Gideon and the Army of 300 – Bible lesson for teens

Gideon’s unlikely victory over the Midianites with just 300 men demonstrates the power of God’s direction and the outcomes that faith can bring.

BIBLE READING: Judges 7

MEMORY VERSE: “The LORD said to Gideon, ‘The people with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel boast against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.'” Judges 7:2

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BIBLE STUDY NOTES FOR TEENS

BACKGROUND TO THE TEXT

In Judges 6, we see Gideon was the least in his father’s house, from the smallest tribe in Israel, and threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. Gideon’s story is one of transformation from a young man in hiding and full of self-doubt to a courageous leader under God’s direction.

In Judges 7, Gideon sent out messengers to gather the Israelite warriors from the tribes to prepare to battle the Midianites. He must have felt more confident as he looked at the large thirty-two-thousand-man army gathered before him. However, God had a different plan and told Gideon that his army was too large. If Israel won, they might think they had achieved the victory by their own strength, rather than attributing it to God. So, God instructed Gideon to decrease the size of his army, first by dismissing those who were afraid and then by how the men drank water from the stream to reduce the army to only three hundred men.

The odds were now humanly impossible. Gideon was left with a tiny force to face an enemy described as “thick as locusts” with camels as “numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore.” However, this was exactly God’s plan to make it clear that the victory was not due to human strength or numbers but due to Him.

KEY POINTS

1. GOD’S PLAN MAY SEEM UNCONVENTIONAL – JUDGES 7:2-3

2. THE ENEMY IS AFRAID – JUDGES 7:9-15

3. OVERCOMING FEAR TO OBEY GOD – JUDGES 7:9-10

4. THE POWER OF COOPERATIVE OBEDIENCE – JUDGES 7:21

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YOUTH GAMES AND ACTIVITIES – Gideon and the Army of 300

SYNCED SOLDIERS

Materials needed: Music.

Instructions:

1. Split participants into equal teams.
2. Give each team x minutes to create a synchronized dance routine.
3. The routine must include a “trumpet blowing” move, a “jar breaking” move, and a “torch holding” move.
4. Teams perform their routine.
5. The most synchronized team wins.
6. Discuss the significance of synchronization and teamwork in Gideon’s victory.

UNCONVENTIONAL TACTICS

Materials needed: Ball, selection of tools in the room (e.g., brooms, sticks, ropes)

Instructions:

1. Split participants into equal teams.
2. The objective is to move a ball from one side of the room to the other.
3. Teams cannot use their hands to move the ball, only things they find in the room.
4. Time each team’s effort. The fastest team wins.
5. Discuss the unconventional strategy God instructed Gideon to use.

COOPERATIVE COMMANDS

Materials needed: None

Instructions:

1. Form teams of at least three players each.
2. Appoint a leader as the “commander”. The commander’s role is to give commands to the other players.
3. The commander begins a command with “The commander says” – for instance, “The commander says touch your nose”. All team members must follow the command.
4. If the commander gives a command without saying “The commander says” first, and any team member follows it, the whole team is out.
5. The last team remaining wins.
6. Discuss the importance of cooperative obedience and how every team member’s action affects the whole group, relating it back to the precise synchronization in Gideon’s army.

Example Worksheets in the lesson pack

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