The Midianite army was very large, with their encampment spread out all across the valley; you couldn’t even count their camels, which were as numerous as the sand on the seashore (Judges 7:12). It’s easy to suppose that it would take a miracle for Gideon’s army, just thirty-two thousand in number, to defeat such a host.

Then again, after the victory they might just credit themselves as superwarriors. So the Lord told Gideon to send home anyone who felt anxious or fearful about the coming battle: and twenty-two thousand of them went home, leaving ten thousand (7:2-3).

Then Yahweh said to Gideon, “The troops are still too many; take them down to the waters and I will sift them out for you there” (7:4). The sifting sorted three hundred out of the ten thousand: three hundred who lapped water like a dog (7:5). We may think of dogs as beloved (and well groomed!) family pets, but in ancient Israel a dog was considered a dirty scavenger; to identify these men as those who lap water like a dog was quite derogatory (think of calling them “vultures” or “jackals”). To fight against the Midianite army, then, only the three hundred dogs were kept; the rest of the ten thousand were sent home.

And then they didn’t even fight. They just spread themselves around the Midianite camp, waving their torches, blowing their trumpets, and shouting “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” The Midianite army panicked and fled in the dark, and “the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow” (7:19-22). So God won the victory, as the Midianite army fled in the dark: God won the battle using three hundred dogs who made a lot of noise, but never struck a single blow.

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Let all the glory be to you, Lord. You are the one who makes things happen: yet astonishingly you give us the opportunity to come along and take part, scruffy as we are. In glad devotion we set ourselves to follow you, O God, confident that in your grace you will lead us to victory.