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A
Few Good Men
Judges 7
I. God desires individual obedience, not mass obedience.
A. The Number of God’s army. (God would use only 300 men, not 32,000.)
1. Verse 3 – 22,000 went home because they were afraid.
2. Verse 3 – 10,000 remained.
3. Verse 7 – 300 remained for the final victory.
a. God did not choose those soldiers who had proved themselves in
former battles.
b. God chose those that were willing to fight, and were looking for
the enemy now and were willing to give of themselves completely.
4. Verse 5-8 – God would not save Israel because of anything in the
soldiers – their bravery, or whatever.
a. God would save Israel because these men were not like everybody
else, but only looked to what God would have them do.
b. They did not mind being different.
c. As long as people want to be like everybody else, God will not use
them.
d. There must be in internal determination that I will do what God
says because I believe his book.
e. I do not care what the world thinks, or what the world does.
f. This is not stubbornness, but conviction.
g. They must be willing to stand alone because this is really where
the battle is – alone – just you and God – just me and God.
B. The number of the enemy.
1. I Samuel 8:10 – there seems to be a total of 135,000 soldiers of
the children of the east. (120,000 + 15,000). This does not count the
other two armies – the Midianites, or the Amalekites.
a. If we use a total of 200,000 enemy soldiers, the Israelites were
outnumbers 200,000/32,000 to begin with – or a little over 6 to 1.
b. After the 22,000 went home (leaving the others to fight the battle
alone) the odds were 20 to 1.
c. The 300 that were victorious left the odds at 669 to 1.
2. The odds increase dramatically if each army has 135,000 soldiers, or
405,000 soldiers.
a. If we use a total of 400,000 enemy soldiers, the Israelites were
outnumbered 400,000/32,000 to begin with – or 12.5 to one.
b. After the 22,000 went home (leaving the others to fight the battle
alone) the odds were about 40 to 1.
c. The 300 that were victorious left the odds at 1334 to one.
3. I think most people believe a large church is better than a small
one, that large churches can do more.
a. There are some things large churches can do that smaller churches
cannot do, but every church can serve God effectively.
b. All we have to do is what God tells us, not what he has told some
other church.
c. Regardless of the size of the church attendance, God demands
individual obedience.
d. Many churches spend their existence trying to grow large instead
of teaching individual obedience and faithfulness.
II. God does not mind if we are afraid, but he wants people that are
obedient.
A. Judges 6:11 – The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, who was
doing what he could to supply for his family and defeat the enemy.
B. Judges 6:27 – Gideon was afraid to destroy his fathers grove by day,
so he did it by night.
C. Judges 7:10 – Gideon was afraid to go against the vast army of the
Midianites, so God allowed him to go into the camp at night to hear what the
common foot soldier was thinking about the upcoming battle. (They were more
afraid than Gideon!)
D. Judges 7:115 – Gideon worshipped while still in the camp of the
enemy. He did not wait until he returned to the safety of his own camp.
III. The 300 soldiers of Gideon would not be together when they fought, but
would be separated, just as you and I must fight our individual battles apart
from each other, but we are still with each other, because we are fighting the
common enemy.
A. Judges 6:5 – The armies of the Midianites were like the grasshoppers
for multitude.
B. Judges 7:12 – The armies of the Midianites were like the
grasshoppers for multitude.
C. Judges 8:20 – It seems 135,000 Midianites killed each other before
they scattered. In this verse, Gideon was pursuing 15,000 of the enemy,
probably the largest bunch of them.
IV. How much space would 400,000 soldiers take?
A. If each soldier got a 5’x5’ space it would take 10,000,000 square
feet for the entire army to camp.
1. There is 43,264 square feet in one acre (208’x208’), therefore
the entire camping ground would involve a little more than 230 acres.
2. I think I am being pretty conservative in this calculation, because
I am giving no square feet at all to the animals, or the supplies for man
and beast.
3. The sides of the Midian encampment would be about 3200 square feet
– 3200 feet long on all four sides (if it was a perfect square).
4. That means the camping area would be more than 10 football fields on
all four sides
5. The outside perimeter of the camping area would be approximately
linear 12,800 feet (3,200 x 4= 12,800.)
B. This means that each of the 300 soldiers of Gideon would be
approximately 43 feet apart, if they encircled the entire Midian army.
(12,800/300 = 42.67’)
1. Therefore every soldier would have to be willing to stand alone with
both his hands full of something other than a weapon.
2. Each soldier would be able to see other soldiers, but none of the
soldiers would be able to come to the rescue of any other soldier without
leaving a large gap in the line.
3. I suppose anybody knows that a soldier standing with a light in his
hand is a target.
4. We must come to the place that we do not mind being a target.
5. If we hide the light, we ourselves will also be hiding.
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