Judges 7:7

Judges 7:7

I. Consider the man to whom the angel came. His thoughts had been busy with God before God came to him. He was a man who meditated much on the promises and the histories of God's grace and love. The Lord ever comes to those whose hearts are watching for Him.

II. To understand Judges 7:2 we must remember that the victory was to be a victory of faith. The battle was to be won against overwhelming numbers. The Lord needed men in whom spirit should be dominant, who could hold the flesh in habitual and iron control. Faint with their long march, the great body of men flung themselves on the ground, forgetful alike of toil and pain and glorious enterprise, in the cool draught which for the moment was exquisite delight. Three hundred men stood up above the prostrate throng. They stooped for a moment and lapped the few needful drops from the hollow of their hands, and then stood prompt to pursue their way. The eye of God marked them. "Set these men apart; these three hundred are strong enough for the stress of the battle, and great enough to wear the honours of the victory."

III. The lessons of the narrative are these: (1) It is the small matters which reveal us, the slight occasions. It is easy to catch the excitement of battle. Watch the combatant home, and you see the man. (2) There is One watching us when we are most unconscious, drawing silently auguries of character, and forecasting destiny. (3) Keep your knee for God alone.

These men bent the knee to sensual good. Kneel to God, and it will cure you of all other kneeling.

J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon,p. 202.

References: Judges 7:7. J. Kelly, Pulpit Trees,p. 222.Judges 7:9. Ho7niletic Quarterly,vol. iv., p. 380. Judges 7:13. S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches,p. 77; J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College,vol. iii., p. 372.Judges 7:13; Judges 7:14. Homiletic Magazine,vol. xiii., p. 265; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxxi., No. 1873.