Israel Gathering Together - Judges 7:23

In the book of Judges we learned how Gideon, “divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand … and the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath”, and in chapter seven and verse twenty-three of Judges, we learn how “the men of Israel gathered themselves together” where we read,

And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, 

and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.

The verse reads, “And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, …” The writer began with the words, “and the men of Israel” which means “and the male human beings belonging to Israel whose name means ‘God prevails’ and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob” “gathered themselves together” or “collected and assembled their own selves with one another” “out of Naphtali” which means “from Naphtali whose name means ‘wrestling’ and was the sixth son of Jacob and the second by Bilhah the handmaid of Rachel”, “and out of Asher” or “and from Asher whose name means ‘happy’ and was the son of Jacob and Zipah and the progenitor of the tribe descended from Asher”. The writer shared how the male human beings belonging to “Israel” assembled from the tribes of “Naphtali” and “Asher”. 

The verse goes on to say, “ … and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.” The writer continued with the words, “and out of all Manasseh” which means “and from each and every part of Manasseh whose name means ‘causing to forget’ and was the eldest son of Joseph and progenitor of the tribe of Manasseh”, “and pursued after the Midianites” or “and followed the Midianites or Midian whose name means ‘strife’ and was the son of Abraham by Keturah and progenitor of the tribe of Midianites or Arabians”. The writer shared how the people of “Israel” also came from “Manasseh” and they followed the “Midianites”. 

When we consider the words in this verse, we learn how the males from “Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh” assembled and chased after the “Midianites”. Rather than “Gideon” and his “three hundred men” fighting against the “Midianites” alone, other tribes joined the battle to help them. Sometimes there only needs to be a few to begin a work for others to join them, and in this case, it was true. God wants every person to believe and trust in His Son Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of all mankind and was raised from the dead after three days. When we submit to Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put His Holy Spirit within us to guide us into all truth and equip us to live according to that truth so that we encourage others to receive Jesus Christ as their “Savior and Lord”. (See John 3:16; Acts 2:41; 4:4)

Next time we learn how, “Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".