Gideon's Army

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years He gave them into the hands of the Midianites. The Midianites were so oppressive that the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds. Whenever Israel planted crops, the Midianites and other eastern peoples invaded with their camels in vast numbers like swarms of locusts, devastating the land and leaving no sustenance for Israel. The Midianites impoverished Israel greatly, and they cried out to the Lord for help.

The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon while he was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. The angel said, 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.' Gideon's response revealed his doubt: 'If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about?' He was hiding in fear, yet the angel called him a mighty warrior—seeing not what Gideon was but what God would make him. The Lord said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?'

Gideon protested his inadequacy: 'How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.' But the Lord answered, 'I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.' This promise of divine presence was more important than Gideon's qualifications. Gideon asked for a sign and prepared an offering. When the angel touched it with his staff, fire flared from the rock, consuming the offering. Then the angel disappeared, and Gideon realized he had seen the angel of the Lord face to face.

That night, the Lord told Gideon to tear down his father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it, then build a proper altar to the Lord. Gideon obeyed, though he did it at night because he was afraid. When the townspeople discovered what he'd done, they wanted to kill him, but his father defended him, saying if Baal was really a god, he could defend himself. From that day, Gideon was called Jerub-Baal ('let Baal contend'). Before Gideon could lead Israel against external enemies, he had to deal with the idolatry within.

When the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed the Jordan, the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning fighters. Thirty-two thousand men answered the call. But before the battle, Gideon asked God for another sign—the famous fleece test. He placed a wool fleece on the threshing floor and asked God to make it wet with dew while the ground remained dry, then reversed it the next night. God graciously accommodated Gideon's weak faith, providing both signs.

With 32,000 men, Gideon prepared to attack the Midianite army camped in the valley—a vast host like locusts in abundance, with camels without number. But the Lord said to Gideon, 'You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, "My own strength has saved me." Announce that anyone who trembles with fear may leave.' Twenty-two thousand men left, leaving only 10,000. This was already an impossible ratio against the Midianite multitude.

But God said, 'There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there.' God instructed Gideon to separate those who lapped water with their hands to their mouths like a dog from those who knelt down to drink. Three hundred men lapped, while all the rest knelt. The Lord said, 'With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands.' Now the ratio was truly impossible—300 against perhaps 135,000. Israel could never claim this victory as their own achievement.

That night, God encouraged Gideon by letting him overhear a Midianite soldier telling about a dream where a round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the camp and struck a tent so hard it collapsed. His companion interpreted it: 'This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.' Even the enemy knew God had already given them the victory.

Gideon divided the 300 men into three companies, giving each man a trumpet and an empty jar with a torch inside. His instructions were simple: watch him and do what he did. In the middle of the night, at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard, Gideon and his hundred men blew their trumpets and smashed their jars. All three companies blew their trumpets, smashed their jars, held their torches high in their left hands and their trumpets in their right hands, and shouted, 'A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!'

While each Israelite held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled. When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the enemy camp to turn on each other with their swords. The vast army fled, and Israel pursued them, winning a complete victory. With no weapons drawn by Gideon's men, God gave Israel victory over their oppressors. The story became a powerful testimony that God's power is made perfect in weakness, and that He orchestrates victories in ways that ensure He receives all the glory.