Gideon chooses the three hundred       Painting by James Tissot   c1896-1902    The Jewish Museum, New York

God's Ways Are Not Man's Ways

Gideon finally got the message that God wanted him to lead the Israelite army to deal with the Midianites, so he set off with thirty-two thousand men for the Spring of Harod.

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained. (Judges 7:2-3)

God told Gideon there were still too many and ordered him to take the men down to the stream to whittle down their number in a novel selection process.

" Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.”

Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. 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 others go home.” 

So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

God's Plan for Attacking the Midianites

During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.”

So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore. Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream.

“I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”  

His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”    

When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshipped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out,

“Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”

Defeating the Midianites with Trumpets, Empty Jars & Torches

Gideon split the men who were left into three groups of one hundred and gave each man a trumpet, an empty jar and a flaming torch.

" Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

The Israelites attacked the Midianite camp in the middle of the night just after the changing of the guards. Following Gideon's orders each man broke his jar, blew his trumpet and shouted "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

In the chaos that ensued, the Midianites turned on each other with swords and fled, hotly pursued by Gideon's forces, who captured two of the Midianite leaders and killed them.

Gideon's Downfall

The angel sets light to the sacrifice Gideon has provided for a sign  Painting by James Tissot
The Jewish Museum, New York

The Midianite Oppression of Israel

For seven years the Israelites did evil in God's sight and he allowed the Midianites, the Amalekites and other tribes to punish them by annual raids that ravaged crops and slaughtered the livestock all the way to Gaza on the west coast . The oppression was so severe the Israelites were forced to take refuge in caves and whatever other shelter they could find for themelves in the mountains. This was the context for another example of God calling an individual to stand up to the enemies of God in the most unexpected ways.

The Angel of the LORD Appears to Gideon

The Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, who was threshing wheat in a wine press for fear of the Midianites, and introduced himself with the words: “ The Lord is with you, mighty warrior! ”

Not surprisingly, Gideon replied by saying:
“ Pardon me, my lord, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?”

Gideon replied   “Pardon me, my lord, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

Gideon Asks for a Sign

Gideon's faith at this point is low and he asks for proof this really is the LORD and not a hoax, so he asks the Angel to wait while he goes and prepares some food as an offering to God.

When he returns, the Angel says:

" Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.”

When Gideon had done this, the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared.

Gideon was overwhelmed with fear and said:

" Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

The LORD said: “ Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die! ”

God Tests Gideon's Faith

To test Gideon's faith God told him to go and tear down the altar his father had erected to Baal and the Asherah pole to the goddess of fertility and offer a sacrifice of a burnt offering to him. But because he was afraid, Gideon waited till it was dark before carrying out God's instructions!

In the morning, the locals were outraged to see their idols torn down and the remains of the second bull on the altar. When they learned who had done the dreadful deed, they called for his blood and told Joash, Gideon's father, to bring his son out for them to kill him! But Joash challenged Baal to prove he was in control, not God. The result was Gideon earned the nickname Jerub-Baal that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”

Gideon Tests God's Faithfulness

Gideon still needed a sign God could be trusted  -  a sign of his own unbelief, not faith  -  by putting out a woollen fleece on a rock for God to shower with dew, while leaving the ground around it dry. When God did as Gideon asked, he then asked God to do it again, only this time moisture on the ground and leaving the fleece dry. Amazingly, God did as he was asked!

Gideon Defeats The Midianites

Joshua's Great Witness Stone at Shechem      Photo: Joel Kramer, Expedition Bible.com

The Challenge: Choose Today Whom You Will Serve

Years after the capture of Ai and the defeat of ten kings in battle, Joshua gathers the people of Israel around him as he is about to die and warns them of the dangers of going after the pagan gods of the tribes around them who were still to be defeated.

At Shechem Joshua reminds them of how God has kept his covenant with them from the time of Abraham onwards until the present day.

" “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-15)

The people are profuse in their protestations of obedience.

“Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.” (Joshua 24:16-18)

Joshua warned them of the dire consequences they would suffer if they abandoned their faith in God, who had saved them, and renewed the covenant he had made with them by setting up a large stone with the ten commandments inscribed on it to remind them of their commitment.

" On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord.

“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”

The Discovery of Joshua's Great Stone at Shechem

Archaeologist Joel Kramer of Expedition Bible describes how German archaeologist Ernst Sellin discovered the great stone Joshua erected at Shechem in 1926 (see photo above). He also uncovered the remains of the temple to Baal-Berith which is mentioned in Judges 8:33-34.

" No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them."

So much for Israel's protestation to Joshua they would never forsake the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

Gideon vs The Midianites

Achan stoned to death    Engraving by Gustave Dore    Wikimedia Commons

Victory at Jericho Followed by Disaster at Ai

After the spectacular victory at Jericho, the Israelites under Joshua pressed on to attack the town of Ai. The  problem was they disobeyed God's instructions by one man's secret sin and by Joshua failing to seek God's instructions for attacking the town. The results were disastrous for both the individual and the people because God could not allow their sin to go unpunished.

Failure to Seek God's Instructions

The problem was in their excitement at the miraculous capture of Jericho, Joshua listened to the advice of his spies about attacking the town instead of waiting on God's instructions as he had at Jericho. The result was the spies he had sent to scout out the situation brought back a report suggesting the town could be taken by just two or three thousand men and there was no need to involve the rest of the troops who were weary from the fighting at Jericho. The result was the attack was repelled and thirty-six of the troops were killed. Worse still was the effect the defeat had on the morale of the men who survived.

God Sees & Exposes Secret Sin

But the major reason for the defeat was that Israel had disobeyed God's explicit instructions not to touch any of the plunder from the victory that was set aside for his glory. It transpired that a man named Achan had secretly stolen and hidden some of the plunder for his wife and himself.

Joshua got face down on his hands and knees from dawn to dusk asking the LORD why they had suffered such a defeat. But God was not impressed by this display of apparent remorse.

" Get up and stop grovelling," he said. "Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.'" (Joshua 7:11-13)

Achan Identified As The Culprit

The culprit was identified by a process of elimination the following day, when the clans of Israel were lined up and came forward one by one.  It ended with Achan being identified as the one who had kept some of the plunder God had said they were not to keep for themselves.

Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”   

Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: RepentanceI saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

Men were sent to his tent and returned with everything Achan had hidden. A sudden silence fell on the assembled crowd before Joshua spoke.

" Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.”

Then all Israel stoned Achan, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore, that place has been called the Valley of Achor (meansingTrouble ) ever since.

Obedience Brings Blessings & Victory

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.” (Joshua 8:1-2)

This time Joshua had clear instructions from God on how to attack Ai, God had guanteed them victory and said they could carry off the plunder for themselves.

The main point of the battle strategy was to set an ambush for the inhabitants of Ai behind the town and make a feigned withdrawal from the front line to make the enemy think they were running away.

Joshua took thirty thousand of his troops and gave them explicit orders.

" Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don't go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”

That night they set the ambush and the next morning launched the attack. Following the orders Joshua had given his troops, the whole town of Ai including its king thought the Israelites were running away and left the town unprotected. Joshua's troops in the ambush entered the town and set it on fire. The result was the slaughter of the inhabitants of Ai and the capture of the king, who was impaled on a pole until evening, when the body was taken down and buried under a heap of stones. 

Joshua Builds an Altar & Renews the Covenant 

Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. (Joshua 8:30-32)

Joshua Renews The Covenant At Shechem