Quotes About Strategy

When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor,

he summoned all nine hundred of his iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the River Kishon.

Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” he said, “and if anyone comes and asks you, ëIs there a man here?í say, ëNo.í”

And the number of those who lapped the water with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men; all the others knelt to drink.

So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred men, who took charge of the provisions and ramsí horns of the others. And the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ramís horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.

“Watch me and do as I do,” Gideon said. “When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do exactly as I do.

Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.

Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran.

And when the three hundred ramsí horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.

Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah.

But the leaders of Succoth asked, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your army?”

Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army of about fifteen thousand men—all that were left of the armies of the people of the east. A hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had already fallen.

And Gideon went up by way of the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, taking them by surprise.

When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army.

There he captured a young man of Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth.

The leaders of Shechem set up an ambush against Abimelech on the hilltops, and they robbed all who passed by them on the road. So this was reported to Abimelech.

Meanwhile, Gaal son of Ebed came with his brothers and crossed into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem put their confidence in him.

If only this people were under my authority, I would remove Abimelech; I would say to him, ëMuster your army and come out!í”

So he covertly sent messengers to Abimelech to say, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you.

Now then, tonight you and the people with you are to come and lie in wait in the fields.

And in the morning at sunrise, get up and advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, do to them whatever you are able.”

So Abimelech and all his troops set out by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies.