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Chapter 7 continues the story of Gideon. Here we find Gideon at the well of Harod, just south of Mt. Tabor, near the boundary between Issachar and Zebulun. The Mideanites were at the hill of Moreh, 8 miles N-W of Mt. Bilboa. Early the next morning, Gideon got up and assembled his men, an army of 32,000, small compared to the army of the Mideanites. But the Lord was with Gideon and he told Gideon, "You have to many men." He told Gideon to send home any soldier who was afraid. Twenty two thousand men went home. The Lord said to Gideon, "There are still to many men." So the Lord instructed Gideon to take the men down to drink and those who drank like dogs with their heads down to the water, were sent home. Those who cupped water in their hands and drank remained, 9,700 went home, and 300 remained. Then the Lord ordered Gideon to attack the Midianites.
However, the Lord seemed to sense that Gideon was still afraid so He told him to go down to the Midianite camp and listen to what they were saying. So Gideon took his servant, Purah, and they sneaked down to the Midianite camp and were astonished at the vast number that covered the valley, to many to count. They got close enough to where they could overhear two Midianite soldiers talking. One told the other about a dream that he had the night before. He dreamed that he saw a huge loaf of barley bread that came tumbling down and demolished his tent. The other soldier interpreted the dream as meaning that Gideon and the Israeli army were coming and would destroy the army of Midian. When Gideon heard this he phrased God for now he knew that the Lord would deliver the Midianites into his hands.
He assembled his 300 men, divided then into 3 sets of 100, gave each one of them a clay jar with a lighted torch in it and a horn. They surrounded the Midianite camp and on Gideon's signal, all sounded their horns and broke their jars. In the confusion of the horns and the suddenness of 300 lights coming on, the Midianites were totally confused and ran around killing one another. Then they fled toward the Jordan River. Then Gideon sent the armies of Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh after the Midianites to destroy them and he sent the army of Ephraim to the Jordan to cut them off and prevent them from crossing.
It would appear that 3 Midianite Generals did get across the Jordan but the Ephraimites captured them, cut off their heads and brought them back across the river and presented them to Gideon.
Remember, we are still in the 4th. period of rebellion. The people of Israel had done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and in retribution, the Lord sent the Midianites to enslave them. When the people repented, the Lord called Gideon to deliver them. He had destroyed the major forces of the Midianites but as we will see in the next chapter, about 15,000 Midianite soldiers had escaped and crossed the Jordan into the inheritance of Gad.
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