JU7-7: Physical Destruction Always Follows Spiritual Destruction

“Gid‘on and the hundred men with him arrived at the edge of the camp a little before midnight, just after they had changed the guard. They blew the shofars and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.”-Judges 7:19

We see that Gideon had prepared a surprise attack during the nighttime.

Take note of this strategy when battling your enemies.

Because throughout the whole Bible we’ll see Israel employing deception and taking advantage of the darkness to overwhelm their enemies.

Israel also employed the same strategy during the 6-day war with Egypt which led to them recapturing Jerusalem.

They launched a massive airstrike that destroyed the majority of the Egyptian Air Force before one plane even had a chance to get off the ground.

Gideon’s plan was to split up his men into 3 groups of 100 men each.

Here we see why Gideon told those men who decided to not fight to leave their shofars behind.

Because those shofars would be key instruments in the battle that was about to be fought.

Every one of his 300 men was now armed with a shofar.

This was not usual.

Because normally it was only the leaders who carried a shofar.

In addition to the shofars, each man was also given a torch and a clay pot they would use to cover the torch’s light.

Following Gideon’s lead, the men positioned themselves around the Midianite camp.

Gideon told his men that as soon as he sounded his shofar, everyone was to follow suit and blow their shofars in unison.

Then the men were to shout out “For Adonai and for Gideon!”

Why would they shout out those particular words?

Because it was a fulfillment of what the Midianite soldier said in response to the dream his comrade had shared with him.

“This can only be the sword of Gid‘on
son of Yo’ash, a man of Isra’el.
God has given Midyan
and all its army into his hands.”

The point being stressed here is that the God of Israel supernaturally planted this dream inside the brain of the Midianite soldier.

Which actually proves the falsehood of a common church doctrine that says God would never override a man’s free will.

This is absolutely not true!

There are many instances in Scripture where we see God doing just that.

He overrode the will of Bil’am the Sorcerer.

He also took full control of the heart and mind of the Pharaoh of Egypt during the Exodus to the point where Pharaoh was rendered incapable of repentance.

There is no doubt the dream the Lord had placed in that one Midianite soldier had now been shared with everyone in the camp.

That was actually what the Lord wanted.

He wanted to first weaken the enemy spiritually before they were destroyed physically.

And herein we encounter another God pattern.

Physical destruction and spiritual destruction go hand in hand.