{"id":55351,"date":"2019-05-13T07:58:50","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T04:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55351"},"modified":"2022-12-05T14:41:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T12:41:48","slug":"gideons-three-hundred","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/gideons-three-hundred\/","title":{"rendered":"Gideon\u2019s Three Hundred"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[609],"acf":{"old_id":"55351","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"218","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Were they the best - or the worst?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Legend has it that 300 Spartans held off a vastly larger Persian force at the Battle of Thermopylae. Gideon, too, fought with only 300 warriors, but the manner in which he selected them is problematic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to our chapter, God informed Gideon that he had started out with too large an army (v.4), and instructed him to winnow his ranks by taking his troops to the water to drink. Most of the soldiers knelt to drink; 300 of them remained standing and lapped up the water from their cupped hands \u201clike a dog\u201d (5). They are the ones Gideon chose to accompany him to battle and theirs was the victory over Midian.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The question is: Did lapping the water make them the worst soldiers or the best?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rashi is representative of the consensus of exegetes who argue that kneeling to drink disqualified the majority because it indicated an inclination to kneel before idols. Ergo, the 300 who remained stationary were selected because of their religious superiority and, albeit outnumbered, won the battle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Personally, I find that interpretation inadequate for two reasons. One, as the Spartans demonstrate, on any given day even just 300 elite troops can turn the tide of battle. Second, it fails to explain the depiction of their lapping \u201clike a dog.\u201d While it may well be that this is a clinical description and carries no value judgment, I offer an alternative interpretation. The 300 men who stood and lapped like dogs were chosen because they were the least qualified and their victory enhanced Gideon\u2019s reputation as someone who was divinely sponsored and supported. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":55352,"id":55352,"title":"jud6-gideon","filename":"jud6-gideon.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/gideons-three-hundred\/jud6-gideon\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud6-gideon","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55351,"date":"2019-05-13 04:58:26","modified":"2019-05-13 04:58:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":529,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-300x198.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":198,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-768x508.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":508,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":529,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":529,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":529,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":529,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-635x420.jpg","home_baner-width":635,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Gideon\u2019s Three Hundred","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Were they the best - 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