Gideon camped by the spring of Harod with the people following him, while Midian lay in the valley near Moreh. God said the army was too large, lest Israel claim victory by its own hand. Gideon sent home everyone afraid, and twenty-two thousand left, leaving ten thousand.
God said the number was still too great and tested the men at the water. Three hundred lapped water from their hands, while the others knelt to drink. God said he would save Israel by the three hundred and give Midian into Gideon’s hand. The rest returned home; the three hundred kept provisions and trumpets.
That night Gideon went with Purah to the edge of Midian’s camp. The enemy filled the valley like locusts, and their camels were countless. He heard a man describe a dream in which a barley loaf rolled into the camp and overturned a tent. The listener said it could mean only Gideon’s sword and that God had given Midian into his hand.
Gideon worshiped, returned, and divided the three hundred into three companies. He gave each man a trumpet, an empty jar, and a torch inside it. They were to copy him and cry, “For the LORD and for Gideon.” At the beginning of the middle watch they blew the trumpets, smashed the jars, held the torches, and shouted. God turned Midian’s swords against one another, and the camp fled.
Men from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh pursued. Gideon called Ephraim to seize the waters of the Jordan. Ephraim captured and killed Midian’s princes Oreb and Zeeb, then brought their heads to Gideon. When Ephraim angrily asked why they had not been summoned first, Gideon praised their capture of the princes, and their anger subsided.
Gideon and his three hundred crossed the Jordan, exhausted but pursuing. Succoth and Penuel refused bread for his men because Zebah and Zalmunna had not yet been captured. Gideon warned that he would punish Succoth with thorns and tear down Penuel’s tower. He attacked the unsuspecting remnant at Karkor, captured the two kings, then punished Succoth, tore down Penuel’s tower, and killed its men.
Gideon asked the kings about men they had killed at Tabor and learned they were his mother’s brothers. His young son Jether would not kill the kings, so Gideon killed them and took the ornaments from their camels. Israel asked Gideon and his descendants to rule. He refused, saying the LORD would rule, but asked for the gold earrings taken as spoil. He made them into an ephod at Ophrah. Israel worshiped there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household. Midian was subdued, and the land had rest for forty years.