Judges 7:1-8

Judges 7:1-8. Gideon's army is reduced

It seems to have been a fixed element in the tradition that 300 was the number of Gideon's force (Judges 7:6; Judges 7:16; Judges 7:19, Judges 8:4); but Judges 6:35 has just declared that four tribes responded to his call; accordingly we are here told how this army of volunteers, numbering 32,000, was cut down to 300. The story, however, rests upon an insecure foundation, for Judges 7:23 says that the tribes were gathered together after the battle, and not before it, as stated in Judges 6:35. Most critics consider that Judges 7:2 a do not belong to either of the two main narratives, but there is no agreement as to the source from which they come. In Judges 7:3 especially the allusion to Deuteronomy 20:8, and the incredibly large figures, betray a late origin; on the other hand, the test at the spring has the picturesque character of an ancient tradition. The whole passage has been much worked over by editorial hands.