Judges 7:16

divided … into three companies Cf. Jdg 9:43 ff., 1 Samuel 11:11; 1 Samuel 13:17 f., Job 1:17 for similar tactics. Gideon had to make up by wit and daring what he lacked in numbers.

trumpets Hebr. shôphâr, the curved hornof a cow or ram, used to give signals in war (Judges 3:27; 2 Samuel 2:28, etc.); to be distinguished from the long metal haṣôṣĕrâh, the trumpetproper, which was used for religious purposes (2 Kings 12:13; 1 Chronicles 13:8, etc.); see the illustrations in Driver's Joel and Amos, p. 145. As a sacred instrument the shopharis mentioned chiefly by later writers, Lev 25:9, 2 Chronicles 15:14; cf. the rams" hornsJoshua 6:4 ff. (E). The horns were put into the hands, not hung on the shoulders, of Gideon's men.

torches within the pitchers The word generally, but not always (Judges 15:4 f.), implies a lighted torch. If the torches were alight the pitchers were used to conceal them. The pitcher was a large earthenware vessel, cf. Genesis 24:14 ff., 1 Kings 17:12 ff. (-barrel").