Judges 7:24
And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan.
Israel had done evil and had been given into the hand of Midian for seven years, and this call to Ephraim belongs to the deliverance God then raised up. It stands in the repeated cycle in which the people in distress heeded reproof and confessed their sins, God raised up Gideon as helper and deliverer, yet after a deliverer died the people returned to idolatry. The oppressors were Midianites from the eastern border and beyond together with Amalekites from the south, unrelenting enemies nearly destroyed in the days of Moses who had grown numerous and powerful and thirsted for revenge. When God's protecting hand was withdrawn they swarmed in like locusts for multitude with flocks and herds from the Jordan to the Philistine plain as soon as harvests ripened and remained until the last fruits were gathered, stripping fields, robbing and maltreating the inhabitants. The tribes east of the Jordan suffered first but the whole land suffered, forcing those in the open country to abandon homes for walled towns, fortresses, and caves and rocky fastnesses.
After the first rout Gideon sent messengers throughout Mount Ephraim to rouse Ephraim to take the waters to Beth-barah and the Jordan, meaning to seize the southern fords of the Jordan to cut off the fleeing Midianites so they could not escape and the victory could be finished. The Midianites were making for the Jordan hoping to escape to their own territory beyond the river. Ephraim had stayed out of the first battle, treating it as too dangerous and using the lack of a special summons as an excuse, and joined only after Israel's triumph was known, envious at missing a share. All the men of Ephraim gathered, seized the fords, joined the pursuit, and helped complete the victory by killing many fugitives, including the two princes Oreb and Zeeb. Dismissed Israelites also returned at this time to join the pursuit.
While Ephraim held the fords, Gideon with his three hundred, faint yet pursuing, crossed the stream hard after those who had already gained the farther side, leading to the overtaking and slaying of Zebah and Zalmunna and the breaking of Midianite power. Even after helping complete the deliverance, Ephraim resented not having shared in the earlier victory and remained jealous and angry toward Gideon as if he had acted on his own. In this they failed to see God's hand in the triumph and showed themselves unfit to have been chosen as His special instruments. Gideon's army prevailed not because of numbers but because in living faith they followed God's special directions. The verse therefore teaches that victory comes through faith and obedience to God's directions, while faithlessness and narrow views and narrow plans result in very little being accomplished.