Unpreparedness and the Ninety-Seven Hundred

The account in Judges 7 is a well-known episode in Israelite military history: A rough army of about 32,000 men rallied to Gideon’s banner to go to war against the oppressors of the day, the Midianites. However, the LORD intervened with Gideon on account of his own superior numbers; there were too many in his army for them to depend upon God for their victory. Under the LORD’s guidance, Gideon summarily dismissed 22,000 men afraid to fight, and then another 9,700 men who weren’t situationally aware enough to engage the enemy. Then with a fighting force of only 300 men, Gideon went into battle against a superior force and beheld as God provoked a miraculous victory for the Israelites.

Now we study the lessons, of which the primary is obvious: Trust. Follow the LORD’s instructions and depend upon Him for everything, especially for strength and victory in a conflict, and that victory will be yours. But there are secondary lessons to be learned here, of which the lesson of the 9,700 is a significant one.

The 9,700 weren’t necessarily afraid, or at least not so afraid that they wanted to quit and go home. They may not have lacked willingness or even zeal. They were set aside for one reason alone: They were not prepared.

The account in Judges 7 tells us that Gideon took 10,000 men down to a river to drink from its banks. 9,700 men knelt upon the ground and put their faces to the water, which they could not do without taking their eyes off the horizon from which a threat might approach. They weren’t watchful. They weren’t circumspect. Their “situational awareness” was compromised. Only three hundred men drank by lifting water to their mouths with their hands, keeping their eyes on their surroundings and demonstrating a measure of readiness sufficient to be chosen to fight.

It’s important to recognize that the 9,700 were not bad men, or unholy men, or rebellious or treacherous men. They weren’t unpatriotic men. They just weren’t ready men, and that failing cost them their participation in both the battle and the victory.

Application: Preparedness, Physically and Spiritually

As Believers we must be situationally aware, or “circumspect” (Ephesians 5.15), both in the natural and in the spiritual, guarding our hearts and minds from ungodly influences, and guarding as best we can the hearts and minds of our loved ones from the same. We must remember that Babylon herself is evangelical, and if we are not influencing her then she may well be influencing us.

We must also be knowledgable. While knowledge alone is no substitute for righteousness, knowledge is still power, and we must be able both to defend our beliefs and to answer the beliefs of others. We can’t do that without knowing the Bible. Gone are the days when Believers followed merely because they were told and they trusted. Literacy in the developed world is nearly universal, and superstitions have largely crumbled in the Age of Reason and the Information Age as men and women are raised to challenge authority and to exercise critical thinking. We must know faith, and we must know the Word upon which it stands.

And isn’t this what Paul told Timothy to do?
– “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2.15)
And isn’t this what Peter told all Believers to do?
– “Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall…” (2 Peter 1.10)
And if ministers, aren’t we admonished by the prophet?
– “For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 2.7)

The price for a Believer being spiritually oblivious and for being ignorant of the Bible is, at the very least, non-participation. No coach puts a man into the game who hasn’t trained. No soldier goes to battle who hasn’t trained. The unprepared get set aside until they prepare, and that means missing the present fight, and the resulting victory.

It means missing out.