Bible tale: Gideon leads Battle Part 2 of 2 – Judges 6-8

Gideon leads Battle
Judges 6-8 - Part 2 of 2
re-told by Debbie Dunn

Story Highlights:

* When 32,000 men showed up to fight the Midianites with Gideon, God had him send most of them home.

* When 10,000 men remained to fight with Gideon, God reduced their number to 300.

* Thanks to God's assistance, Gideon and his army of 300 easily defeated the Midianite army.

The Bible tale begins:

We will now hear the conclusion of Gideon’s story.

 

To review, here are a few questions.

Question: God did not want His people to worship idols. What is an idol?

Answer: People worship a carved image as a false god.

Question: Before meeting an angel, how did Gideon label himself?

Answer: Poor farmer. Youngest brother. Part of weakest of the 12 tribes.

Question: How did God label Gideon?

Answer: As a mighty herov

Question: What did God want Gideon to do?

Answer: To rescue Israel. To fight against the Midianites.

Question: Who was on Gideon’s side when fighting against the Midianites?

Answer: God

Gideon sent out this message to the Israelites:

 

GIDEON: All you warriors, the Lord guarantees our victory against the thousands of Midianites who have tortured us for the last 20 years. Who will join me?

 

Armed for battle, a huge number of Israelites arrived.

Question: Guess how many warriors showed up.

Answer: 32,000

When all 32,000 warriors gathered, the Lord said:

Father God: You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast that they saved themselves by their own strength. Therefore, anyone who feels timid or afraid should return home.

So, Gideon turned to the Israelite warriors and announced:

 

GIDEON: Uh, thank you for coming. However, the Lord said that if any of you feel timid or afraid, you should leave this mountain and return home.

Question: Guess how many warriors remained after a bunch of them realized they were too scared to fight.

Answer: 10,000

When only 10,000 warriors remained, Gideon was absolutely shocked when he heard the Lord’s next words:

Father God: There are still too many of you! Bring them down to the stream to take a drink. If they bend down to lap water like a dog, send them home. Keep only those who cup the water with their hands.

Gideon carefully watched each man as he drank. 

Question: Guess how warriors remained to fight.

Answer: 300

When only 300 warriors remained to fight, Gideon announced:

 

GIDEON: Grab a ram’s horn to use as a trumpet, a torch to hide inside a clay pot, and a sword. Now, rest up until midnight.

 

That evening, to help calm Gideon’s fears, the Lord told him to take a companion, sneak into the enemy’s camp, and listen. They heard these comforting words:

 

MIDIANITE #1: Man! I had this crazy dream.

 

MIDIANITE #2: What did you dream?

 

MIDIANITE #1: I dreamed that one of our tents was knocked flat by a huge loaf of falling barley bread.

 

MIDIANITE #2: Your dream can mean only one thing. God has given Gideon and his army victory over us!

 

MIDIANITE #1: Yikes!

 

Excitedly, Gideon and his friend rushed back to their camp, woke up the 300, and ordered:

 

GIDEON: Get up! For the Lord has given us victory over our enemies!

 

Gideon divided his warriors into 3 groups of 100 each. Each man held 4 objects: 

(1) a trumpet made of a ram’s horn, 

(2) a torch, 

(3) a clay pot, and 

(4) their sword. 

Gideon said:

 

GIDEON: Group 1 goes to one side of the enemy’s camp.

Group 2 goes to the other side of the camp. 

Group 3 will join me in the middle. 

Just after midnight, when the enemy switches their night-watch guards, do these 3 things: 

(1st) Blow your ram’s horns. 

(2nd) Break your clay pot. And 

(3rd) Hold your fire torch up high. 

Because it is so dark, our enemies will panic. They will never guess there are only 300 of us. 

Finally, shout these words:

CHANT LEADER: A sword for the Lord!       [Group repeats]

CHANT LEADER: And a sword for Gideon!  [Group repeats]

The terrified Midianite soldiers began swinging their swords around. Because they couldn’t see, thousands of them ended up killing each other.

 

After that, it was an easy matter to kill the remaining enemies who had tortured them for the previous 20 years.

 

Thrilled, the Israelites urged Gideon to be their leader. But Gideon announced:

 

GIDEON: Not I! Only the Lord will rule over you.

 

For 40 years, there was peace in the land of Israel as Gideon served as a faith-filled judge.

Question: Describe some of the ways the Israelites won their battle against the Midianites.

Answer: (1) They blew ram’s horns.
(2) They broke clay pots.
(3) They lit torches.
(4) They shouted loud words.
(5) They relied on God to help.

Question: What loud words did the Israelites shout?

Answer: A sword for the Lord! A sword for Gideon!

Question: Any questions or comments?

Please note: These are Bible stories we use with the girls at our Wednesday night Youth Outreach program sponsored by West Highland Baptist Church in Athens, Alabama. The pastor uses his own material when working with the boys. I also use these Bible stories with the Youth Sunday School class I co-teach.

Are you a Bible enthusiast or do you lead a Youth Group or Family Bible Study? To get a FREE PDF download of this story, click on this link below:

Free PDF download of Gideon leads Battle.

Do you want more stories about 12 Judges of Israel? If so, visit the 12 JUDGES chapter from my EXPLORE BIBLE STORY dot org website.

Click here to get more stories about the 12 Judges of Israel.

My ever-expanding Explore Bible Story dot org website includes Bible stories and Biblical Family Trees about

• Creation, Adam, & his Descendants
• Noah, the Ark, & the Flood
• Abraham & Sarah
• Isaac & Rebekah, Esau & Jacob
• Jacob & his 4 wives
• 12 sons of Jacob who became known as the 12 Tribes of Israel
• Moses who was from the line of Levi
• Joshua who became leader of Israelites after death of Moses
• 12 Judges of Israel including Deborah, Gideon, & Samson
• Kings of Israel including Saul, David, & Solomon
• 4 Major Prophets of Israel: Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
• 12 Minor Prophets of Israel
• More Prophets of Israel: Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, & Elisha
• Women from Old & New Testament
• Jesus Christ, our Messiah, Lord, Savior, & King of king
• 12 Disciples of Jesus
• Apostle Paul & other Significant Followers of Christ
• Triune God: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit
• The Free Gift of Salvation & The Sinner's Prayer
• About Website: Explore Bible Story.org
• About the author: Debbie Dunn