Judges 7:12
And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.
The valley below the hill where Israel was stationed was filled by Midian joined with Amalek from the south of Canaan and the peoples of the east from beyond the Jordan, spread out together in vast multitude like swarming grasshoppers or locusts, with camels too many to count like sand by the seaside. Those enemies were wild, fierce desert peoples and unrelenting foes of Israel who had thirsted for revenge since they were nearly destroyed in the days of Moses, but had since grown greatly in numbers and power. Their presence came because Israel's evil caused God's protecting hand to be withdrawn, so they swarmed over the whole land from the Jordan to the Philistine plain as soon as harvests began to ripen and stayed until the last fruits were gathered. Stripping the fields and robbing and abusing the inhabitants like a devouring plague with flocks, herds and camels before returning to the deserts, they forced those in the open country to abandon homes for walled towns, fortresses, caves and rocky mountain strongholds in an oppression that lasted seven years until the people heeded the Lord's reproof and confessed their sins.
The verse belongs to the deliverance account in Judges 6-8 and illustrates the repeated pattern in which Israel's sins separated them from God and brought them into subjection to nations they could have subdued with God's help, God raised up a faithful and courageous man to put down idolatry and rescue them, and after the deliverer's death the people gradually returned to their idols. Against this countless host Israel had only three hundred men, so victory by human strength was impossible and the scale of the deliverance God would accomplish through Gideon's small force is made clear. Gideon trembled as he thought of the next day's conflict, making God's encouragement that night necessary.
The surrounding account shows the victory came from divine power and wisdom rather than human strength, skill, numbers or talent, through simple and humble means, so that no person could claim the glory but the glory belongs to the Lord alone. That divine deliverance came as Gideon's army in living faith followed God's special directions, showing that success comes when God's help works together with human effort as His people trust and obey Him. The verse therefore teaches that numbers do not decide success, rebuking faithlessness and narrowness of outlook, since making only narrow plans results in very little being accomplished.