p. 6 | QUALITY NOT NUMBERS by John G. Woolley

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 4, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 40.

QUALITY NOT NUMBERS.

By John G. Woolley

[John G. Woolley, in the New Voice.]

"The people that are with thee are too many." Judges 7:2.

It is the common frailty of leaders that they get enamored of numbers.

Gideon thought that in order that Israel should be able to destroy the Midianites, "the people ought to get together." He had gone from tribe to tribe and held meetings, made red-hot anti-Midian speeches, taken up a collection, and organized an anti-Midianite league. He had asked for a show of hands of all who were opposed to Midian, and had explained that he had no purpose to separate anybody from anybody else, that what he wanted was what everybody wanted,—a crowd of good people.

The thing was a great success, naturally. The woods were full of people, who, upon one ground or another, were opposed to the enemy. But comparatively few of them had formed any purpose about it. Most of them would have cheerfully let the foe alone forever if they could have simply had "prosperity."

But Gideon got them together, and they had conventions and consecration meetings and sung Moses' psalms, and the presidents of the local societies made speeches, and the "general staff" fixed upon an official badge, and it sold like hot cakes. And Gideon made his report, and showed that new societies were forming every day, and that he was expecting the movement to break out among the Midianites themselves; and he proposed for the watchword, "Going and growing."

And they went—one fare for the round trip—and grew and grew, until they struck the enemy's camp in the valley of Jezreel; and there were of the Israelites in rendezvous at Harod thirty-two thousand men.

And God said to Gideon: "You have too many people—of the kind." They would be all right for a convention, but this is a fight, and twenty-two thousand of these are ready to cut and run now." And Gideon said, "O, I guess not!"

God said, "Try them." And when a general furlough was offered to all who didn't feel very well, twenty-two thousand quit the service.

Gideon was thunderstruck for a moment, of course, but his blood was warming, and when the last of the quitters had shuffled by, he closed up the ranks, and, saluting, said with kindling eye, "Behold, O Lord, ten thousand heroes!"

But God said: "You have yet too many people. These were all too proud to run away, but there is a lot of them who think too much of their own comfort. They would complain at overwork and criticize the rations. What you want is a few men who will not think of themselves, who will not recognize a hardship when they meet it. However, try these ten thousand. Give the order to 'charge across the creek.'"

The command was given. At the waterside ninety-seven hundred picked out a good place to kneel, and got down on their knees to have a comfortable drink, and by the time they were too full of water to run at all, three hundred lean, dry-lipped, obedient, uncalculating, fighting men were leaping up the far bank toward the hill of Moreh.

And God said: "Gideon, that army of yours is all right at ninety-seven per cent. discount for cash. Blow your trumpet now, and stop those three hundred fanatics, until you provision them. Send these others to the tents; they are not cowards, but selfish. You can use them for garrison duty, after the fight. Then take your three hundred fighters and go in."

Gideon learned enough that day to entitle him to a Ph.D., and after he had bivouacked his reserves, he gathered his devoted handful and outlined his plan of battle; and there was no namby-pamby brag about "going and growing," but the slogan was, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon."

It was this same lesson that, fifteen hundred years later, Jesus tried to teach in the discipleship of peace: "Whosoever will come after Me let him" go in for quality, not numbers.