in all of military history. No swords, no spears, no shields, shofarot v'kadim. Shofarot v'kadim rakem. Shofars and empty jars with torches inside the jars. Three groups of 100 Israelite soldiers surround the sleeping enemy camp from the three directions. At midnight, at the changing of the guard, the moment of maximum confusion, the signal is given. They blow the shofars, they smash the jars, and suddenly from every direction torches blaze in the darkness. 300 men cry out, "Cherev l'Hashem v'leGideon!" A sword for Hashem and for Gideon. And Hashem causes every Midianite to turn his sword against his own companion. Right, the army destroys itself in the darkness and in the panic. 300 men, shofars, clay jars, torches. There were no chariots, no swords. The men crying out "Cherev l'Hashem v'leGideon!" A sword for Hashem have no physical swords. Their sword is Hashem. And that's the entire point. And the shofar, the voice that calls out, that wakes up, that declares the presence of Hashem, not a weapon of war, it's an instrument of awakening. And the clay jar, maybe a little metaphysical, ordinary, fragile, breakable, the most common vessel in the ancient world, and hidden inside it, fire. There's a light hidden in the most ordinary, fragile vessel, but it can only shine when the outer shell is broken. Right? And the torch, the or, the light itself, which only blazes fully when the jar that contained it is shattered. Anyways, together, the shofar, the jar, the torch, the weapons of a completely different kind of warfare. Not iron against iron, but sound and light against fear and darkness. Awakening, right? It's about awakening against sleep, awareness against non-awareness. That's what it's a it's uh it's a revelation against concealment. What wins this battle is not numbers, not 32,000 soldiers, not even 10,000. It's 300 souls who charge into the darkness, sounding the shofar of trust, and carrying the fire of faith into what any normal person would consider certain death. You know, and that is the paradox of redemption that runs through this entire book. It's not the overwhelming force, it's never an obvious candidate, it's not like an expected military strategy, it's people living a guided life as best as they can, listening to the calling in their life. A left-handed man, a woman with a tent peg, 300 people with clay jars. Hashem keeps working through what looks like from the outside, like it can't possibly be enough. And these stories, they give me a lot of strength. You know, they're a template of prophecy, because what are the chances that Israel would be back in its land, and once again faced one last time with a battle against an enemy who by all measures of logic and rationality should defeat Israel quite easily. I mean, they have the numbers, the politics, the oil, the money. Israel doesn't stand a chance. And each time Israel emerges victoriously. And you know, notice, it wasn't 300 of the most seasoned battle-hardened soldiers. It was 300 men who feared Hashem most. That is what God was filtering for at the water. Not skill, strength. He just wants a pure heart that's committed to God. And what we're seeing today is that shift is happening right now in the IDF before our eyes. Yeah, totally. Totally. We see it happening in all of the soldiers around us and the the very patches they're wearing on their uniforms about the Beta Migdash. But anyways, back to the story. Right. As you know, at this point, the Ephraimites join the chase. Uh two Midianite princes, Oreb and Zeeb, are captured and killed at the very sites that bear their names ever after. And the land begins to to breathe again. Uh but like you said, Jeremy, underneath this entire chapter runs something that connects to the deepest theme of the book. Hashem could have given Gideon 32,000 soldiers and won anyways. He didn't need to reduce the army. He chose to deliberately and methodically. He wanted to whittle them down to a number so small that no one, not Israel, not Midian, not history, could ever look at the outcome and say, "Human power did this." Because the greatest danger is not losing the battle. The greatest danger is winning it and forgetting who gave you the victory. And that is what it seems like the entire book of Judges is about, like you said. Blessing that becomes comfort, comfort that becomes complacency, complacency that forgets the source, and a God who keeps calling his people back. Sometimes through crisis, sometimes through reduction, sometimes by stripping away everything that there is until there's nothing left but 300 people with clay jars and torches. You know, redemption doesn't always come through overwhelming force. Rarely does it. Right? Sometimes it just comes like a flicker of light inside a broken jar. Sometimes like a a wound in the night. Sometimes like a piece of barley bread rolling down a hill until suddenly everything changes. You know, Hashem is telling us again and again in so many different ways, it was never your hand that saved you. It was mine. And all we have to do in our days and our generation right now is just cleave onto that truth for dear life. Okay, friends. 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