The LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand has saved me.
Gideon is from the Hebrew word gada’ meaning a feller of trees, trees as a symbol of those who have risen up into leadership positions, the mighty men of the world. The title, Judges 7:2, is the LORD acting in the context of thinning these trees down to a few. We know the chapter continues with the LORD telling Gideon to send away the people who feared, and then says there are still too many. The next thinning comes at the waters, and is a dividing between those who stood and drank and those who went to their knees. We know this resulted in only three hundred standing.
This is the pattern wherein we find ourselves. The waters, as we know, represent the information that flows to us from all sources. Most of our leaders go to their knees when they drink, bowing down into subservience to whatever they hear. In this latest case of manipulation, we see the same, most acquiescing into silence. There now only remains a few who haven’t surrendered.
(Please suffer me while I digress: most modern men have never in their life been in a real fight. They are programmed to surrender, to allow themselves to be bullied into not standing. This attitude of demoralization is what I see and hear, even among those who say they are warriors. I say to them – get out of the way. Leave it to the few who know that liars lie, and they (the fake news media) have broadcast nothing that says I should expect anything other. They (those who daily incite and condone violence) now call for us to surrender while they continue their attacks. Again, I tell you this reeks of being a long-planned operation intended to demoralize strategically – another “insurance policy.”)
I believe we only need a few leaders to stand, and all the people (who aren’t afraid of a fight) will come to the battle on elections day. “This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [in My people], says the LORD of hosts [the LORD of the armies of heaven].”
We know the name Zerubbabel speaks of the those who will lead God’s people, literally translating to say they are those borne out of Babylon, now meaning they have left the confusion that has ruled over the world. Confusion is the major factor producing fear. Understanding what is occurring by learning and recognizing patterns, and by knowing and carrying out the proper procedures in response, we overcome fear. The first human-animal response is fear, and then panic unless you recognize (remember) and respond as trained.
Gideon was also known as Jerubbaal, a name telling of the pattern he learns and follows in later victories. It is from three Hebrew words: yare’, meaning to frighten; riyb, meaning contend; and Baal, meaning lord; and all in reference to the idols set in God’s place. It is saying that fright (confusion) will contend with the idols posing as gods.
The pattern in Judges begins with telling of God’s people doing evil, meaning they set up idols in His place. Because of this the enemies, the Midianite, meaning strife, prevailed against and impoverished them. The first step in reversing this was the LORD sent His messenger (angel) who instruct Gideon to destroy the altar of Baal and the groves, speaking of the idol worship as the ideas they followed, and the grove of trees as the crop of leaders teaching and leading by their corrupted ideas.
Judges 6
6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.
7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites,
8 That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;
9 And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;
10 And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but you have not obeyed my voice.
11 And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah [the dust and ashes of this ruin], that pertained unto Joash [Jehovah’s fire] the Abiezrite [the Father’s help]: and his son Gideon [the feller of the wicked powers] threshed wheat [purifying God people] by the winepress [by the wrath of this word], to hide it from the Midianites [those agitating and causing strife].
12 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor.
13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my LORD, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
14 And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent you?
15 And he said unto him, Oh my LORD, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.
16 And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as one man.
17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in your sight, then shew me a sign that you talkest with me.
18 Depart not hence, I pray you, until I come unto you, and bring forth my present, and set it before you. And he said, I will tarry until you come again.
19 And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.
20 And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
21 Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock [Christ as our Rock, rising for our Salvation], and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.
22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O LORD God! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.
23 And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto you; fear not: you shall not die.
24 Then Gideon built an altar there [restored true worship] unto the LORD, and called it Jehovah-shalom [Jehovah is our peace]: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites [in the dust and ashes of the Father’s help – from where He will create us – quicken us again to life].
25 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take your father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal [the corrupted ideas that have caused the desolation – ashes and ruin] that your father has, and cut down the grove [the men in control] that is by it:
26 And build an altar unto the LORD your God upon the top of this rock [upon Christ – God’s presence with us and in us – seeing Him face to face], in the ordered place [precept upon precept, line upon lime], and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the [dead] wood of the grove which you shall cut down.
27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day [because there was no light – understanding – in them], that he did it by night [without them comprehending it was God’s presence working out His plan of rescue and salvation].
28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
29 And they said one to another, Who has done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon [the feller of the mighty] the son of Joash [Jehovah’s fire] has done this thing.
30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash [Jehovah’s fire], Bring out your son [the one in whom God’s presence has been manifested], that he may die: because he has cast down the altar of Baal [their idols – the ideas they have created and worshipped in God’s place], and because he has cut down the grove [the men] that was by it.
31 And Joash [Jehovah’s fire] said unto all that stood against him, Will you plead for Baal [your idol]? will you save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one has cast down his altar.
32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he has thrown down his altar.
These events are patterns of purifying God house first, as is spoken of in 1 Peter 4:17, and after removing the heads (leaders) of those who are causing strife and who have impoverished His people. These two steps are what Peter speaks of; and Judges 7:25 & 25 answers the question he asks.
2 Peter 4
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.
14 If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God [the question answered in Judges 7:25 & 26]?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
We know the story of Gideon goes on to describe him and the three hundred God chose to frighten the Midianites. They (the Midianites) feared when they heard the commotion and that it was the sword of the LORD and of the feller of mighty men.
Judges 6
33 Then all the Midianites [those agitating and causing strife] and the Amalekites [the source of the water {fake news} the people were lapping up] and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel [the land wherein God will sow new life].
34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer [the Father’s help – see Hebrews 13:6 and Psalms 118:6] was gathered after him.
35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
36 And Gideon said unto God, If you will save Israel by mine hand, as you have said,
37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be [if Your word appears as if from the air] on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that you will save Israel by mine hand, as you have said.
38 And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not your anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray you, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
Judges 7
1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod [the fountain of agitation]: so that the host of the Midianites [those causing agitation and strife] were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh [those teaching these ways], in the valley.
2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand has saved me.
3 Now [p’orah – (to remove them as an unfruitful) branch] therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead [the spring of witness]. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
4 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for you there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto you, This shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whomsoever I say unto you, This shall not go with you, the same shall not go.
5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him shall you set by himself; likewise every one that bows down upon his knees to drink.
6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water [that bow to the words that come from the fake news media and other false prophets].
7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped [who heard the words but stood and discerned] will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.
8 So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
9 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get you down unto the host; for I have delivered it into your hand.
10 But if you fear to go down, go you with Phurah [p’orah – the fruitful branch or bough] your servant down to the host:
11 And you shall hear what they say; and afterward shall your hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah [p’orah] his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host.
12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.
13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.
14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon [the feller of the mighty] the son of Joash [Jehovah’s fire], a man of Israel: for into his hand has God delivered Midian, and all the host.
15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD has delivered into your hand the host of Midian.
16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.
17 And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall you do.
18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow you the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.
19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.
20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.
21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled [in panic] to Bethshittah [the house of dead wood] in Zererath [oppression], and to the border of Abelmeholah [further choreographed contrivances], unto Tabbath [the works that seal their end].
23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali [from where they had been unknowingly wrestling with God’s word and presence], and out of Asher [into happiness], and out of all Manasseh [what had caused them to forget Him], and pursued after the Midianites [those who were causing agitation and strife].
24 And Gideon [the feller of the mighty] sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim [those now doubly blessed – come to life the second time – born agan], saying, come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah [the house of crossing over] and Jordan [death].
25 And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb [darkness] and Zeeb [those plotting against God’s plan]; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb [the darkness they trusted in], and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb [God’s wrath upon the plotters], and pursued Midian, and brought the heads [leaders removed] of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan [of death].
The Hebrew word p’orah, meaning bough, is used six other times, five telling of the pattern of the mighty men who the feller of God cuts down by the sword of the LORD.
The first of these appears in Isaiah 10:33, and chapter we know begins by speaking woe to those declaring unrighteous decrees. In verse 3 the LORD asks them, “what will you do in the day of your visitation?” and “where will you leave your glory?”
Isaiah 10
33 Behold, the LORD, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough [p’orah] with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon [their glory in the high places] shall fall by a mighty one.
The next use comes in Ezekiel 17:6 as LORD set out a riddle in which he describes when the LORD was cut off and delivered into this land, our time, as a “sprig” shooting forth.
Matthew 24
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Truly I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Ezekiel 17
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;
3 And say, Thus says the LORD God; A great eagle with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
4 He cropped off [see Daniel 9:26] the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants [Babylon – the confusion of our time].
5 He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
6 And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs [p’orah].
The final five times p’orah is used are in Ezekiel 31, where it tells of the cutting down all the mighty men of the world, because they are destroying the earth and have by their idols made God’s people desolate.
Ezekiel 31
1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year [the year of confusion], in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt [those who rule God’s people in their captivity], and to his multitude; Whom are you like in your greatness?
3 Behold, the Assyrian [progressives and communists among us – in the garden as was the serpent] was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches [p’orah] became long because of the multitude of waters [words of deception – false promises of utopia that imitate God’s promises], when he shot forth.
6 All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches [p’orah] did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches [p’orah]; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
10 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Because you have lifted up yourself in height, and he has shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen [and become dead wood], and his boughs [p’orah] are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches [p’orah]:
14 To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water [their corrupted waters]: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.
15 Thus says the LORD God; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon [the high places of man’s glory] to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
17 They also went down into Sheol with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
18 To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shall you be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the LORD God.
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