So Gideon, and the hundred men who were with him, came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.
"This old Jewish method of `three watches' is alluded to in  Exodus 14:24;  1 Samuel 11:11 and in  Lamentations 2:19; after the Jews fell under the power of the Romans, they used the Roman method of `four watches' per night, having three hours each.  This was the system mentioned in the gospels  Matthew 14:25 and in  Mark 13:35."[16]