Gideon is so much fun for the students! This is a lesson with a lot of visuals, and they are able to up, moving around and loud! Gideon is found in Judges 6. Gideon was one of the judges. He was a judge for 40 years. An Angel of God came to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Valor means full of courage or brave.) The Israelite people had disobeyed God, so He let them be ruled over by the Midianites for 7 years. Gideon really couldn’t believe that God wanted HIM to fight the Midianites. The Lord told Gideon to take down the altar of Baal and the wooden image that was next to it. (Judges 6:25-27) He was told to build an altar of rock and sacrifice a bull. Gideon took 10 men and tore down the altar of Baal during the night. When the men saw the Baal altar gone the next morning, they asked who had taken it down. Someone said Gideon. They told Gideon’s father (Joash) to go and bring Gideon, but Joash replied, "Let Baal take care of it!" People from different tribes started gathering with Gideon. Gideon asked God that “IF you really want ME to save Israel, I will put a piece of wool on the floor. If You put dew on the wool only and there isn’t any dew on the floor, then I will know you will save Israel by my hand.” The next morning, Gideon could wring water from the wool and there wasn’t any dew on the floor. Gideon asked God again, “Don’t be angry with me, but one more test, will You put the dew on the floor and make the wool dry this time?” And, of course, when Gideon woke up, there was dew on the floor and the wool was dry. (We discussed dew outside and how when we have dew, it is everywhere, and not just certain places.) The next morning when Gideon and the people woke up and gathered together, God told Gideon that there were too many people there to fight the Midianites. God wanted the people to know they won the battle because of Him, not because there were so many people willing to fight. God told Gideon to let the people go that were afraid. So, 22,000 left, but there were still 10,000 people with Gideon. God said, “That is still too many. Take them to the water for a test. Separate the ones that cup their hands and lap the water like a dog from the ones who get on their knees to get a drink.” (Judges 7:5) God told Gideon to take the ones that cupped their hands to drink. There were only 300 men, but God said that He would be with them to beat the Midianites. God instructed Gideon to take his servant and go down into the valley where the Midianites were camped. They had so many people in the camp “like locusts” and so many camels; they were like “sand on the seashore!” Gideon divided the 300 men into three groups. He gave each of them a trumpet, and empty pitcher with a torch inside. Gideon told them to watch him and copy what he does. When I blow the trumpet, then you will blow yours and say, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” For the battle, I turned off the lights, since it was midnight. The kids threw down their pitchers, held the torch and blew their trumpets! FUN! (I warned the next-door teacher before class!) Gideon had 100 men with him and when they got to the camp about midnight, they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers. Then the other groups of men did the same thing! They held the torches in the left hand and trumpets in their right hand. The Midianite men woke up and cried out! Some of them killed each other and then they ran! Gideon sent messengers to tell the other tribes to seize the Midianites that are hiding. They found them everywhere! They even captured two princes! After all the fighting, the country was calm for 40 years. (Judges 8:28) This is today's take-home that we used during the lesson. There is a front and back which is just black & white so you can print on color cardstock. I cut them out, and put glue around the outside edges, LEAVING the top open so I could insert the torch. You can print it here. I found this pitcher at Hobby Lobby, the 'horn' at Oriental Trading a LONG time ago and made the torch for this visual. I use a ram's horn that can be purchased at eBay or Amazon. I also bought this fleece at Hobby Lobby ($12.99-30% everyday). Pretty expensive, so I bought 1/2 a yard and cut smaller pieces to let the kids take home. They love to feel this! I handed out sandwich baggies for the fleece and the trumpet to be kept in until they got home. The fleece likes to shed, but really, it's worth it! HA! Had to show you this! My dog must have thought I had a friend for her, since it looks like poodle hair! She sniffed it all over and had to nudge under it! ☺ Sorry, back to the lesson! Click here to download the updated visuals. The file contains updated visuals for Judges 6-7 and all are not shown. Click here to download the pictures to color. (These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.) Click here to see the worksheets for this quarter. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.