And the Lord said unto Gideon, "By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the people go every man to his place."
So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men: and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said to him, "Arise, get thee down into the camp; for I have delivered it into thine hand. But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Purah thy servant down to the camp: and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down into the camp."
THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON
From a photograph belonging to Prof. H. G. Mitchell and used by his kind permission.
The plain of Esdraelon or Jezreel is one of the famous battle fields of the world's history. Lying in the heart of Palestine, the great highways of commerce come down through the hills and cross its level fields. Through it runs the little river Kishon. On the banks of this stream the hosts of Sisera were routed (see [Tales of Brave Women, Vol. III]). Here Gideon and his three hundred men swept before them the hordes of Midian in the panic of the night attack. Here began the battle between Saul and the Philistines which ended in the death of the king, whose force had been pushed back to the height of Gilboa (see [The Great Kings] in this volume). Here King Josiah was mortally wounded in his fatal fight with the armies of Egypt (see [The Story of a Divided Kingdom, Vol. III]). Through its fertile fields in all ages of history the armies of the great kingdoms of the East have marched to battle and conquest
Then went he down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men that were in the camp. And 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 upon the sea shore for multitude. And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream to his fellow, and said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and smote it that it fell, and turned it upside down, that the tent lay flat."