Single lesson

Gideon and the Three Hundred

Judges 7:1–25

In this lesson, students trace how Gideon’s force was reduced, how Gideon was strengthened at night, and how the battle unfolded. The passage highlights Yahweh’s stated reason, Gideon’s obedient steps, and the recorded outcome.

12–17 years40 minutes

Before you teach

Gideon, also called Jerubbaal, is camped near Midian when Yahweh says the army is too large, because Israel might claim the victory for itself. Yahweh reduces the number, directs Gideon to hear words in the enemy camp, and then the three hundred act on Gideon’s instructions as Midian is thrown into confusion.

Learning aim

Students will be able to sequence Judges 7:1–25 and explain from the passage that Yahweh reduced Gideon’s army so Israel would not boast that its own hand had saved it.

Welcome: Why make the army smaller?

6 min

Begin by asking students to listen for the stated reason Yahweh gives for reducing Gideon’s numbers. Read the opening verses and list the changing totals on a board or paper: many, then ten thousand, then three hundred. Explain that the key idea comes from Yahweh’s words about Israel not boasting, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

Judges 7:1, Judges 7:2, Judges 7:3, Judges 7:6, Judges 7:7

Read and explain: From many men to three hundred

9 min

Read aloud the verses about the fearful men returning and the water test. Explain only what the passage states: Yahweh says there are still too many, Yahweh identifies who will go with Gideon, and Yahweh says he will save by the three hundred men who lapped. Note the food and trumpets they kept as the others were sent away.

Judges 7:3, Judges 7:4, Judges 7:5, Judges 7:6, Judges 7:7, Judges 7:8

Discuss: Gideon hears the dream

8 min

Read the night scene carefully. Point out that Yahweh tells Gideon to go down, and if he is afraid he may go with Purah. Gideon hears a dream and its interpretation in the Midianite camp. After this, Gideon worships and returns to tell Israel to arise because Yahweh has delivered Midian into their hand.

Judges 7:9, Judges 7:10, Judges 7:11, Judges 7:13, Judges 7:14, Judges 7:15

Make and respond: Sequence the battle actions

10 min

Give students paper strips to make five sequence cards: army reduced, dream heard, trumpets and pitchers prepared, men stand around the camp, Midian pursued. As they work, read the battle verses. Keep the language close to the text: Gideon divides the men, gives instructions, the men blow trumpets, break pitchers, hold torches, shout, and stand in place. Yahweh sets the enemy against each other.

Judges 7:16, Judges 7:17, Judges 7:18, Judges 7:19, Judges 7:20, Judges 7:21, Judges 7:22

Closing: The outcome and careful reflection

7 min

Finish by reading the pursuit and ending soberly. State plainly that the passage includes the defeat of Midian’s princes and the bringing of their heads to Gideon. Ask students to review the whole sequence and then write one sentence answering why Yahweh reduced the army and one sentence describing what Gideon did after hearing the dream.

Judges 7:23, Judges 7:24, Judges 7:25, Judges 7:2, Judges 7:15

Questions to explore

What reason does Yahweh give for saying Gideon has too many soldiers?

Answer from Yahweh’s own words and include what Israel might say wrongly about its own hand.

Judges 7:2

How does the passage show Gideon being strengthened before the battle?

Trace the order: Yahweh’s instruction, what Gideon hears in the camp, his worship, and his words when he returns.

Judges 7:10, Judges 7:11, Judges 7:14, Judges 7:15

In the battle itself, which actions belong to Gideon’s men, and which action belongs to Yahweh?

List the men’s actions from the verses, then compare them with the statement that Yahweh set the enemy against one another.

Judges 7:20, Judges 7:21, Judges 7:22

Make, think or respond

Five-Step Gideon Sequence Strip

What you’ll need

Plain paper or scrap card
Pens or textas
Scissors
Bible text

Try it together

Ask students to choose five key moments from Judges 7:1–25 and write one short title for each on separate strips.
Students add a verse reference and one visual symbol to each strip, such as water, bread, trumpet, torch, or river.
Mix the strips and have students place them back in order from the passage.
Invite pairs to explain one strip by reading the matching verse aloud and stating whether it shows Yahweh’s action, Gideon’s action, or the army’s action.

This activity helps students sequence the account and distinguish the different actions named in Judges 7:1–25.

Adapt for your group

For students who need more support, provide the five scene titles orally and let them match each title to the correct verse before drawing a symbol.
For stronger readers, ask them to include a short quotation from each chosen verse and mark where the passage gives a reason, an instruction, or an outcome.

An optional closing prayer

‘God, thank you for this passage. Help us read it carefully, notice your words, and learn not to boast in ourselves.’

Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic

Judges 7

¹ Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. Midian’s camp was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

² Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel brag against me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

³ Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

⁴ Yahweh said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. It shall be, that those whom I tell you, ‘This shall go with you,’ shall go with you; and whoever I tell you, ‘This shall not go with you,’ shall not go.”

⁵ So he brought down the people to the water; and Yahweh said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, like a dog laps, you shall set him by himself; likewise everyone who bows down on his knees to drink.”

⁶ The number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water.

⁷ Yahweh said to Gideon, “I will save you by the three hundred men who lapped, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, each to his own place.”

⁸ So the people took food in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of the men of Israel to their own tents, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

⁹ That same night, Yahweh said to him, “Arise, go down into the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.

¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp.

¹¹ You will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened to go down into the camp.” Then went he down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp.

¹² The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is on the seashore for multitude.

¹³ When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his fellow. He said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream; and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.”

¹⁴ His fellow answered, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian into his hand, with all the army.”

¹⁵ It was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. Then he returned into the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for Yahweh has delivered the army of Midian into your hand!”

¹⁶ He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers.

¹⁷ He said to them, “Watch me, and do likewise. Behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so you shall do.

¹⁸ When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and shout, ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon!’ ”

¹⁹ So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch. Then they blew the trumpets and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.

²⁰ The three companies blew the trumpets, broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they shouted, “The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon!”

²¹ They each stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight.

²² They blew the three hundred trumpets, and Yahweh set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

²³ The men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued Midian.

²⁴ Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and take the waters before them as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan!” So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together and took the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan.

²⁵ They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at Oreb’s rock, and Zeeb they killed at Zeeb’s wine press, as they pursued Midian. Then they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

World English Bible Classic. Public domain.