Gideon

So, while the Midianites ruled over them, as we related above, they turned to the Lord, begging for his usual tender mercy, and they received it. There was at that time among the Hebrews a man named Gideon, a righteous man, dear and pleasing to God. As he was coming home from the harvest field, the angel stood beside him and said to him: “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.” But he complained in a humble voice that the Lord was not with him, because captivity weighed heavily on his people; and with tears he recalled the miracles done by the Lord, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. Then the angel said: “Go, in the same spirit in which you have spoken, and set the people free from captivity.” But he declared that with his feeble strength he could not take on so heavy a task, since he was a man of very little importance. The angel, however, kept urging him not to doubt that what the Lord said could be done. [a]

So Gideon offered sacrifice and pulled down the altar that the Midianites had consecrated to the image of Baal. Then he went to his own people and pitched his camp near the camp of the enemy. The nation of the Amalekites had also joined the Midianites, while Gideon had gathered an army of no more than thirty-two thousand men. But before the battle began, God told him that this was more than he wanted him to lead into the fight. If he used so many, the Hebrews, in their usual wickedness, would credit the outcome of the battle not to God but to their own bravery. So he was to give anyone who wished the chance to leave. When this was announced to the people, twenty-two thousand left the camp. Of the ten thousand who remained, Gideon, as God instructed him, kept no more than three hundred and sent the rest away from the field.

Then he entered the enemy’s camp in the middle watch of the night, and ordered all his men to blow their trumpets. He threw the enemy into great terror. No one had the courage to resist, and they ran off in shameful flight wherever they could. But the Hebrews met them on every side and cut the fugitives to pieces. Gideon pursued the kings beyond the Jordan, captured them, and put them to death. In that battle a hundred and twenty thousand of the enemy are said to have been killed and fifteen thousand captured. Then, by common consent, it was proposed that Gideon should be king of the people. But he rejected the offer, preferring to live on equal terms with his fellow citizens rather than to rule over them. So the people, set free from the captivity that had weighed on them for seven years, now enjoyed peace for forty years.