Gideon and the Midianites

After Barak and Deborah were dead — and they died at about the same time — the Midianites called in the Amalekites and the Arabians to help them and made war on the Israelites. They were too strong for those who fought them, and they burned the crops and carried off the plunder. When they had done this for seven years, the mass of the Israelites withdrew to the mountains and abandoned the plain. They also dug hollows underground and caves, and kept in them whatever had escaped their enemies. For the Midianites raided at harvest time, but let them plow the land in winter, so that when the Israelites had done the work, they themselves would have crops to carry off. Famine followed, and a shortage of food, and so the people turned to prayer and begged God to save them. [a]

Gideon, son of Joash, one of the leading men of the tribe of Manasseh, was bringing in his sheaves of grain in secret and threshing them in the winepress, for he was too afraid of the enemy to thresh them openly on the threshing floor. At this time something appeared to him in the form of a young man and told him that he was a fortunate man and loved by God. He at once replied, “A fine sign of God’s favor to me, that I am forced to use this winepress instead of a threshing floor!” But the figure urged him to take courage and to make an attempt to recover their freedom. He answered that it was impossible for him to recover it, because the tribe he belonged to was by no means large, and because he himself was only young and too insignificant to think of such great deeds. But the other promised him that God would supply whatever he lacked, and would give the Israelites victory under his leadership.

When Gideon told this to some young men, they believed him, and at once an army of ten thousand men was ready to fight. But God stood by Gideon in his sleep and told him that human beings are too fond of themselves and are hostile to those who excel in virtue. So that they would not pass God over but give him the credit for the victory — so that they would not imagine they had won it by their own power, because they were many and able by themselves to fight their enemies, but would confess that they owed it to his help — he told him to bring his army to the river about noon, in the full heat of the day. Those who knelt down and drank in that way he was to count as brave men; but all who drank hurriedly and in disorder he was to take for men who did so out of fear, in dread of the enemy. Gideon did as God had directed him, and three hundred men were found who took up the water in their hands with fear and in disorder. God told him to take these men and attack the enemy. So they camped by the river Jordan, ready to cross it the next day. [b]

But Gideon was very much afraid, for God had told him beforehand that he was to attack the enemy at night. God, wanting to free him from his fear, told him to take one of his soldiers and go close to the Midianite tents, for from that very spot his courage would be raised and he would grow bold. He obeyed, and went, taking his servant Purah with him. As he came near one of the tents, he found that the men in it were awake, and that one of them was telling his fellow soldier a dream of his own, so plainly that Gideon could hear him. This was the dream: he thought he saw a barley cake, so poor that people could hardly eat it, rolling through the camp and knocking over the royal tent and the tents of all the soldiers. The other soldier explained the vision as meaning the destruction of the army, and told them the reason that led him to think so: barley, everyone agreed, was the poorest kind of grain; the Israelites had now become the most despised of all the peoples of Asia, just like barley; and what seemed to make a show among the Israelites was this Gideon and the army with him. “And since you say you saw the cake overturning our tents, I am afraid God has given Gideon the victory over us.” [c]

When Gideon heard this dream, hope and courage came over him. He ordered his soldiers to arm themselves and told them about this vision of their enemies. They too took courage at what they heard and were ready to do whatever he commanded. So Gideon divided his army into three parts and led it out about the fourth watch of the night, each part a hundred men strong. They all carried empty jars with lighted torches inside them, so that the enemy would not detect their approach. Each also had a ram’s horn in his right hand, which he used as a trumpet. The enemy’s camp covered a large area, for they had a great many camels; and though they were divided into different nations, they were all held within one circle. [d]

The Hebrews did as they had been told beforehand. As they came near the enemy, at the signal they blew their rams’ horns, broke their jars, and fell on the enemy with their lamps and a great shout, crying, “Victory to Gideon, with God’s help!” Confusion and fright seized the other side while they were half asleep, for it was night, as God had willed it. A few of them were killed by their enemies, but most by their own soldiers, because of the differences in their languages; once they were thrown into disorder, they killed everyone they met, taking them for enemies too. So there was a great slaughter.

When word of Gideon’s victory reached the Israelites, they took up their weapons and pursued the enemy. They overtook them in a certain valley hemmed in by ravines, a place they could not get out of, surrounded them, and killed them all, with their kings Oreb and Zeeb. But the remaining captains led away the soldiers who were left, about eighteen thousand, and camped a long way off from the Israelites. Gideon did not spare himself trouble, but pursued them with his whole army, joined battle, and cut off the whole enemy force. He captured the other leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna, and took them prisoner. About a hundred and twenty thousand of the Midianites and of their allies the Arabians were killed in this battle, and the Hebrews took a great deal of plunder — gold, silver, clothing, camels and donkeys. When Gideon reached his own home town of Ophrah, he killed the kings of the Midianites.

The tribe of Ephraim, however, was so displeased at Gideon’s success that they resolved to make war on him, accusing him of not telling them about his expedition against their enemies. But Gideon, a man of self-control who excelled in every virtue, pleaded that it was not his own authority or reasoning that had made him attack the enemy without them, but the command of God, and that the victory still belonged to them no less than to those in the army. By calming their anger in this way he did the Hebrews more good than by his success against the enemy, for he saved them from civil strife that was springing up among them. Yet this tribe later suffered the punishment for this wrong done to Gideon, of which we will give an account in its place. [g]

After this Gideon wanted to lay down the leadership, but he was persuaded against his will to keep it. He held it forty years, and gave judgment for the people as they came to him with their disputes, and whatever he decided was accepted as binding by all. When he died in old age, he was buried in his own home town of Ophrah.