Taking the taste test made all the difference. Vigilance is the price of safety.
Two Bible texts might well be written over this account, namely, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 22:14: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” And the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 10:18: “Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.”
It was to be a full day in the life and experience of Gideon and his divinely chosen 300. We learn that all the people “rose up early, and pitched (i.e., camped) beside the well of Harod” (7:1). Harod means “trembling” and it is evident that the majority of the people did just that (7:3) as they looked down upon the vast host of Midianites in the valley below them, encamped by the hill of Moreh, meaning “teacher.” Indeed, Gideon and all Israel were about to be taught a great lesson through the ensuing conflict with the Midianites. However, before the conflict there came the important matter of selecting the best soldiers to carry out the Lord’s strategy against Israel’s enemy, so the Lord set about to test the gathered hosts of Israel’s army.
THE LORD’S APPRAISAL
In view of the vast number of Midianites the Lord made a strange appraisal of the situation, at least from the human standpoint, to Gideon. He said, “The people that are with thee are too many” (7:2).
Gideon was captain over 32,000 men. Were these too many for the 135,000 of the enemy (8:10)? Indeed, they were in the Lord’s sight! Such an appraisal runs counter to human wisdom and serves as a decisive blow against fleshly pride. The Lord knows perfectly the subtlety and haughtiness of the human heart, and He did not want Israel vaunting itself against Him and claiming to have gained the victory in their own strength (cf. Deut. 8:11-17; Ps. 33:16; Zech. 4:6; 1 Cor. 1:26-29).
THE LORD’S TEST
The Lord’s test was twofold regarding the 32,000 men who had assembled under Gideon’s command. First of all there was:
The Test of Fortitude (7:3). Those who were “fearful and afraid” were invited to return home, and the astonishing fact was that 22,000 left. However, under the law the fearful and fainthearted were always invited to return home lest their lack of courage hinder others going out to battle an enemy (Deut. 20:8). These were dark days in the history of Israel, especially when compared with the book of Joshua wherein the unity of the nation was evidenced and all went up to battle, the only exception being the first conflict at Ai (Josh. 7:1-5). The 22,000 felt they had something to lose and were thus unfit for service.
Presently we live in days of declension, division, and apostasy. Megachurches boast of quantity, but what about quality? Could it be that we are among those who think they have something to lose if they are out-and-out for the Lord? If so, we stand disapproved by God!
George Goodman has commented: “The world says there is safety in numbers. It is untrue, there is great danger in numbers, danger of panic, danger of depression by the pessimists, danger of self-confidence, danger of boasting. God has never wrought by the crowd; He chooses the faithful few who yield Him the obedience of faith and love, to do His work. “Let not [him that wavereth] think that he shall receive anything of the Lord” (Jas. 1:6-7).
The Test of Faith (7:4-6). With 22,000 on their way home, only 10,000 remained, yet God said that the people were still too many. Therefore, the 10,000 were tested by the water. Those who bowed their knees to drink were 9,700, while 300 lapped the water. The former longed more for a drink than a fight; whereas the latter longed more for a fight than a drink. The former are suggestive of those who are too much occupied with earthly things; whereas the latter are suggestive of those who use earthly things with their eyes heavenward (cf. Mt. 6:33; Col. 3:1-2).
The unusual manner of this lapping or hurried way of drinking water has been described by A. Moody Stewart, who witnessed one doing it, as follows: “With one knee bent before him and the other stretched behind him in the same attitude as he ran, and with his face upward toward heaven, he threw the water with his cupped fingers in a continuous stream through his open lips without bringing his hand nearer to his mouth than perhaps a foot and a half, and so satisfied his thirst in a few moments.”
If we test ourselves, some things are bound to go, but when God tests us we are made to realize both our utter insufficiency (2 Cor. 3:5; 4:7), and His all-sufficiency (Phil. 4:13, 19).
THE LORD’S CHOICE
From 32,000 to 300, God had sifted the army of Israel, and by these 300 dedicated men—with Gideon as their human captain—He planned and purposed to rout and defeat 135,000 of the enemy.
Gideon, like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, Paul, and many others, was soon to learn that “little is much when God is in it,” and that even one with Him is a majority when in His will.
During the Civil War someone wrote to Abraham Lincoln, “I am praying that God may be on our side.”
Lincoln replied, “I have no desire to have God on my side. What I want is to be on God’s side.” Are you on His side? Would you have been among the 300?
W. Graham Scroggie wrote: “Is it incorrect to say that the majority of professing Christians do not mean business? They do most of the things the worldling does, and so they do not count in the great conflict between truth and error, and right and wrong. It were well if there were fewer Christians and better ones.”
Do you not desire to be among the 300? I do! Are we really fit for active service, ready in faith to venture all for Christ, holding nothing dear except His glory and the promotion of His interests, or must we be classed among those who vacate or vacillate?