Confusion of the Enemy
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 When the three [o]companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 Each stood in his place around the camp; and all the [p]army ran, crying out as they fled. 22 When they blew 300 trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole [q]army; and the [r]army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. 23 The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.
24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down [s]against Midian and take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. 25 They captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.
Now, we don’t know for sure who came up with the idea to use trumpets and torches, but Gideon seems to have a knack for the unexpected. Of course, anything good is from God, so you could say God gave Gideon the thought either way.
But if we really believe God knew what He was doing (and He does), then it’s not shocking to see Gideon come through in the clutch. Gideon was clever, and had been good at avoiding detection by the enemy. We just saw him sneak into the enemy camp undetected!
So when it came time for battle, a full frontal assault would not do. The enemy would have laughed and knocked down all 300 men in a minute. Gideon had to get creative, and use what they had: pitchers and trumpets. With only 300 men, I suspect it was no problem to find enough of those left behind by the 30,000 that gathered originally.
To see the results though, that had to be pretty amazing, and in the end, all the glory belongs to God for knowing exactly who to choose as a leader, and for giving Israel the victory through the least of the least of the least.
You might feel pretty “least”, but God knows who you really are. He even knows things about you that you might not know yet. Choose to follow God, and you might just end up with a surprise or two!