Judges chapter 7

After reading chapter 7:

*Gideon and his men are getting ready to go to battle with the Midianites. Yahweh tells him he has too many men. There is a danger that the Israelites will not ascribe their victory to Yahweh but to themselves. Gideon is to tell the men that anyone afraid can go.Twenty two thousand men left, leaving ten thousand. That was still too many. So the men were taken to some water and told to drink. The men that knelt down on their knees to drink were let go. The remaining 300 who lapped up water from their hands were chosen to fight the Midianites.

*The Israelite army was camped on high ground with the Midianites in a valley below. During the night, Yahweh told Gideon that if he was afraid to fight, he and his servant could go down spy on the Midianites first. The army of the eastern invaders was huge. " Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore." When Gideon was spying, he heard one enemy tell another about a dream he had. The dream was interpreted to mean that God had given the Midianite army into Gideon's hands. Gideon returned to camp and told his men. They were divided into three groups of a hundred and given trumpets and empty jars with torches inside. Then they crept down and surrounded the enemy's camp. On Gideon's signal, the they blew their trumpets, smashed the jars,  and raised the torches high. They yelled "A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!" The Midianites ran around yelling in confusion. They attacked each other with swords, then fled. Other Israelite tribes helped speed them on their way. The Jordan River was secured and two of the Midianite leaders were captured and executed. Their heads were brought to Gideon.