Ascending the way of barking and exaltation

An imaginative/integrative reading of Gideon’s military navigation.

And Gideon ascended the way of the abiders in tents from the east unto Novach and Yogbahah and smote the camp; and the camp was confident. (Judges 8:11)

Why are we told the way Gideon goes before he smites the camp? Three details seem significant:

1. He ascends from (or to) the east

2. The ascent is the way of the abiders in tents

3. The direction is toward Novach and Yogbahah

These are peculiar details. What the author could have said is that Gideon took a nomad caravan route around to the east, to outflank Midian and meet them coming the other way.

That is, in essence, what he tells us; but he says it in this cryptic, almost encoded “format” — full of details that mean nearly nothing to us in terms of geography or strategy. No one knows for sure where these places are any more; and the Holy Spirit certainly knew that their locations would be forgotten — yet he carefully preserved their names. By the same token, what difference does it make if Gideon is going uphill or downhill? And why the odd description of the tent-dwellers?

So perhaps the specific terms here are important for more than merely conveying geographical and strategical details. It seems to me there is some clear theological signaling and even humor going on here.

The use of the specific term “abiders in tents” to describe the nomads of the eastern desert is surely calculated to evoke an extra layer of meaning beyond the obvious: although this is a common root word in scripture, its first use is in Genesis 3:24, where God makes cherubs (angelic palace-guardians) to “abide” at the east of the garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life. After this, while abide does have mundane meanings, it is overwhelmingly used in the books of Moses and Joshua — the books leading up to Judges — of The “Abode” — or, traditionally translated, the tabernacle.

(In fact, it is a word so significant in this regard that it has been received into English, in a somewhat odd form, as Shekhinah.)

Thus the word “abide” has a very strong connotation in scripture; a connotation, in fact, of the mystery of God’s own presence among us. We refer to this mystery every time we take the Lord’s supper at

Redwood Reformation Church

: we quote Deuteronomy 12, 14, 16 and 26, which all say basically the same thing: “You shall eat and rejoice before Yahweh your God, in the place which he has chosen, to make his name abide there.” And then we all respond: “Abide in us Lord, as we abide in you;” for we ourselves, of course, are the abodes of God now — the tabernacles in which he settles and dwells.

So it seems to me that there is more in this turn of phrase, “abiders in tents,” than merely a quaint description of nomads. What is the “way of the abiders in tents?” It is the way of God and his people.

This way is also an easterly ascent. Of course it is — an ascent of Eden, the mountain of God. Gideon is not just depicted as taking a geographical journey, but a spiritual one; the word choices in the text make this to be a spiritual pursuit as well as a physical one; and a religious victory as well as a military one.

What about Novach and Yogbahah? Why are they included? I believe partly for humor.

Gideon’s way is the ascent of those who God abides in (and who abide in God) — but it is also the way of barking (Novach), and exaltation (Yogbahah). A comical juxtaposition — but of course, hardly an unexpected one: Gideon is pursuing with his 300 dog-soldiers, the men who lapped like dogs. More on that another time.