Being spread out around the camp made them sound like a much larger army. The great noise, the commotion, and the sight of three hundred blazing torches around the camp sent the Midianite camp into a total frenzy! Those who were asleep are now awake. The smashing of the jars makes them think the enemy is already plundering the camp. They see lights on all sides. They hear the battle cries of Israel. And there is widespread, divinely induced fear and panic. It is every man for himself. Each man starts cutting down whoever gets in his way. You can just picture the armed men returning from first watch to find their tent, and they would have been seen by those who just woke up and who would not be able to know who was moving around the camp—friends or enemies—until it was too late.1 The Midianites fought and slay one another in the confused mayhem.
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.