# Judges 07 📖: Gideon's Three Hundred [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Judges Overview]] | [[Judges 06]] | [[Judges 08]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Gideon Reduces the Ranks [[#Verse 01.]] Jerub Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. The Midianites were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.  [[#Verse 02.]] The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. Israel might brag, ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’  [[#Verse 03.]] Now, announce to the men, ‘Whoever is shaking with fear may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” 22,000 men went home; 10,000 remained.  [[#Verse 04.]] The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; when I say, ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.” [[#Verse 05.]] So he brought the men down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.”  [[#Verse 06.]] Only 300 men lapped with their hands to their mouths; the rest of the men kneeled to drink water.  [[#Verse 07.]] The Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will deliver the whole army and I will hand Midian over to you. The rest of the men should go home.”  [[#Verse 08.]] The men who were chosen took supplies and their trumpets. Gideon sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; he kept only 300 men. Now the Midianites were camped down below in the valley. ### Gideon Reassured of Victory [[#Verse 09.]] That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up! Attack the camp, for I am handing it over to you.  [[#Verse 10.]] But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with Purah your servant  [[#Verse 11.]] and listen to what they are saying. Then you will be brave and attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to where the sentries were guarding the camp.  [[#Verse 12.]] Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.  [[#Verse 13.]] When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. The man said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.”  [[#Verse 14.]] The other man said, “Without a doubt this symbolizes the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.” ### Gideon Routs the Enemy [[#Verse 15.]] When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!”  [[#Verse 16.]] He divided the 300 men into three units. He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them.  [[#Verse 17.]] He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do!  [[#Verse 18.]] When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, you also blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’” [[#Verse 19.]] Gideon took 100 men to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying.  [[#Verse 20.]] All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”  [[#Verse 21.]] They stood in order all around the camp. The whole Midianite army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away.  [[#Verse 22.]] When the 300 men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords throughout the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.  [[#Verse 23.]] Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites. ### Gideon Appeases the Ephraimites [[#Verse 24.]] Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. Take control of the fords of the streams all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” When all the Ephraimites had assembled, they took control of the fords all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.  [[#Verse 25.]] They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24 ###### Verse 25. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Gideon's army dropped from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300 (7:3, 6). 2. Sending the fearful home followed the law of Deuteronomy 20:8. 3. The spring of Harod (7:1) likely means "spring of trembling," fitting for an army whose fearful men were sent home (7:3). 4. Interpreters disagree about why lapping or kneeling mattered. The main point is that God chose the smaller group. 5. The barley loaf in the dream (7:13) likely pictured Israel, a farming people, overturning the tent of nomadic Midian. 6. The attack came at the beginning of the middle watch of the night (7:19), just after the guards changed. 7. Torches hidden in clay jars (7:16) kept the light concealed until the jars were smashed. 8. Normally only a few soldiers carried trumpets, so 300 trumpets made the army sound enormous. 9. The Midianites turned their swords on each other in the confusion (7:22). 10. The Midianite commanders Oreb and Zeeb have names meaning "raven" and "wolf" (7:25). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who shows that salvation belongs to the Lord, not to us. God shrank Gideon's army so Israel could not boast (7:2), and we are saved by grace so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God said Gideon had too many soldiers (7:2). Why does God sometimes reduce our resources before He gives victory? 2. God let Gideon overhear a Midianite's dream to strengthen him (7:9-15). How has God encouraged you when you were afraid? 3. Gideon's first response to the dream was worship (7:15). What would change if worship came first in our battles? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 2: God reduces the army so Israel cannot boast that they saved themselves. - 📖 verse 7: The Lord will deliver Israel with the three hundred men. - 📖 verse 20: The men blow trumpets, break jars, and shout for the Lord and for Gideon. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Ephesians 02#Verse 08.|Ephesians 2:8-9]] - Saved by grace so no one can boast. - 🔗 [[2 Corinthians 04#Verse 07.|2 Corinthians 4:7]] - Treasure in jars of clay. - 🔗 [[Zechariah 04#Verse 06.|Zechariah 4:6]] - Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit. - 🔗 [[1 Samuel 14#Verse 06.|1 Samuel 14:6]] - Nothing hinders the Lord from saving by many or by few. - 🔗 [[Isaiah 10#Verse 26.|Isaiah 10:26]] - The Lord strikes Midian at the rock of Oreb. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Judges 07 - SOAP|You Do the Possible, God Does the Rest]] ## 📂 Internal Notes