And Gideon came, and behold, a man was telling a dream to his fellow; and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley-bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it; and the tent lay along.
On the night before the battle Gideon is still afraid. He goes down to the edge of the enemy camp and overhears a soldier describing a dream. A loaf of the cheapest bread rolls in and flattens a tent. God used that strange picture to steady a frightened man. It says as much about Gideon's smallness as about Midian's fall.
The encouragement comes from a man in the opposing army, and his companion gives the meaning.
One of the army of Midian had a dream, and Gideon is allowed to hear him tell it to his friend. It is simple almost to the point of being crude... His companion interprets it in plain words: "This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp." So from the lips of the enemy he receives God's assurance that the whole movement will succeed.
God has often spoken this way, and not only to His own people.
There is plenty of evidence in the Scriptures that God often made His mind known to people through dreams. He did this not only with those who obeyed Him, but also with those outside Israel. Gen. 20:3, 6; Judges 7:13.
The kind of grain in the dream carries the message.
Barley bread, because of its coarseness, was the food of the poorest peasants only... The Midianite's dream of a cake of barley bread rolling into the camp was a vivid picture of how desperate the starving, poverty-stricken Israelites had become. Yet by the Lord's help the despised cake overturned the tent of the oppressor (Judges 7:13).
One writer draws attention to what the dream did not show — no weapon appears in it at all.
Barley bread is the poorest of all foods — the food of paupers. So it suggested poverty and feebleness — the very lessons stressed all along. The fact, too, that it was food and not a sword that was to overthrow Midian is significant. When the people of God are feeding on Christ, they are getting a sword for the enemy. God can use even our feeble and partial understanding of Christ as a most effective weapon.
God answers Gideon's fear, but the answer costs him something.
Divine encouragement is never given to puff up the flesh. Anything of pride and self-importance must have been badly wounded. God shows His favoured servant what is coming: he will strike down the Midianites as one man. Even so, He makes him feel that in himself he is only a "cake of barley bread."
What frightens the enemy is not Israel's strength.
Nothing strikes such terror into the heart of the enemy as a sense of weakness among God's people... So this cake of barley bread, awkward as the comparison seems, testifies of God at work and of man's utter helplessness... No wonder Gideon could take courage. Even from the mouth of his enemies he learns how weak God's people are. A weakness that has thrown them on Him is a pledge of His victory. If I am strong, then Satan only has myself to deal with. If I am weak and cast on God, it is another matter.
The same writer who saw Gideon humbled by the image turns it on the reader.
If Christians lost their worldliness and were more like the cake of barley bread — the plainest thing possible — the world would stand more in fear of them. We have dressed ourselves in the world's trappings and wanted its respectability. So it thinks we have to go to it for help... Let us settle down quietly into simple, God-fearing, God-acknowledging Christianity. Then, though we look like a plain cake of barley bread, the world would feel about us as the Midianite speaks of Gideon to his friend.
What Gideon heard sent him back a different man.
He hears how his enemies already count on their own defeat... These hints are given to us with a purpose, and that purpose is to encourage us to press on more boldly. Gideon was greatly encouraged by this. The God of the dew was again brought near to him, and he worshipped, and went back in full assurance of victory before the fight had even begun.
- Fear — God met Gideon's fear at the enemy's campfire. The assurance he needed came from the mouth of the enemy himself.
- Barley — the poorest loaf, the food of paupers. It stood for the poverty and weakness of Israel.
- Humbling — the comfort came in a form that wounded pride. God promised Gideon the victory, then showed him he was only a barley cake.
- Terror — a sense of weakness in God's people is what alarms the enemy. Weakness casts them on God, and that is a pledge of His victory.
- Worship — Gideon heard the dream and worshipped. He went back to camp sure of the outcome before the battle started.
And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, the man of Israel God hath given into his hand Midian and all the host.
Before the battle, God sends Gideon down to the edge of the enemy camp. There a Midianite soldier explains a dream about a loaf of barley bread — and the explanation hands Gideon the whole army before a single trumpet sounds.
This word of assurance does not come to Gideon in private. It comes out of the camp he is about to attack.
The message comes from God Himself, spoken through the lips of the enemy. Gideon had been learning the lesson of weakness in his own soul. That same lesson struck terror into the hearts of his enemies. … If I am strong, it is simply myself that Satan has to meet. If I am weak and cast upon God, it is another matter. Satan knows then whom he has to meet — the Lord of hosts.
The dream did not flatter Gideon. The soldier calls him a sword, but the picture is a loaf of coarse bread.
Then God placed him in front of the enemy, who lay in the valley like locusts for number. Through the mouth of one of them He drew Gideon's portrait. This mighty man of valour was compared to a cake of barley bread — coarse, homely food — and this was "the sword of Gideon"! A fine sort of sword to strike down such a multitude! But in reality the sword of Gideon was "the sword of Jehovah" (v. 20), and that is where the power lay.
The same message that steadied Gideon also humbled him:
Divine encouragement never puffs up the flesh. Anything of pride and self-importance must have been badly wounded. God shows His favoured servant what is about to happen: he will strike the Midianites as one man. Yet God makes him feel that in himself he is only a "cake of barley bread."
The dreamer saw bread; his friend said "sword." The two images look like a mismatch.
"Bread" and a "sword" seem the most mismatched figures; and yet both are figures of the word of God. And barley bread is the bread of the poorest. It may here speak of that word as its despisers rate it, or more likely of even its simplest and lowest truths. For what more than these is needed against Midian and Amalek, that is, the world and the lusts of the flesh, as they break in here on the Church of God?
The choice of barley says something about the people God uses:
Barley bread is the poorest of all foods — the food of the destitute. So it suggested poverty and feebleness, the very lessons stressed all along. It matters, too, that food and not a sword was to overthrow Midian. When the people of God are feeding on Christ, they are getting a sword for the enemy. God can use even our weak and partial grasp of Christ as a highly effective weapon.
The verse ends in the past tense: God has already handed Midian over. That tells Gideon the true state of the army in front of him.
Gideon learned to know himself, but God also revealed to him the moral state of the enemy he was called to face. It was a defeated foe. "God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp," said the Midianite to his fellow (v. 14). May we understand this truth better in connection with our three enemies — the flesh, the world and Satan. The flesh is crucified, the world is overcome, Satan is judged. This fills us with courage in front of them. Gideon grasped all this, and worshipped.
Commentators differ over what the barley cake pictures. Some see Gideon's own weakness; others see the plainest truths of God's word. One writer looks past the bread to the sword:
And then we read of this barley loaf: "This is no other than the sword of Gideon" (Judges 7:14). This sword of Gideon shows us that the Lord has conquered the enemy and the world. Here Gideon becomes a type of the Lord Jesus.
If a barley cake is what frightened Midian, then respectability is not our strength.
Is there not instruction for us in this? Suppose Christians were stripped of their worldliness, and were more truly like the "cake of barley bread" — the plainest thing imaginable. Then the world would fear them more. We have dressed ourselves in its trappings and wanted its respectability, so it assumes we must come to it for help. … Let us quietly settle down into simple, God-fearing, God-acknowledging Christianity. Then, though outwardly only a cake of barley bread, the world would feel about us as the Midianite spoke of Gideon to his friend.
- Bread — God pictured His servant as the cheapest food there was: coarse barley, not steel.
- Portrait — an enemy spoke Gideon's own likeness. God's encouragement lifted his courage and wounded his pride.
- Sword — bread and sword are one picture. Feeding on Christ and on the plainest truths of God's word is the weapon against the world and the flesh.
- Already given — the Midianite spoke of a victory God had already granted. The flesh is crucified, the world overcome, Satan judged.
- Worship — Gideon worshipped before the battle began. A people content to look like barley bread are the people the world learns to fear.