‘And Gideon went up by the way of those who dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host for they were off their guard.'
With his men hungry and fainting Gideon visited the semi-nomads who were keeping their flocks to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, where it seems they found the hospitality which had been lacking from the cities of their own tribal federation. These people may well have hated the confederacy of the people of the east because they had suffered from their depredations. They would always be prey to them and would have nothing to lose by helping Gideon. Indeed they may well have provided Gideon with desert fighters, or at least guides. Jogbehah (modern Jubeihat) was a ‘fenced city with folds for the sheep' in territory allotted to Gad (Numbers 32:35-36). Nobah was previously called Kenath (Numbers 32:42).
“And smote the host for they were off their guard.” It should be noted that at this stage there is no specific mention of the three hundred, although they would still be his main fighting force. He may well have been reinforced by the semi-nomad desert fighters, and even possibly by Ephraimites when they sought him out to complain (Judges 7:25 to Judges 8:2), to say nothing of others involved in the pursuit. Thus Gideon may have had a reasonably large force with which to make his attack which was totally successful because he caught them off their guard, possibly with the guidance of the desert fighters. The sudden warcry of ‘the sword of Yahweh and of Gideon' coming when they thought they were well out of range of his forces may well have struck further terror to their hearts. Here was that dreaded Gideon again, come no doubt by some supernatural means. They were no doubt still convinced that they had earlier been defeated by a huge force.