‘ So Gideon, and the one hundred men who were with him, came to the extremity of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch, and they blew the ram's horns and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands, and the three companies blew the ram's horns, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands and the ram's horns in their right hands to blow withal, and they cried “The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon”.'
So the men of Israel crept silently down in the darkness just after 10:00 pm (22:00 hours, the middle watch was from around 22:00 hours to 2:00 am), when most would be asleep or dozing in anticipation of coming battle. The new watch had just come on, alert and nervous, and suddenly there came the wail of a single ram's horn, and then the area around the camp became alive with signs of a night attack, with ram's horns replying and torches blazing. Night attack was always devastating, for in the darkness it was not always possible to tell who was who, and figures in the darkness seemed multiplied, and could be friend or enemy.
So first the ram's horns were sounded, echoing through the night, drawing attention to the wide areas where the attacks were coming from, then the horns on their cords were dropped while the pitchers, which would be of earth and easily broken, were smashed. This would make an unnerving noise in the darkness as they probably clashed them against each other, and the torches would then be lifted and waved, bursting into flame.
Dropping the broken jars they would again seize their ram's horns and would give a further series of blasts, and would wave their torches and shout their warcry, “For Yahweh and for Gideon”. The torches would be of rags soaked in oil on a stick, or some other form of inflammable material. They would only glow gently within the pitchers until exposed to and waved in the air. The whole effect over a wide area can be imagined. The Midianite confederacy, already unnerved by Yahweh's activity, wondered what was about to hit them and panicked. The dreaded Gideon, by now developed in their minds into a mythical hero, was here.
The sentinels would probably sound their own horns, and some would race to the commanders' tents. Figures would be moving in the darkness with drawn swords, joined by others leaving their tents ready for an attack, some carrying torches. The fearful, unnerved, would think of escape, others of readiness for battle, and run to their camels with weapons at the ready. The result was that as shadowy figures came out of the darkness of the camp they began to see each other as the enemy and to cut each other down, and as blade clashed with blade it would result in further panic. The enemy were among them!