Judges 7: Who are you in the army of the Most High?

'And Yahuah said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.”(Judges 7:4)

After enduring a long enslavement and oppression from the people of Midian, Yahuah calls Gideon to become Israel's (Yashar'el) leader, uniting the Israelite tribes to fight for freedom. For the war against Midian, Gideon manages to bring together a big army. However, for Yahuah that big army would not serve his purposes, for delivering the enemy into the hands of a big army would not fully show Yahuah’s power and there would be the risk that people think that their own strength was to be praised. So Yahuah asks Gideon to reduce the number of soldiers by asking his army ‘whoever is afraid is free to go back home’ and 22 thousand men decided to leave. After this only ten thousand men remained.

Still this was not small enough for Yahuah, so he instructs Gideon to take the army to the river to drink water. Whosoever drinks water with their tongue like a dog and whosoever kneels in the riverbank to drink were to be released from their duties. Only those who drank water lapping and bringing water to their mouths using their hands would be allowed to continue. And so did Gideon and all that remained was 300 men. How interesting, isn’t it?

Photo credit: David Trood

Yahuah then miraculously delivered the enemy in Yashar’el’s hand even when these 300 men were not holding any sword, for one hand was busy carrying a clay vessel with a torch and on their other hand a ram shofar. When all of them blew their shofar from three different directions and broke their clay vessels, they all screamed ‘the sword of Yahuah and for Gideon’ after which Yahuah made the thousands of soldiers on the enemy side fight with each other.

Meditating on this passage, I wondered what Yahuah was telling us. What is wrong with drinking water with your tongue or kneeling in the river shore? Why did he use this selection criteria?

Before we get to my personal reflection of this passage, it should be obvious for us that Yahuah knew the gross majority would leave simply because they were afraid. He also knew that only a handful would drink water 'his way'. The expected outcome was that most of these men, excessively thirsty from their journey, would desperately go for the water source.

Those who left when given the chance for fear for their lives are the majority of mankind. They are simply either way too clueless or too afraid to even fight for Yahuah and therefore will not care to question an order from any worldly 'authority' and if required will even help advance tyranny, justifying themselves saying 'but I had no choice', or 'I was just following orders'.

'for Yahuah gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.' (2 Timothy 1:7)

‘To drink like a dog’

Although in the Western culture dogs are celebrated as our most beloved pet, in Scriptures they are mentioned as a companion only in the apocryphal book of Tobit. Otherwise, dogs are the scavengers and low life form – similar to how swine and ravens are described. To behave like a dog is to bring ourselves to an animalistic state, to submit to our most basic instincts. Dogs normally eat and drink savagely without even savouring their meal, especially when hungry. We see a clear example of loss of self-control in 1Samuel 14, when the Israelites, when finally allowed to eat by king Saul, were so desperately hungry that they ate raw flesh with blood. These are the people who in great tribulation will resort even to cannibalism because their bodies dominate them.

On the other hand, those who kneel to drink water, make of comforts their idols, becoming easily corruptible and allowing the material world to become their masters. These people represent those who will submit to other ‘gods’ for material comforts or to 'be accepted as a member of the society'.

Those who lapped and brought water to their mouths with their hands stand masters of their earthly needs, use only the amount of water that they need to survive but do not overdo it. They will only kneel to Yahuah and will keep their dignity even if in severe thirst and hunger.

When we submit our lives to Yahuah, He quenches our spiritual thirst and gives us the capacity to put our earthly needs in submission to us – instead of the ways of the world where we see the other way around. For the released soldiers, their material needs still mastered their spiritual path in one way or another.

The parallel with the parable of the sower

The criteria Yahuah used with Gideon reminded me of the parable of the sower in Mark 4.

'The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:14-20 - emphasis mine)

The soldiers who drink like dogs are the ones who will fall away in their first hunger pang. Those who kneel will fall prey to the 'comforts of the world' and only those who can stand before their own fleshy nature will be able to fight the good fight.

Prepare for war

For the second coming of Christ – an army will also be needed. It is described in the book of Revelation how those who are dead will be brought back to life and those who remained alive will meet with Yahusha to receive a new body and to take part in his heavenly army. His army will be much smaller than many so called Christians may believe and only a few will be drafted.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. (Matthew 7:13)

Now the question we should ask ourselves is: when the time comes, will we be the ones who drink water like a dog, on our knees or lapping with dignity to bring it to our mouths?