Before getting into the actual battle, I’d like to begin with a little backround on Gideon himself. Believe it or not, Gideon was just a normal guy living in rough times for his people. In Judges 6:11 we learn that Gideon was “threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites”, showing how impoverished these people must have been. Gideon belonged to the weakest clan in Manasseh, and was the youngest in his family (vs 15), not exactly the warrior type. In spite of all this, the angel of God came down and told Gideon he was to save Israel, and even called him a mighty warrior. At this point Gideon was shocked that God wanted to use him of all the people in Israel! He basically tells God he’s got the wrong guy: “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” ~Judges 6:15. The angel of God responds saying “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” Not only was God claiming to use him to redeem Israel, he’s claiming to be with Gideon. After this it’s clear Gideon begins to trust God. I mean, the God of the universe was going to be with him how could he not trust he’d win?
Gideon begins his preparations in verse 34 after the Midianites, Amaletkites, and other eastern peoples joined forces and camped in the Valley of Jezreel, which was on the same side of the Jordan as the Israelites. “Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites (his clan) to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.” ~Judges 6:34-35. At this point Gideon has 32,000 troops in his army compared to the hundreds of thousands he’s facing. This is where Gideon’s preparations end and God’s begin.
I know if I was Gideon, I’d be thinking “how in the world am I supposed to defeat this highly trained army with only 32 thousand farmers?” But God tells Gideon in Judges 7:2 “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands.” What??? This must have come as a big shock, but Gideon does as God says. He tells the ‘soldiers’ that anyone who is scared can leave and go back home. Twenty-two thousand men left. Twenty-two thousand. This leaves only ten thousand left. “But the LORD said to Gideon, ‘There are still too many men.’” Keep in mind at this point the odd are 10:1 against Gideon, and still, he does as God commands. Now this is interesting, the next test had to do with how the men drank their water from the stream. Judges 7:6-7 says, “Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The LORD said to Gideon, ‘With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands.’” I know when I first read that I thought, “Why would that even matter?” but my youth pastor helped me out. He pointed out that those lapping the water up to their mouths were focused and on task. He related the kneeling down to drink as to worshipping the water, or in a bigger sense, their needs. They were in a scorching desert afterall. Also, in other translations, this “kneeling down” was actually a kind of running to the water and dropping their bags and weapons on their way. So, God only chose the most focused warriors to save Israel.
The initial battle itself is very much a miracle. In fact, the three hundred of them did very little fighting until later. The weapons of this battle were a torch enclosed by a jar and some trumpeters. Now I should explain the significance of these items. You see, in those days a trumpet call announced the charge of a unit (roughly 1,000 soldiers each) and a torch would have been the signal to set off an attack. So, by having every soldier blow a trumpet after surrounding the camp, those inside the camp thought they were surrounded by 300,000 soldiers at least. The jars being broken and the men shouting led to mass confusion. “When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.” ~Judges 7:22. The Midianite army pretty much killed itself, with the exception of maybe a few thousand that were rounded up by Gideon and other Israelite leaders who agreed to help. Judges 8:10 tells of the sheer numbers that were killed: “…a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.” And with that, it’s clear there was much more than a small army of 300 men on Gideon’s side: there was an all powerful God.
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