Gideon’s Army of Three Hundred
Early in the morning Jerubbaal 1(that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. Jdg 6:32Gen 12:6Ecc 9:10Deu 11:30Gen 22:3Jos 3:1Jos 6:12
Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many people for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Deu 8:171Co 1:27-292Co 4:7Rom 11:18Zec 12:7Zec 4:61Co 2:4-51Sa 14:6 Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” Deu 20:8Rev 17:14Mat 20:16Rev 21:8Luk 14:25-33Mat 13:21
So twenty-two thousand of them turned back, but ten thousand remained.
Then the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go. But if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” Psa 33:161Sa 16:71Sa 14:6Job 23:10Mal 3:2-3Psa 7:9Gen 22:1Jer 6:27-30
So Gideon brought the people down to the water, and the LORD said to him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel to drink.” And the number of those who lapped the water with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men; all the others knelt to drink.
Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped the water I will save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand. But all the others are to go home.” 1Sa 14:6Isa 41:14-16Jdg 7:18-22
So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred men, who took charge of the provisions and rams’ horns of the others. And the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. Isa 27:131Co 15:52Jdg 3:27Jos 6:20Jos 6:4Lev 23:24Lev 25:9Num 10:9
The Sword of Gideon
That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. Act 18:9-10Gen 46:2-3Jdg 3:282Ch 16:8-92Ch 20:17Act 27:23Isa 41:10-16Isa 43:1-2 But if you are afraid to do so, then go down to the camp with your servant Purah Exo 4:10-14Jdg 4:8-9 and listen to what they are saying. Then your hands will be strengthened to attack the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant to the outposts where armed men were guarding the camp. 2Co 12:9-10Eph 6:10Php 4:131Sa 14:8-101Sa 23:16Exo 13:18Ezr 6:22Gen 24:14
Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore. Jdg 6:5Jdg 8:10Isa 8:9-10Jdg 6:3Jos 11:4Psa 118:10-12Psa 3:1Psa 33:16 And as Gideon arrived, a man was telling his friend about a dream. “Behold, I had a dream,” he said, “and I saw a loaf of barley bread come tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent so hard that the tent overturned and collapsed.” 1Co 1:27Isa 41:14-15Jdg 3:15Jdg 3:31Jdg 4:21Jdg 4:9Jdg 6:15
His friend replied: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has delivered Midian and the whole camp into his hand.” Jos 2:92Ki 7:6-7Exo 15:14-15Job 1:10Jos 2:24Jos 5:1Num 22:38Num 23:20
Gideon Defeats Midian
When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” 2Co 10:4-6Gen 24:48Gen 40:82Ch 20:18-19Gen 24:26-27Gen 41:11Jdg 4:14Exo 4:30-31 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch. 2 2Co 4:7
“Watch me and do as I do,” Gideon said. “When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do exactly as I do. Mat 16:241Co 11:1Heb 13:71Pe 5:3Jdg 9:48 When I and all who are with me blow our horns, then you are also to blow your horns from all around the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’” 2Ch 20:15-171Sa 17:47
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands. Exo 14:24Psa 2:9Rev 16:151Th 5:2Jdg 7:16Jer 13:13-14Jer 19:1-11Mat 25:6 The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 1Co 15:52Isa 27:13Jos 6:162Co 4:7Jos 6:20Jos 6:4Num 10:1-101Th 4:16
Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran. Pro 28:12Ch 20:172Ki 7:6-7Exo 14:13-14Exo 14:25Isa 30:15Isa 30:7Job 15:21-22 And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah 3as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath. 1Ki 4:121Ki 19:162Ch 20:23Isa 19:2Isa 9:4Jos 6:16Jos 6:20Jos 6:4 Then the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites. Jdg 6:351Sa 14:21-22
Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah. Jdg 12:5Jdg 3:27-28Jhn 1:28Php 1:27Rom 15:30 They also captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. So they pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan. Isa 10:26Jdg 8:3-4Psa 83:11-12Jos 7:26