Gideon - A Prophetic Picture
Gideon and the Midianites
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. Judges 7:19-22
When will there be a great shout, the blowing of trumpets (shofars) and these jars of clay (our bodies) opened up to reveal the light inside (treasure in jars of clay)?
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 1Thessalonians 4:16
The supernatural defeat of the Midianites is a prophetic picture of the Rapture!
Where did the battle take place in which God defeated the Midianites?
The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh (meaning teacher or teaching - where the ungodly are taught it is not by might or power that victory takes place).
The valley near the hill of Moreh is the valley of Jezreel which lies in the view of Megiddo - the location of the final battle of Armageddon!
The Midianites initially fled to Bet-shittah toward Zererah, (Shittah is the same acacia wood of which the ark was made). So it could be translated: “the house of [acacia] wood of the tying/binding.” Or put another way, "the tying/binding of the house of the [acacia] wood."
The army of the Midianites fled as far as Abel Meholah near Tabath, but in Hebrew it is: "Avel-Mecholah of Tavat" This can be translated: Avel = mourning, Mechola = affliction; and Tavat = slaying. This can be put together as "the mourning of the afflicted one [on account of] the slaying."
Then the leaders of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, Gideon pursued just past Sukkot toward the tower (migdal) Penuel. So he was chasing these two kings from the place of the "booths/tabernacles" to the "watchtower [of the] face of God".
The chronology -
1) The Midianites first fled to Beth Shittah (a picture of the First Advent):
“The house of wood of the tying/binding” - the crucifixion of the Messiah
(See - Genesis 22, known as the “Binding of Isaac”)
2) Then as far as Abel Meholah near Tabath (a picture of the Second Coming):
“The mourning of the afflicted one [on account of] the slaying” -
"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. Zechariah 12:10-11
3) Then Gideon pursued the leaders of the Midianites, Zebah and Zalmunna past Sukkot (a picture of The Millennial Reign of Messiah): “Booths/Tabernacles”
Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. Zechariah 14:16
4) Finally the enemies of God's people were pursued to the tower of Penuel (a picture of the White Throne Judgment of the unrighteous after the Millennium):
“Watchtower [of the] face of God”
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence (the face of God), and there was no place for them.
Revelation 20:11
Gideon and the Midianites - AN INCREDIBLE PROPHETIC PICTURE!!
The very first verse of the Book of Revelation declared to the churches of the first century that something “must soon take place.”