It happened the same night, that Yahweh said to him, Arise, get you down into the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand.
"Gideon’s request with the fleece reflected war in his heart: he was fearful and lacked faith. Interestingly the reduction of Gideon’s army in the structure of the text falls precisely between his unfounded request for a fleece and God’s exposure of his fear. Therefore the reduction of the army was not so much intended to glorify God (by demonstrating His ability to deliver with only 300) as it was to put Gideon in a position where his fear would be exposed. The very thing Gideon had hoped to achieve by the fleece demonstration-some kind of self-assurance that things would turn out well-was the very ’carpet’ that God pulled out from beneath him. Gideon sought to gain some security by his self-conceived sign with the fleece, and though God acquiesced to that request, He immediately countered by putting Gideon in an even more vulnerable position. If Gideon struggled to trust God with 32,000 Israelites against a Midianite force of 135,000 (see Judges 8:10), how would he react when he had only a force of 300? In this light the words of God in Judges 7:10 take on great significance." [Note: Tanner, p. 159.] 