Gideon is ready to fight the Midianites with 32,000 guys. That's a lot. But the LORD said, "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.' " So get this: 22,000 men left!!!!! That's more than twice as many as the Uruk-Kai that marched on Helm's Deep!!! In that Israelite army, there were twice as many cowards as brave men. Of course I'm a girl, and I'm not required to fight Midianites, but I like to think I would have kept my honor and stayed with my army. We had a debate about this in a meeting one time and Mom said that if it were Dad, we'd want him to come back. That may be true, but I'd still hope he'd want to stay and not be "trembling with fear" to fight in God's army. If God is fighting for us, who can be against us?
Anyway, there were still too many, so God eliminated a few more until there were only 300 in all. Whoa-kay. And with only some trumpets, torches, and jars they scared the Midianites into killing each other! Now let me tell you - that wouldn't have worked if just some guys had tried it. It's not exactly a common tactic. It was all God.
After that, the Israelites pursued the two Midianite kings who escaped. The Israelites were overjoyed, and wanted Gideon to be their king. He said, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you." Amen! Good choice buddy! It's been pretty cool to read about some guy who was nothing at all - then turned out to be the general that drove out the ocean of enemies.
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