Judges 7:2

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

Ver. 2. Are too many.] They thought themselves too few, and therefore feared. God's thoughts are not as man's thoughts: he never complaineth of too few: but saith, as that general did to his fearful soldiers, How many reckon you me for? I alone am a whole army of men. Isa 52:12

Lest Israel vaunt themselves.] Which yet they had small reason to do, everything considered. But God knoweth the vanity of men's minds, and "needeth not that any should testify of man, for he knoweth what is in man." Joh 2:24-25 So bladder-like is the soul, that filled with the wind of vain glory, it grows great and swells in pride: but if pricked with the least pin of grief or fear, it shrivelleth to nothing.

Mine own hand hath saved me.] Memet meis viribus servavi. Man is a self-ascribing creature. Ajax acknowledged no god but his sword. Sejanus sacrificed to himself. Polyphemus setteth up himself for the sole doer. a The Caldeans sacrifice to their own net. Hab 1:16

a Dio. Euripides.