Gideon's 300 — Bible story for kids

Israel was suffering under Midianite raiders. Gideon tried to save a little wheat by threshing it inside a winepress, where the enemy would not easily see him. Then the angel of Yahweh came and spoke to him.

“Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

Gideon did not feel mighty. His family was weak, and he considered himself the least in his father’s house. Yet God saw what Gideon could become through his strength. God promised to be with him and to use him to defeat Midian.

Gideon still felt unsure. He laid a wool fleece on the threshing floor and asked God for a sign. The next morning, the fleece was soaked with dew, but the ground was dry. Gideon squeezed a bowlful of water from it.

Then Gideon carefully asked for one more sign. The following morning, the fleece was dry while dew covered the ground. God patiently answered him.

Gideon gathered an army and camped beside the spring of Harod. Across the valley lay the enormous Midianite camp. But God told Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many.” If Israel won with a great army, they might boast that they had saved themselves.

First, Gideon told anyone who was afraid to go home. Twenty-two thousand men left. Ten thousand remained, but God said there were still too many.

Gideon led the men to the water and watched them drink. God chose only three hundred men—the ones who lapped water, bringing their hands to their mouths. Gideon sent everyone else home.

Three hundred men against a camp whose people seemed as countless as locusts! Yet God promised, “By the three hundred men who lapped, I will save you.”

That night, Gideon went near the enemy camp. He overheard a Midianite telling a dream about a loaf of barley bread tumbling into the camp and overturning a tent. Another man said the dream meant that God had given Midian into Gideon’s hand. When Gideon heard this, he worshiped God.

Gideon divided his three hundred men into three companies. He gave each man a trumpet and an empty clay jar with a torch inside. Quietly, they surrounded the camp during the night.

At Gideon’s signal, all three hundred blew their trumpets and smashed their jars. Firelight suddenly blazed around the camp. Holding their torches high, they shouted, “The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon!”

The Midianites awoke in confusion. They cried out and fled, and Yahweh caused them to turn their swords against one another. Gideon called other Israelites to join the pursuit. They captured the Midianite leaders Oreb and Zeeb.

The victory did not belong to the biggest army. It belonged to God, who worked through three hundred obedient men and a leader learning to trust him.