Gideon's 300
Gideon obeys God's command to reduce his army from 32,000 to 300 men, and through torches, pitchers, and trumpets, witnesses the Lord deliver Israel from the Midianites.
When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon at the winepress in Ophrah, he addressed him as a 'mighty man of valour,' yet Gideon saw only his own weakness and the oppression of his people. For seven years, the Midianites had descended upon Israel like locusts, destroying crops and leaving the people destitute. Through the miraculous signs of the fleece, both wet and dry according to Gideon's requests, the Lord patiently confirmed His will.
The reduction of Gideon's army from thirty-two thousand to three hundred stands as one of Scripture's most powerful illustrations of divine economy. God explicitly declared His purpose: '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.' First, twenty-two thousand fearful men departed, then the Lord refined the remaining ten thousand through the test of drinking water.
The battle strategy defied all military logic. Armed not with swords but with trumpets, empty pitchers, and lamps, the three hundred surrounded the vast Midianite camp in the darkness. At Gideon's signal, they broke their pitchers, let their lights shine, blew their trumpets, and cried, 'The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!' The Lord set every Midianite's sword against his fellow, and the host fled in supernatural confusion.
Gideon's victory demonstrates that the battle belongs to the Lord, and that human strength and numbers are irrelevant when God moves on behalf of His people.