His fellow answered, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hand God has delivered Midian, and all the host.
Yahweh obviously sent this dream. The Midianite soldier derived his interpretation of his friend’s dream from the symbolism in the dream. Barley bread was the food of the poor and would have been the staple of the Israelites under the conditions they had to endure during Midian’s oppression. The tent was the home of all the Midianite, Amalekite, and Arabian Bedouins. The soldiers had obviously heard of Gideon and his plans to engage them in battle. They therefore concluded that the unlikely destruction of the tent by a mere loaf of barley bread signified Gideon’s destruction of their forces.