Introduction
Gideon has been visited by an angel of God, who has commissioned him to liberate Israel from seven years of cruel oppression by the Kingdom of Midian. Gideon has sparked a revolt, but with a decisive battle before him, he remains far from convinced that he is the right man for the task.
AS Gideon prepared to do battle with the Midianites who had invaded Manasseh and neighbouring Israelite tribes, the conviction suddenly came to him that his army was too large. All Israel must know that the coming victory was by God’s providence, not by force of arms.*
So he dismissed all those who were afraid to die, some 22,000 men. Then he took the remaining 10,000 to the Brook of Harod, and dismissed those who knelt and drank from the stream, rather than lap from cupped hands.
This left him with three hundred men.
Gideon’s characteristic self-doubt now intruded, but it came to him that if he took his servant Phurah and slipped quietly down to the enemy camp, he might discover something to his advantage. The sight of the vast Midianite host was not especially encouraging, but as he crept along he heard one Midianite confiding to another that he had experienced a most worrying dream, and Gideon pricked up his ears.
Compare the rousing speech of Henry V in William Shakespeare’s dramatisation of the Battle of Agincourt, ‘Not one more!’.
Précis
Inspired by God to drive the Midianites out of Israel, Gideon recruited an army from among the tribe of Manasseh. But surprisingly, he was told by God that the army was too large. So he whittled it down to just three hundred men, excluding the fearful, and those who drank direct from a stream rather than from cupped hands. (59 / 60 words)
Inspired by God to drive the Midianites out of Israel, Gideon recruited an army from among the tribe of Manasseh. But surprisingly, he was told by God that the army was too large. So he whittled it down to just three hundred men, excluding the fearful, and those who drank direct from a stream rather than from cupped hands.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, may, must, not, or, ought, unless.
Word Games
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
God told Gideon to drive out Midian from israel. Gideon recruited an army. God told him the army was too large.