Judges 7:9-23

the Sword of Jehovah and of Gideon

Judges 7:9

Gideon asked for the sign of the fleece, but God, without his asking, gave him that of the barley-cake. It was only barley-bread, the cheapest and commonest kind of food, but it overthrew a tent. Gideon was quick to recognize the symbol of his weakness and helplessness, but he recognized also the presage of victory. Lying there in the moonless night, with his head toward that tent, he worshiped and hastened back to his camp. We remember what Jesus made of barley-loaves. See John 6:9; John 6:13.

The blare of the trumpets, the breaking of the pitchers, the flashing of the lights, and the shouting from three sides of the camp startled the sleeping host into panic. Surely this scene was in Paul's thought when he said that God's light had shone forth on the midnight darkness of that age; and then confessed that the light was contained in the earthen vessel of mortality, “that the excellency of the power might be of God.” Let us not be too greatly disturbed when the sorrows and persecutions of earth break up our peace and strength-this is the breaking of the earthen vessel. Our business must be to see that the torch burns within, 2 Corinthians 4:6, etc.