Trumpet, Jar, Torch
Posted: Sunday, March 15, 2009
by Swapna Nanda
Trumpet, Jar, Torch
Gideon was hurriedly threshing the wheat but trying his best to do it as noiselessly as possible. He was looking frightened and wiping his sweat when suddenly there was a sound behind him. He turned round and what he saw made his heart skip a beat. For standing before him was no human but some supernatural being which was emanating bright light.
The angle of the Lord said, The Lord is with you mighty warrior.
Gideon was surprised. He said, If the Lord is with us then why are we suffering?
Indeed his question was valid because he and his people had been struggling under the oppression of the Midianites. The power of the Medianites had been so oppressive that the Israelites had to flee from them. Whenever the Israelites would plant crops then the Midianites would invade the country and ruin the crops. They would also destroy the cattle. It was a very difficult time for all the people of Israel. No wonder Gideon felt abandoned by God. His question voiced the anguish of all the Israelites.
The angel said to Gideon, Go in the strength you have and save Israel from Median. I am sending you.
Gideon was very frightened. He was no warrior to fight against enemies. He was just a young man who knew threshing only what can he do? Gideon took some time to be convinced but the angle of the Lord patiently helped Gideon with his self esteem and confidence. Then after much persuasion Gideon set out to fight against the enemies. But! Again there was a surprise. God gave Gideon the battle plan. Gideon had gathered thirty-two thousand men to fight against Median. God said No, reduce the number of people. It is impossible to think of winning a war with few people, but that is what God intended to do with Gideons army. Finally God selected only three hundred men to fight under Gideon. Gideon and his people were surely wondering about how and what they would do to stand against such a huge army of the Medianites.
But again God gave a different war strategy to Gideon. According to Gods instruction, Gideon and his people took with them only trumpets, empty jars of clay and torches. The three hundred men were divided into three companies. Then they went near the place where Medianites has camped. In the middle of the night, Gideon blew the trumpet, broke the jar and lighted the torch. Immediately the other groups also did the same. As they were doing this surrounding the camp, the Medianites were taken by surprise. They thought that a huge army of Gideon had overtaken them and were seized with panic and fear and ran hither and thither. In great anxiety they killed each other and thus Gideon and his people did not have to kill or slay anybody. Thus a battle was won.
Like Gideon, we will humbly follow Gods instruction and obey Him, no matter how strange are his ideas, then certainly there will be victories won and success come our way.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)It seems that Gideon's tactics were once used in a modern war some years back. It was the USA against someone, but I can't remember who. All I remember is watching the news on television and the US army had set up large speakers near the enemy lines and were broadcasting loud rock music. They played this music 24 hours a day trying to intimidate and confuse the enemy. I recall that it worked. So God's ways are not so unusual as we sometimes think.Thanks again for a wonder story from scripture.Thank you David for reading this story and your comment. I am encouraged. yes, God's ways are wonderful. Swapna
ANGLE of the LORD...means????Please read before you publish....I know that's ANGELAnyway the content is far better than the spelling...God bless you...Thank you Chiredeep for your correction. I am honoured. I am badly in need of patience to re- read my article many times before posting. Thanx for remindind me. SwapnaAgain in the comment u made a mistake...'remindind'. Its reminding...he he he he...I think I will do this mistake with you again and again so you can visit my articles and comment. Hahahha.Very Smart...This is another 'The Trap'...hahahahHumbly and according to Gods will then that which God intends will come to be. Good job.Thank you Sir for your comments. regards, SwapnaWe want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.Copyright 2012 IcoLogic, Inc.Viewed from Cache.
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