Too Many People - Judges 7:2

In the book of Judges we learned how, “Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley”, and in chapter seven and verse two of Judges, we learn how, “the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with you are too many", where we read,

And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me.

The verse reads, “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, …” The writer began with the words, “and the LORD” which means “and Jehovah who is the existing One and is the proper name for the One True God” “said unto Gideon” or “uttered, declared and proclaimed to Gideon whose name means ‘hewer’ and was the youngest son of Joash of the Abiezrites, fifth judge of Israel who led the Israelites against the Midianites”, “the people that are with you” which means “the human being beside and alongside you, Gideon” “are too many for me” or “exist as abounding, numerous and exceedingly much for me, Jehovah God” “to give the Midianites” which means “to grant, bestow, grant and permit the Mideanites or Midian whose name means ‘strife’ and was a son of Abraham by Keturah and the progenitor of the tribe of Midianites or Arabians” “into their hands” or “over to their, Gideon and his men’s, power, strength and authority”. The writer shared how Jehovah God told “Gideon” there was an exceedingly abundant amount of men who joined themselves to him, and for this reason He would not deliver the “Midianites” over to their power and strength.

The verse continues, “… lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me.” The writer added the words, “lest Israel” which means “unless Israel whose name means ‘God prevails’ and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob” “vaunt themselves against me” or “glorify, beautify, adorn and go over the boughs their own selves in opposition to me, Jehovah God”, “saying” which means “uttering, declaring and proclaiming”, “my own hand has saved me” or “my, Gideon’s men’s, own personal power, might and authority has rescued and delivered me, Israel”. The writer shared how Jehovah God told Gideon that if there were great amounts of people with him, they would begin to boast and glorify their own selves as to having saved “Israel”. 

When we consider the words in this verse, we learn how Jehovah God addressed the idea of people taking credit for His work in the world. God loves, gives, protects and provides everything that we need to be conquerers in the world, (See Romans 8:37, Philippians 4:19) and this begins when we surrender our lives to 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 provide us with His Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth and help us to understand that He and He alone deserves all the praise, glory and credit for all He has done. (See John 3:16; 16:13; Acts 1:8; 2 Peter 3:18)

Next time we learn how Gideon was to tell the people gathered, “Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead”, 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".