7:1-3
We now come to the first real battle, though the pulling down of the idols was important. At the outset of the battle the two armies were camped on opposite sides of a valley, which was quite a common way for these things to go. For the Israelites the only concern was to defeat the Midianites. God had quite a different concern, a much deeper one. His concern was that the people realise that He is God, and to achieve this it needed to be apparent that the victory was down to God. In very simple terms things went well for Israel if they trusted the Lord, they went badly if they trusted in idols or in themselves. So it was imperative that they did not think that any victory was down to them. So God tells Gideon to tell the army that anyone who was full of fear could return home. A corollary of this is that when we go into battle with the Lord boldness, rather than fear, will be the dominant emotion. We see examples of this in Acts. Following this announcement about two thirds of the army left, leaving ten thousand.
7:4
The number was still too great as far as the Lord as concerned. The victory depended solely upon the Lord. This does not mean we have no part to play, for God involves us in what He is doing. As it says in Ps 127 “unless the Lord builds the house, the labourers labour in vain”. Israel’s apostasy was great and deep rooted, so they need a drastic lesson showing them that it is the Lord who gives victory. So God will thin the numbers down even further.
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