The story of Gideon is told in the 6th through 8th chapters of the Book of Judges.  In the days of Gideon the Children of Israel were greatly afflicted by the Midianites and Amalekites.  The Israelites’ crops were stolen and destroyed.  Their livestock and food animals were all taken away.  They made dens and caves in the mountains in which to hide themselves from the marauding bands that pillaged the land and impoverished the people.

The Lord called Gideon to save the Israelites.  It seemed an impossible task.  Gideon assembled an army of 32,000, but what could they do against an army of 135,000?  They were outnumbered by more than 4 to 1.  The Midianites were as “grasshoppers for multitude,” and their camels were without number. (Judges 6:5).

How would you feel as a member of the inferior army?  Would you be afraid?

In the face of these odds the Lord made an astounding statement.  He told Gideon that he had too many men!

“The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

“Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early…and there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.”  (Judges 7:2-3)

The 22,000 who returned were the honest ones.  Surely all 32,000 were worried and afraid, but the 10,000 who remained exhibited faith.

Ten thousand against 135,000?  The odds had suddenly become much worse—more than 13 to 1.  And then the Lord said, “The people are yet too many.”  (Judges 7:4).  From among the 10,000 faithful He told Gideon how to select the most alert, and pared the army down to a small band of just 300 men.  Three hundred against 135,000!

Gideon divided the 300 men into three companies.  He put a pitcher that hid a light in the left hand of each man, and a trumpet in his right hand.  He arranged the men on the hill above the sleeping Midianite army, and told them to do as he did.  Upon his signal each man broke his pitcher.  In the darkness 300 lights suddenly shone above the camp.  Every Midianite was jerked awake by the terrifying sound of 300 blaring trumpets and 300 voices shouting, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.”

The terrified Midianites thought the enemy was in their midst, and began slashing blindly in the dark with their swords.  The ones that could, fled.  Gideon and his men had nothing to do but to shout and blow while 120,000 Midianite men fell down dead.  The remaining 15,000 fled in disarray.

In just a few minutes it was all over.  Three hundred brave men had overcome an army of 135,000.

Hundreds of years later another nation, and indeed all Western civilization, was saved, oddly enough, by another band of 300 brave men.  They, too faced off against tremendous odds.

These men were Spartans—Greeks—led by King Leonides.  Their foe was Xerxes, the powerful Persian king.  It was Xerxes’ intention to conquer and to rule over Europe.  To get there necessitated crossing through and conquering Greece, a thing which should have been easily accomplished.  Greece was a disunified and disparate group of city-states that would not and could not work together.  When word came that Xerxes was coming with an army of 180,000 men, many of the city-states simply capitulated with barely a whimper.

Not so Leonides and the city of Sparta.  Leonides had a plan which he believed could stop the invaders.  He knew that it would be at the price of their lives, but he hoped that the action would show his countrymen that the Persians weren’t invincible.

Knowing that they would give their lives in the endeavor, Leonides selected 300 strong men who already had children.  He armed them with spears and shields, and placed them and himself in Thermopylae Pass.  Thermopylae Pass was a narrow place through which the Persian army would have to pass.  On one side was the sea.  On the other was the sheer cliff of the mountain.  The Spartans stood shoulder to shoulder and shield to shield, and refused to budge as the vast army approached.  Xerxes ordered an attack.  The Spartans held firm and administered death to every hand raised against them.  Hundreds fell, then thousands.  Xerxes ordered attack after attack, but the Spartans gave not an inch.  The Persian soldiers were afraid of that formidable line, and had to be driven by whips to attack.  With whips behind and spears before, the Persian soldiers had a choice of death from either their foes, their commanders, or the sea into which they fell when pushed too hard.

For three days the Spartans held off the invading army, and were only defeated because a Greek traitor showed the Persians a goat trail over the mountain that enabled the Persians to surround the Spartans.  They fought to the last man, but their courage and success galvanized their countrymen into action.  Xerxes never reached Europe.  He returned home in defeat, and Western civilization was saved.  How different our world today would be had Leonides and his 300 Spartans not made their courageous stand at Thermopylae Pass against such impossible odds.

Just 300 men.  Both Gideon and Leonides accomplished the impossible with just 300 men.  Why that number?  It was probably a coincidence, but a significant coincidence at that.  Whatever other lessons can be learned from their experiences, they showed that faith, commitment, and courage can overcome impossible odds.

“Give me some men,” the song says, “who are stout-hearted men, who will fight for the right they adore.  Start me with 10 who are stout-hearted men, and I’ll soon give you 10,000 more.  Shoulder to shoulder, and bolder and bolder, we march as we go to the fore.  There is nothing in this world can halt or mar a plan, when stout-hearted men can stick together man to man.”

What impossible odds do you face?  It’s true that if you have 300 stout-hearted friends you can accomplish the impossible; but it’s also true that if you have just one such friend, you can do the same, if that friend is God.