Judges 7:1-8, 19-22
Too Many

Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' " So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."

So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." 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. Let all the other men go, each to his own place." So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. ...


Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" While each man 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 men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

New International Version

There is no mistaking the message to this story. God instructed Gideon to lead an impossibly small team in an unusual attack on their enemies so that all of the Israelites would know it was God who saved them. The other 31,700 soldiers that Gideon had gathered would have disguised God's greatness, but the 300 who remained were just enough to be God's instrument in freeing Israel from the occupying forces.

When we also consider the story in Judges 6, we see the full measure of faith God required from Gideon and the Israelites. Gideon was one of the least likely leaders from all the people, yet his faith was all God required to use him to free his people. At God's command, Gideon had torn down an altar to Baal and had instead offered sacrifices to God, and the people rejoiced at his defiance by calling him Jerub-Baal, a taunt to the false god Baal to punish Gideon for tearing down the altar.

Gideon never lost his faith in God, but Gideon never had much courage, either. Three times in chapters six and seven, Gideon needs a sign from God to boost his resolve enough to carry out God's plan.

The people of Israel, however, seem to have misplaced their confidence. Normally, the youngest son of the least family in the most insignificant tribe could not gather 32,000 soldiers to fight the immense forces of Midian and their allies. But with Gideoon, everyone must have been excited with the perceived bravery of the man who stood up to the Baal worshipers, and they were eager to follow his lead in driving out the occupying forces.

But Gideon was not their savior; God was! Gideon even has to explain that to the people in Judges 8:23, "But Gideon told them, 'I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.' "

This was a hard lesson for the people to follow. Even from everything they had seen of God's hand in the victory, many chose to worship an ephod (a religious medallion worn by priests) Gideon made from some of the spoils of the battle. It is so much easier to trust what we can see than to trust One we cannot.

Those are challenges to our faith today as well. We want to have enough money so we can give comfortably to God's work, because it is easier to trust our checking account. We want to make "smart" career decisions, trusting the advice of successful people around us. We spend too much of our lives worried if we have enough, and not enough time worried if we have too much for God to work freely in our lives.

Most of us are not brave enough for it to be our nature to trust God. Neither was Gideon, but God's grace was more than enough to work miracles through a cowardly faithful follower. Allow God's grace to move you when your own courage is not enough. Listen for God's warning of "too much." Live with expectation of how God will bless your faithfulness!