Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 7:10

"But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Purah thy servant down to the camp:" — Judges 7:10 (ASV)

To go down. —If you fear to make the attack at once, without still further encouragement. Let it be kept in mind that the courage required by Gideon and his men was in many respects far beyond that of the much more vaunted 300 at Thermopylæ—

1. because they were to attack, not to defend;
2. because they were to attack a host in the plain, not to hold a narrow valley;
3. because they had not a large number of allies and attendants with them, as the 300 Spartans had (Grote’s Greece, vol. 5, pp. 103, 121).

Phurah your servant. —The name Phurah means “branch”; the word for “servant” is literally boy, but here means the armour-bearer. The classical reader will recall the night-raid of Diomedes and Odysseus into the camp of the Thracians at Troy (Iliad, Book 10, line 220 and following).