John Gill Commentary Judges 7:21

"And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran; and they shouted, and put [them] to flight." — Judges 7:21 (ASV)

And they stood every man in his place around the camp
To see the salvation of God, and that it might most clearly appear to be his own doing; and indeed, had they gone into it, they could have done nothing; they had no weapons in their hands, a trumpet in one hand, and a lamp in the other; though this their position served to increase the terror of the enemy, who might suppose that they stood either to light and introduce a large army at the back of them; or to light the forces already in the midst of them, while they destroyed them; which latter seems rather to be the thing their imaginations were possessed with, since they fell to slaying their fellows, supposing them to be enemies, as in the following verse:

and all the host ran, and cried, and fled ;
or "were broken" ^F12 ; as some render the first word, their lines were broken; they could not put themselves in rank and file, but were thrown into the utmost confusion; and cried as being in the utmost danger of their lives, and fled for their safety as fast, as they could; see (Isaiah 27:13) (Hebrews 6:18) .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F12: (Uwr) "confracta", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.