Judges 7 · WEB
Gideon's Three Hundred
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
Tap a verse to copy it, open the Hebrew, or write a note.
Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose up early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2Yahweh said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'
3Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.'" Twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.
4Yahweh said to Gideon, "The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Whoever I tell you shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and whoever I tell you shall not go, the same shall not go."
5So he brought down the people to the water; and Yahweh said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set him by himself; likewise everyone who bows down on his knees to drink."
6The number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water.
7Yahweh said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, each to his own place."
8So the people took food in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. The camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
9That same night, Yahweh said to him, "Arise, go down into the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand.
10But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp;
11and you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands will be strengthened to go down into the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp.
12The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is on the seashore for multitude.
13When Gideon had come, behold, a man was telling a dream to his neighbor; and he said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream; and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat."
14His neighbor answered and said, "This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian and all the army into his hand."
15When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped; and he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise! For Yahweh has delivered the army of Midian into your hand."
16He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches inside the pitchers.
17He said to them, "Watch me, and do likewise. Behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that as I do, so you shall do.
18When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you blow the trumpets on every side of all the camp, and say, 'For Yahweh and for Gideon!'"
19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.
20The three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they shouted, "The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon!"
21They each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran; they cried out and fled.
22The three hundred blew the trumpets, and Yahweh set every man's sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
23The men of Israel were gathered together from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.
24Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian, and take the waters against them, as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan River." Then all the men of Ephraim were gathered together and took the waters as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.
25They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb; and they pursued Midian. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.
✶
Summary
God reduces Gideon's army from 32,000 to 300 men — explicitly to ensure that Israel cannot claim their own strength saved them. God then sends Gideon to spy on the Midianite camp, where he overhears a dream interpreted as a prophecy of Israel's victory. Emboldened, Gideon launches a night raid with trumpets, empty pitchers, and torches, causing mass confusion and panic in the Midianite camp, and the enemy destroys itself. The Ephraimites join the pursuit and capture and kill the two Midianite princes.
Themes
- Divine strategy deliberately working through weakness to display God's power
- Obedient faith proceeding even with minimal resources
- God's initiative in strengthening the fearful (the dream overheard)
- Worship as the proper response to God's assurance (v. 15)
- The folly of trusting in numbers and military might
Key verses
- Judg 7:2 — “The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me.”
- Judg 7:22 — “Yahweh set every man's sword against his fellow and against all the army.”
- Judg 7:7 — “By the three hundred men who lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand.”
Context & background
The events of Judges take place throughout Canaan — modern Israel, West Bank, and parts of Jordan and Lebanon. The spring of Harod (modern Ein Harod) is at the foot of Mount Gilboa in the Jezreel Valley, in modern northern Israel. The hill of Moreh is the prominent hill north of the valley (modern Givat HaMoreh near Afula). The Midianite encampment stretched across the eastern Jezreel Valley. The fleeing Midianites headed east toward the Jordan River, crossing into Transjordan (modern Jordan). The route through Beth Shittah, Zererah, and Abel Meholah traces down the Jordan Valley in modern Israel. The Jordan River here forms the modern border between Israel and Jordan.
Cross-references
- 1 Cor 1:29 — "That no flesh should boast before God" — the same purpose as reducing Gideon's army
- 1 Sam 14:6 — Jonathan's famous faith: "Nothing restrains Yahweh from saving by many or by few"
- 2 Chr 20:15 — "The battle is not yours, but God's" — the same principle as Gideon's reduced army
- Isa 30:15 — "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength"
- Ps 33:16-17 — "A king is not saved by the multitude of an army"