Tents in which God made the Israelites dwell captivated Him because the people living in them were humbled and obeyed God’s command. They used to move with their tents when the pillar of cloud and fire moved from their midst. They would stop and pitch their tents where these pillars stopped. So God liked their tents or camp very much.
When the Israelites camped, kings and nations surrounding that place used to fear them. They trembled when they came to know that the camping place of Israel was not far from their own country. The sound of their trumpets frightened them, and even the walls crumbled when the shouts were made from the people of these camps. Many kings joined allies just to destroy these camps, but the God who deemed these camps beautiful gave them victory over these nations and kings.
Finally, the day came in the lives of the Israelites when they received their promised lands. They made their own houses with bricks and stones, creating structures out of them. They left their tents to live in permanent places but never forgot the experiences the tents taught them. Even if they forgot, God never forgot their tents. Every time they became homeless, the first thing God remembered was their tents. For example – “I will restore the tents of David” (Amos 9:11) or “I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents” (Jeremiah 30:18).
The enemy has the habit of copying every good thing God performs. He duplicates everything God does. When Moses performed miracles, the enemy tried to do the same. If God has prophets, he has false prophets. When God marks His people, the devil marks his. Likewise, he copies every tactic. The enemy tried to copy this tactic of camping.
Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Judges 6:2-5
The Midianites swarmed over the land like locusts, bringing their tents, livestock and camels. They invaded Israel and devoured everything in their path. This tactic was not new to Israel. They had used it before when they conquered the lands of Canaan and claimed the promise of God. But now, the tables had turned and they were the ones being oppressed by a ruthless enemy. The Midianites did not leave after plundering the land. They waited for the Israelites to sow their crops and harvest their produce, and then they came again to take it all away. The people who once lived in houses and cities built by their own hands, now hid in caves, clefts, and strongholds in the mountains. They were afraid to live in their own land, the land that God had given them.
The Israelites may have thought that if they got their own land and structures built with their own hands, they might be indestructible. But the strength they had when they stayed in tents was something they were missing after entering the promised land and attaining rest.
In our lives, we may think of many solutions that could make our lives easier. Solutions are good, and resting from all the problems sounds good. However, the truth is that these problems are what make us stronger. At one point when God looks at the tents of Israel, He says they have the strength of a wild ox. But these wild oxen have now somewhat turned into bunnies and are trying to burrow their way to hide in the mountains.
The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the Oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in winepress to keep it from the Midianites. Judges 6:11
To save the Israelites from the Midianites, God called a man named Gideon. To save his harvest from the Midianites, he was threshing in a winepress. He encountered the angel of the Lord. We know how things went on from there (Judges 6,7). But the interesting thing that the angel of the Lord told Gideon was, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand.” What strength did he possess? He was afraid to go to war with the Midianites. The answer is the strength he showed in hiding the harvest from the enemy. While others were busy finding new shelters and caves, he stayed in the same place and was busy threshing the harvest in the winepress.
Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying, “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such a force that the tent overturned and collapsed.” Judges 7:13
A man who was hiding and trying to thresh wheat so that maybe he could get a loaf of bread out of it. But when God is with him, He is that bread that can topple the tents of the enemies. We may have lost our previous strength. We may wonder if we were young we would have faced certain difficulties easily. But no, if you ever ate manna, there’s a great deal of strength left in you, which is enough to overthrow your enemies. It’s just that you need to realize your strength.
There are many instances in the Bible when the enemy copied this strategy against the Israelites. Sometimes certain people regained their strength in God and defeated them. Sometimes God sent His angels to finish off this challenging enemy. One angel once defeated 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in a single battle and made their camps empty. God will make the tents, horses, chariots, orphans if they ever come up against you. Then all you have to do is to plunder. God not only sharpens but also provides strength to the arrows kept in the QUIVER OF GOD.
