The Army of Gideon
Trusting the Lord in battle
The people of Israel were blessed
for many years.
But then they chose to disobey the
Lord.
To help them remember Him, the
Lord let their enemies
the Midianites take their food and
animals.
The Israelites were starving, so
they remembered the Lord and prayed to Him for
help.
Gideon was a man from a poor
family.
The Lord sent an angel to call him
to free Israel.
Gideon wondered why the Lord chose
him.
The Lord told Gideon to destroy
places where the Israelites worshipped false gods.
When Gideon obeyed, the people
were mad.
The Israelites wanted to kill
Gideon.
But Gideon’s father convinced
them not to hurt him.
Gideon was kept safe.
Gideon did not think he could free
Israel.
There were more than 135,000
soldiers in the Midianite army.
But the Lord gave Gideon wisdom
and strength.
The Lord wanted the Israelites to
know that they could win with His strength, not their own.
Even though Israel had only 32,000
soldiers, the Lord asked Gideon to send home any soldiers
who were scared.
After 22,000 went home, the
Israelites were left with 10,000 soldiers.
The Lord said 10,000 was still too
many soldiers.
He told Gideon to take the army
down to the water.
Those who drank straight from the
water with their mouths would be sent home.
Those who used their hands to
drink the water could stay.
Now only 300 men were left.
At last, the Israelites were ready
to fight.
The Lord showed Gideon how to
defeat the Midianites.
Gideon told his army to use
trumpets and lamps to scare them.
The noise and the lights confused
the Midianites so much that they started to fight each other.
Then they cried out and ran away.
Because Gideon trusted the Lord,
the Israelites beat the large Midianite army with only
300 soldiers.
The Lord freed the people of
Israel.