Judges 6:5

My Notes

What Does Judges 6:5 Mean?

This verse describes the Midianite invasion that preceded Gideon's call. The Midianites didn't just raid Israel — they overwhelmed it. They came with livestock and tents, which means they weren't conducting hit-and-run attacks. They were migrating into the land seasonally, stripping it bare like locusts. The comparison to grasshoppers isn't poetic exaggeration — it describes the ecological reality of a nomadic horde that consumed everything in its path.

The phrase "without number" applied to both people and camels emphasizes the psychological impact. Israel wasn't facing an organized army with a countable force — they were facing an unquantifiable swarm. You can strategize against a known enemy. You can't strategize against an innumerable one. The Midianites came specifically "to destroy" the land, not to settle it. This was economic warfare — destroying Israel's ability to feed itself, year after year.

Israel's response to this invasion was to hide in caves and mountain strongholds (Judges 6:2). The nation God had led into the Promised Land with miracle after miracle was now cowering in holes, unable to plant crops because anything they grew would be devoured. This is the backdrop for Gideon's call — a nation reduced to hiding, with no visible path forward.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Have you been in a 'grasshopper' season — where the problems felt innumerable and consuming? How did you respond?
• 2.Israel hid in caves, unable to plant or harvest. Where has fear or oppression caused you to stop building, creating, or investing in your future?
• 3.God called Gideon while the Midianites were still swarming. What does it mean that God doesn't wait for your circumstances to improve before He calls you?
• 4.The Midianites came 'to destroy.' Is there something in your life that feels specifically targeted for destruction? What would it look like to stop hiding and face it?

Devotional

The image is overwhelming by design. Grasshoppers for multitude. Camels without number. They came to destroy. This is what oppression looks like when it's gone on so long that you can't even see its edges — it's everywhere, consuming everything, and you can't count it because counting it would mean it's finite, and it doesn't feel finite.

If you've ever been in a season where the problems multiplied faster than your ability to address them — where every time you looked up, there was another wave — you know what Israel felt hiding in those caves. The temptation in that kind of season isn't to fight. It's to curl up, protect whatever scraps you have left, and hope the swarm passes. That's survival mode. And survival mode has no vision beyond the next day.

But this is exactly where God shows up. Not when Israel was strong and resourceful, but when they were in caves. Not when the enemy was manageable, but when it was without number. God's pattern isn't to show up when you've gotten yourself to a reasonable starting position. His pattern is to show up in the cave, when the grasshoppers are still swarming, and call you a mighty warrior when you feel like anything but.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture