THE BRAVE THREE HUNDRED
[Judges:6:33-40 [33] Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. [34] But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him. [35] And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. [36] And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, [37] Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. [38] And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. [39] And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. [40] And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. ]; [Judges:7:1-25 [1] Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. [2] And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. [3] Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. [4] And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. [5] So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. [6] And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. [7] And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. [8] So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. [9] And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. [10] But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: [11] And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. [12] And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. [13] And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. [14] And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. [15] And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. [16] And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. [17] And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. [18] When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. [19] So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. [20] And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. [21] And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. [22] And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath. [23] And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites. [24] And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. [25] And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan. ].
“We trust in the living God” (I Timothy 4:10).
Joshua’s Warning
God had helped the people reach the Promised Land. Joshua’s work was nearly finished. But he gave the people some good advice before he died. He told them that if they would obey God, worship Him, and not worship idols, God would be with them and help them. But when Joshua was gone they soon forgot God and began to worship idols.
To Remind Them
God saw that they were forgetting Him Who had been so very kind to them and helped them in hard places. God had given them manna to eat when they had no bread; quails when they wanted meat; and had caused water to come out of a rock for them. Now -– He had to punish them for forgetting these blessings. When their enemies came, He did not help the people as He had done before, and they hid in the mountains or wherever they could find a safe place. The enemy would steal their crops when they were ripe and cause them much trouble.
A Leader
When the people were in great trouble their idols could not help them, so they began to look to God again. God sent a man to them to remind them that they had been very disobedient and had been worshiping idols instead of worshiping Him. But God is always kind and merciful, and He called a man to be their leader in the battle against the people who were troubling them. This man’s name was Gideon.
One day when Gideon was busy threshing wheat, an angel came to him and began talking to him. Gideon did not know that this was an angel, and asked him why all the trouble had come to the people. Gideon thought that the Lord had forsaken them. Then Gideon prepared some food and brought it to the angel. The angel told him to lay it on a rock; then the angel touched it with the end of his staff and fire came out of the rock and burned up the offering. That meant that the Lord was pleased with Gideon.
When the angel disappeared, Gideon realized that he had seen an angel. Then the Lord told him to tear down the altars which had seen set up by his father to worship false gods. Gideon obeyed God. Of course, this made the people angry, because they had been worshiping in these places.
Gideon’s Fleece
Gideon wanted to be very sure that God would be with him in defeating the enemy. He would make a test: he would put some wool on the ground, and if God would let dew be on it and not on the ground, then Gideon would know that God was with him. Early in the morning Gideon went to look, and the wool was wet but the ground was dry. He took the fleece and wrung a bowlful of water from the wool. But still he was not satisfied and wanted to make another test. This time he wanted God to let the dew be on the ground but not on the wool. Again God did it as Gideon asked. Now Gideon must have felt certain that God would be with him in the battle.
The Three Hundred
God told Gideon that the army was too big; they had 32,000 soldiers. All the men who were afraid were told to go back. There is no place for cowards in God’s army. So 22,000 of them went back. But the Lord said the army was still too great. He told Gideon to bring the soldiers down to the water. All those who lapped the water like a dog –- watched and drank without kneeling -– those were the ones Gideon should take with him to the battle. There were only 300, but God said that was enough -– He would help them win the battle.
Gideon told them that they should carry trumpets, and pitchers with lamps in them. When he gave the signal they should blow the trumpets, and break the pitchers. No doubt the trumpets and the breaking of the pitchers made a great noise, and the lamps looked like a great fire at night. This frightened the enemy so that they ran away as fast as they could. Again God had helped the people win the battle.
A Wonderful God
They often disobeyed God; but when they were sorry for it and asked God to forgive them, He was always kind to forgive them and help them again. He does the same for us today. If people are sorry for their sins and ask Him to forgive them and keep them from sinning against Him, He will help them whenever they need His help. We are sure that Gideon was thankful to have such a wonderful God, and He is just the same today.
1. How did Gideon know for sure that God was going to help Israel win the battle? [Judges:6:37-40 [37] Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.
[38] And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
[39] And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
[40] And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
].
2. Why did Gideon take the people down to the water? [Judges:7:4And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
].
3. How many men lapped the water? [Judges:7:6And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
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4. Did the Lord say that was enough men to win the battle? [Judges:7:7And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.
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5. Did Gideon and his band win the battle? [Judges:7:21-22 [21] And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
[22] And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
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