Judges 7

Against the Midianites, also, who, as the book of Judges relates, had filled all places like locusts, Gideon was ordered to lead a few men into battle. It was not that he did not have many in his army, but that he was forbidden to lead many into battle, lest the multitude might claim for itself some share of the victory. Hence, when he had gathered thirty thousand armed fighters, the Lord spoke thus to him: "the people with you are too many, and the Midianites shall not be given into their hands."What happened next? He left only three hundred fighters to the man who was about to fight against countless thousands of barbarians. Indeed, he ordered the line of soldiers to be reduced to the smallest number in order that their fewness would not permit them to realize any credit from the prosecution of the divinely waged war. Why the Lord acted thus, he himself very clearly stated, saying, "lest Israel glory against me and say, 'I am saved by my own strength.' " Let them hear, I say, let all the unjust and the presumptuous hear. Let all the powerful hear what God says when he says, "Lest Israel glory against me and say, 'I am saved by my own strength.' " I say, let them hear, all those who hurl blasphemies and statements contrary to the above, let them who place their hope in human beings hear these things. God says that all who presume they can be liberated by their own strength speak against him.

Vast was the multitude that had been gathered against Israel, so great that for its number it was compared to "locusts". "And their camels", it says, "were like the sand which is beyond number upon the shore of the sea". Let us see, then, how so countless a multitude of enemies could be overcome: there went out, it says, thirty-two thousand armed men from the sons of Israel with Gideon to fight against all that multitude. And God gave answer to Gideon, saying: "The multitude that is with you is great". And what if "the multitude is great"? Does not a more numerous army in wars afford safer defenses? By no means, He says, for divine battles are not carried out as human ones are. The work of the divine power is not made illustrious if it is propped up by human supports, because: "a king is not made safe by the greatness of his own power". Therefore, lest perhaps Israel should boast and in its vaunting claim a share of the victory, the Lord says to Gideon: "The people with you are many; I will not deliver Midian into their hands, lest perhaps Israel exult against Me, saying that my own hand has saved me."

Therefore speak in the ears of the people, saying: Whoever is timid and fearful of heart, let him return. And there returned from Mount Gilead, out of the people, twenty-two thousand men, and there remained ten thousand. Let us see, then, first, what it means that He says: "timid and fearful of heart"; for two things are named by which human frailty is convicted, that is, the "timid" and the "fearful" of heart. He may seem "timid" who at the first sight trembles at the encounter, yet is not terrified with his whole heart, but can be restored and heartened again. But the fearful man is he who, the vice as it were now taking root, is terrified by thought alone even before he sees the evils, rolling an icy dread through his limbs, so that he is unmanned not so much by the sight of evils as by the very hearing and expectation of them; and therefore He added: "fearful of heart"; for this vice, now in the "heart", remains fixed even in the inner parts of the soul. What then? Do we say that only at that time did Gideon say to the people: "If anyone is timid and fearful of heart", let him depart from the battles, forsake the wars, abandon the contests of brave men? Or does even today the "commander of our army", our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, cry out to His soldiers and say: "If anyone is timid and fearful of heart", let him not come to My wars? For this is what, in other words indeed but in the same sense, He says in the Gospels: "He who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me", and: "He who does not hate his father and his mother, and his brothers and sisters, and moreover even his own soul, is not worthy of Me", and again: "He who does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be My disciple". Does not Christ in these words plainly separate and set apart the "timid and fearful" from His camp? All of you, then, who wish to follow the warfare of Christ, who desire to be in His camp, banish far from you the fear of the mind, banish far the dread of the heart, so that with confidence the soldier of Christ may say: "If camps stand together against me, my heart shall not fear; if battle rise up against me, in this will I hope", and may confidently say: "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I tremble?". But do not let such warfare deter you: it contains nothing difficult in itself, nothing arduous or impossible. Do you wish to know how easy it is to fulfill these things for those who wage war out of faith? In these camps even women too are often accustomed to conquer, because the fighting is done not by the strength of the body but by the power of faith. In what went before, in this very little book of Judges, we read of the triumphs of the woman Deborah, and no unbelieving dread disturbed her womanly mind. And why should I recall that magnificent Judith, most noble of all women? who, when affairs were already almost lost, did not tremble to come to the rescue alone, and alone to expose herself and her own head to the slaying of the utterly monstrous Holofernes, and went forth to war relying not on arms nor on war-horses nor on military supports, but on strength of soul and the confidence of faith; by counsel together with daring she destroyed the enemy; and the liberty of the fatherland, which the men had lost, a woman restored. And why do we unroll for you examples of the ancients from so far off? Before our own eyes we have often seen it done, that women and girls still of tender age have borne for the sake of martyrdom the tyrant's torments, to whom, added to the weakness of their sex, was the frailty of their still youthful life. So then, in those who wage war for the truth, and also those who wage war for God, not bodily but spiritual fortitude is required, because the victory is sought not by iron javelins but by the darts of prayers, and it is faith that furnishes endurance in the contest. Whence also the holy Apostle equips the soldiers of God for wars of this kind with fitting arms, saying: "Stand therefore, clothed with the breastplate of righteousness, and having girt your loins in truth; but take also the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit; and above all take up the shield of faith, in which you may be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one"; but he also bids that the "feet be shod in the preparation of the Gospel of peace", and that, armed in this manner, they "take up" the standards "of the cross of Christ and follow Him". Yet this too is permitted in the warfare of Christ, that if perchance at some time you feel yourself inferior in strength amid persecutions, and the contest against the cruelty of the tyrant seems to you unequal through the frailty of the body, you may give place to wrath and "flee" from place to place, nor is this reckoned to you as a soldier's offense. For this too is appointed in the laws of Christ, who says: "If they persecute you in this city, flee into another; and if in the other, flee into yet another". For the sum of the matter is not to deny Jesus, whom you have once confessed. For it is certain that he confesses Him who flees for this reason, that he may not deny Him. If anyone, then, is "timid" and "fearful of heart", let him depart from the camp, let him return to his own house, lest he furnish to the rest an example of fear and dread. But do you wish to see of how great a crime the "timid and fearful" man is guilty? In the Apocalypse, where those are enumerated who are to be cast "into the lake of fire", there before all He places the "timid and fearful", and reckons together with them also the "unbelieving and fornicators and poisoners". Thus among enormous and abominable crimes is placed the crime of fear and dread. And these things we have said on account of those who first, as "timid and fearful of heart", are dismissed from the camp.

But after these "twenty-two thousand departed", the divine discourse adds still further and "says to Gideon": "Still", it says, "the people are many; bring them down to the water, and there I will test them for you". As I see it, those who were first rejected had not even gone down "into the water", but were still marking themselves out as catechumens, and were so deterred by the vice of dread that they did not even go down to the saving washing: those, then, were rejected in this way. But these second ones come "to the water", that they may be tested there. And how they are tested, let us see:

Dogs are commendable, not abominable. They observe fidelity toward their master, and before his house they bark against enemies. He has not simply said "of dogs" but "of your dog." Nor are their teeth praised, but their tongue is: for it was not indeed to no purpose, not without a great mystery, that Gideon was bidden to lead those alone who should lap the water of the river like dogs. Of such sort not more than three hundred among so great a multitude were found. In this number is the sign of the cross because of the letter T [tau], which signifies three hundred in the Greek numeral characters.

Dogs should not always be taken in an evil sense; otherwise the prophet would not blame "dogs not able to bark and loving to dream." Doubtless they would be praiseworthy dogs if they both knew how to bark and loved to watch. And certainly those three hundred men—a most sacred number according to the letter of the cross10—would not have been chosen to win the victory because they lapped water as dogs do, unless some great mystery were signified. Good dogs watch and bark to protect their house and their master, their flock and their shepherd. Finally, even here in the praises offered by the church, when a selection is made from this prophecy, it is the tongue of dogs that is mentioned, not their teeth.

This was marked in the case of Gedeon where those who were tested by the water, that is, those who lapped it like dogs, fought the battle and won, while those who bent their knee to drink were turned away. And those who had won the test were given trumpets and pitchers and lanterns, and they obtained the victory by means of blaring horns and clanging vessels. These are the preachers of the Church who in their preaching make a blaring of horns. The vessels are the bodies, the lanterns are the miracles. Indeed, every time they died for the sake of truth, they repelled and overcame the enemy by means of miracles. But those who drink by lapping with their tongues like dogs, who draw only a little water with their tongues, are those who take little from philosophy; while those who bent their knee to drink are those who inclined themselves totally to it: and the same are inclined to an infinite number of errors.

Limiting one's intake of water helps a great deal to obtain temperance. This was well understood by the three hundred Israelites accompanying Gideon just when they were preparing to attack Midian.

And they are brought to the river, to drink the waters; and whoever drank the waters with bended knees, were removed from the struggle of war. For by the waters is designated the doctrine of wisdom, but by the unbended knee righteous conduct. They therefore who are reported to have bent their knees, while drinking the water, retired from the strife of battles, having been forbidden; because Christ proceeds to battle against the enemies of the faith, with those who when they drink the streams of doctrine, distort not the uprightness of their actions. For all are said at that time to have drunk the water, but not all to have stood with unbended knee. And they who bent their knees, while they were drinking the waters, were rejected, because, as the Apostle witnesses, "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified." For since dissoluteness of conduct is, as we have said, signified by this very bending of the knees, it is rightly again said by Paul, "Lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight steps with your feet." They therefore proceed, under Christ as their leader, to battle, who exhibit in their conduct that which they profess with their mouths, who drink spiritually the streams of doctrine, and yet are not carnally distorted by wicked works.

"And the Lord said", it says, "to Gideon: everyone who shall lap the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set him apart; and everyone who shall bend his knees to drink, you shall set him aside. And the number", it says, "of those who lapped the water in their hand or with the tongue was three hundred men, but all the rest bent their knees to drink the water. And the Lord said to Gideon: by these three hundred men who lapped I will save you and deliver Midian into your hand". In almost all the deeds of the ancients vast mysteries are signified, as we see happening also in this passage, because those who go down "to the water", that is, who come to the grace of baptism, ought not to fall down to the earth nor "bend their knees" and yield to the temptations that are to come, but to stand bravely and steadfastly, as the prophet also said: "Lift up the hands that hang down and the loosened knees", and: "Make straight the going of your paths". You have come to the water of baptism; this is the beginning of the contest and of the spiritual battle, from here arises for you the commencement of the fight against the devil. If you are the more slack, if you can easily be made to bend, how will you fight, how will you stand against the wiles of the devil? Therefore the Apostle also cries out: "Stand therefore, and do not again cling to the yoke of bondage", and again he says: "Stand in the Lord", and a third time he says: "For we now live, if you stand in the Lord". That one, then, is approved, that one is chosen, who, after coming to the waters of baptism, knows not how to be bent toward earthly and bodily necessities, who does not indulge the vices nor is laid prostrate through thirst for sin. But as for its saying that they "lapped the water with the hand or the tongue", this seems to me written not without a certain significance of a mystery, namely that the soldiers of Christ ought to work with hand and tongue, that is, by deed and by word, because "he who teaches and does, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven". And that Scripture also set down the likeness of a dog lapping — this animal seems to me to be named in this place for the reason that above all other animals it is said to keep love for its own master, and neither by time nor by injuries is its affection reported to be blotted out in it. Three hundred only, then, who prefigured the image of this mystery, these are the chosen, these the approved, these consecrated to victory, who by the very mystery of the number could prevail over the adversaries. For they are three hundred, who multiply a hundred by three and bear the number of the perfect Trinity, under which number the whole army of Christ is reckoned. Among whom let us wish that we too may deserve to be enrolled.

This was marked in the case of Gedeon where those who were tested by the water, that is, those who lapped it like dogs, fought the battle and won, while those who bent their knee to drink were turned away. And those who had won the test were given trumpets and pitchers and lanterns, and they obtained the victory by means of blaring horns and clanging vessels. These are the preachers of the Church who in their preaching make a blaring of horns. The vessels are the bodies, the lanterns are the miracles. Indeed, every time they died for the sake of truth, they repelled and overcame the enemy by means of miracles. But those who drink by lapping with their tongues like dogs, who draw only a little water with their tongues, are those who take little from philosophy; while those who bent their knee to drink are those who inclined themselves totally to it: and the same are inclined to an infinite number of errors.

Just as the six hundred years of life which Noah completed prior to entering the ark designate the perfection of faith and confession of those who approach the church's sacraments of heavenly grace and perpetual reward, so also does the three hundred and fifty years that he lived after the great flood typify the perfection of those who, having received the sacraments of life, zealously and faithfully serve the Lord until death. For we say that three hundred, because it is denoted in Greek by the letter tau, which is written in the shape of a cross, most aptly signifies those who resolve not to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence Gideon, at the Lord's command and with his assistance, conquered the innumerable army of the Midianites with three hundred men, thus teaching figuratively that by faith in the Lord's cross we will be victorious in the wars waged against us both by this world and by our own vices.

I think it will not be amiss if we consider at greater length this war of the Madianites, which was intentionally introduced by the Prophet in comparison with the coming of the Lord. For in the book of Judges Gedeon is described as having fought against the Madianites. When he was bringing forth the multitude of the army to war, he was ordered by a Divine admonition, to remove from the conflict of battle all whom on coming to the water he beheld drinking the water with bended knees. And the result was, that only three hundred men remained, who had drunk the water in their hands, standing. With these he proceeds to the battle, and he equipped them not with arms, but with trumpets, lamps, and pitchers. For, as is there written, they placed the lighted lamps in the pitchers, and held their trumpets in their right hand, but their pitchers in their left, and on coming close to their enemies, they sounded with the trumpets, they brake the pitchers, the lamps appeared: and their enemies alarmed on one hand with the sound of the trumpets, and on the other by the glittering of the lamps, were turned to flight. Why then is it that such a battle is brought forward by the Prophet, and why is victory in that battle compared to the coming of our Redeemer? Did the Prophet intend to point out to us that that victorious battle under the command of Gedeon was a type of the coming of our Redeemer? Such deeds were doubtless there wrought, which, the more they exceed the usual mode of fighting, are the less removed from the mystery of prophecy. For who ever went forth to battle with pitchers and lamps? Who, when going against arms, ever abandoned his arms? These things would have been truly absurd to us, had they not been terrible to the enemies. But we have learned by the evidence of the victory itself, not to regard these things which were done as of little account. Gedeon, therefore, coming to the battle, signifies to us the coming of our Redeemer, of Whom it is written; Lift up, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. He prophesied of our Redeemer, not only by his doings, but also by his name. For Gedeon is interpreted 'going about in the womb.' For our Lord embraces all things by the power of His majesty, and yet He came, through the grace of the dispensation assuming man's nature in the womb of the Virgin. Who then is He Who goes about in the womb, except Almighty God, redeeming us by His own dispensation, embracing all things by His Godhead, and taking man's nature in the womb? In which womb He was both Incarnate, and not confined; because He was both within the womb by the substance of His infirmity, and beyond the world by the power of His majesty.

For the same reason was it that when Gideon was about to overcome the Midianites, he commanded three hundred men to take pitchers, and to hold lighted torches inside the pitchers, and trumpets in their right hands. Our predecessors have preserved the explanation received from the apostles, that the pitchers are our bodies, fashioned of clay, which do not know fear if they burn with the fervor of the grace of the Spirit, and bear witness to the passion of the Lord Jesus with a loud confession of the voice. Who, then, can doubt the divinity of the Holy Spirit, since where the grace of the Spirit is, there the manifestation of the divinity appears. By this evidence we infer not a diversity but the unity of the divine power. For how can there be a severance of power, where the effect of the working in all is one? Neither can there be the grace of the sacraments where there is no forgiveness of sins. What, then, is that fire? Not certainly one made up of common twigs or roaring with the burning of the reeds of the woods, but that fire which improves good deeds like gold and consumes sins like stubble. This is undoubtedly the Holy Spirit, who is called both the fire and light of the countenance of God: light as we said above: "The light of your countenance has been sealed upon us, O Lord." What is, then, the light that is sealed, but that of the seal of the Spirit, believing in whom, "you were sealed," he says, "with the Holy Spirit of promise." And as there is a light of the divine countenance, so, too, does fire shine forth from the countenance of God, for it is written: "A fire shall burn in his sight." For the grace of the day of judgment shines beforehand, that forgiveness may follow to reward the service of the saints. O the great fullness of the Scriptures, which no one can comprehend with human genius! O greatest proof of the divine unity! For how many things are pointed out in these two verses!

Yet how do these fight? "Pitchers", it says, they carry, "and lamps and horn trumpets in their hands", and thus, it says, they come against those countless multitudes of the enemy, among whom were "camels like the sand of the sea". And when they had come to the battle, "with the horn trumpets", it says, "they sounded". And they let go the "pitchers" from their hands, and "they were shattered". But then, snatching up the lamps, they rush upon the adversaries, and at the same time crash out with the trumpets. See how the chosen soldiers of God fight with lamps. For thus had Christ armed them, saying: "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning", and again: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven". With such lamps kindled, then, it befits the soldiers of Christ to fight, shining with the light of their works and with the splendor of their deeds. But what are the "horn trumpets" on which "they blow the trumpet"? He who speaks of heavenly things, who discourses of spiritual things, who reveals the "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven", he sounds the "trumpet"; he speaks of the "trumpet" who speaks of great and greatest things, who lays open the knowledge of Christ to human ears. But why is the "trumpet" also called "of horn"? Because it is also said of the holy one: "his horn shall be exalted in glory". Whence also each man's "trumpet" is called "of horn" in this, that he discourses the manifold knowledge of Christ and the mysteries of His cross, which is signified in the horn. Warring, then, with this "trumpet", and fighting with this, we overcome the strangers and turn the enemies to flight, even if "their multitude be like locusts". For to "locusts" is compared the multitude of demons, who have a seat neither in heaven nor on the earth. Let there go before us also in this battle the light of works, the power of knowledge, the preaching of the divine word. Let us too fight, singing together in "hymns and psalms and spiritual songs" and "crying out to God", that we may deserve to obtain from Him the victory in Christ Jesus our Lord, "to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen!".

They go forth therefore to battle with trumpets, with lamps, and with pitchers. This, as we have said, was an unusual order of battle. They sounded with the trumpets, and the pitchers were held in their left hands. But lamps were placed within the pitchers; but, when the pitchers were broken, the lamps appeared, and by their flashing light the affrighted enemies are put to flight. By the trumpets is designated therefore the loud voice of preachers, by the lamps the brightness of their miracles, by the pitchers the frailness of their bodies. For our Leader led forth with Him, to the contest of preaching, such as by making light of their bodily safety, would overthrow their enemies by dying, and would overcome their swords, not by arms, not by words, but by patience. For our Martyrs came armed under their Leader to battle, but armed with trumpets, with pitchers, with lamps. And they sounded with their trumpets, when preaching; they broke their pitchers, when exposing their bodies to dissolution by the swords of the enemy in their suffering; they shone forth with lamps, when after the dissolution of their bodies they flashed forth with miracles. And their enemies were presently put to flight, because, when they beheld the bodies of dead Martyrs glittering with miracles, they were overpowered by the light of truth, and believed that which they had impugned. They sounded therefore with the trumpets, that the pitchers might he broken; the pitchers were broken, that the lamps might appear; the lamps appeared, that the enemies might be put to flight. That is, the Martyrs preached, till their bodies were dissolved in death; their bodies were dissolved in death, that they might shine forth with miracles; they shone forth with miracles, that they might overthrow their enemies with divine light; so that they might no longer stand up and resist God, but submit to, and be afraid of, Him.

They who were glorying in their army, whose king was the Assyrian and who used to boast "I will scale the heavens," not only fell down to earth but on the ground became dung."Make their nobles." What nobles? Those who fight against your people. "Like Oreb and Zeeb; all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna." I suppose you have read in the book of Judges the story of Gideon, who is also called Jerubbaal, how he outwitted those four kings while fighting for the people of God and put an end to them. And notice the kind of nobles these Midianites are who abandoned the judgment of God: "Oreb and Zeeb; all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna." Who would dream that such words contain mysteries of the Savior? The philosophers read them and smile; the rhetoricians read them and sneer. Not only the rhetoricians, however, but the Jews, too; they have not the key to their treasures, for a veil covers their eyes. "Oreb" means a "hole in which a snake lurks"; "Zeeb" equals "wolf." Mark, now, the names of the chiefs of Christ's opponents: "Zebah," "victim or spoil that the wolf will strangle"; and "Zalmunna," "masters of malice." See, then, the divine secrets hidden away in names?