Disclaimer: To understand this post, please refer to the TV Show “Deadliest Warrior”. If you never seen the show ask someone who has. Please now enjoy the script of the never aired episode: 300 versus 300.
WHO IS THE DEADLIEST WARRIOR:
King Leonidas’Spartans or Judge Gideon’s Hebrews.
Who would win in a battle between the 300 Spartans of King Leonidas or the 300 Hebrew Warriors of Judge Gideon. Lets see who is the Deadliest Warrior!
TIME: Bronze Age - 800-500 BC
LOCATION: Sparta Ancient Greece
SPARTAN TRAINING: A WARRIOR CULTURE
An Ancient Greek city-state whose main concern was war. Male citizens had one goal and duty in life, to fight and to die for Sparta. Women were basically used to breed more men, Spartan men who would become Spartan soldiers. Sparta had little literature, arts, architecture, exploration, or commerce. Their society and culture was focused on developing warriors. Sickly babies were left to die, while healthy boys started their physical and military training at age 7. The boys became a possession of the state. Their brutal training program developed physical strength, military prowess, discipline and obedience. The boys were starved and forced to steal to survive. If caught they would be severely punished, not for stealing but for getting caught. Even if married, soldiers lived together in barracks until age 30. Spartans believed in the military power of the unit, the group, not the individual.
Javelin, Spear, Xiphos (Short Sword), Shield
The Phalanx. A rectangular mass formation of a tight line of soldiers sometimes eight deep. Designed to push forward until the enemy line was broken and maintain a solid front after opposing sides collided.
At the Battle of Thermopylae, 300 Spartans stood up against half a million Persians and, prepared to die, took on their enemies with a legendary ferocity that earned them the title of one of history's greatest warriors. Over a three-day battle, the Spartans killed nearly half of the Persian army.
LEADER: KING LEONIDAS
Leonidas was a 5th century B.C. Spartan military king who bravely led a small force of Greeks -- mostly Spartan (the famous 300), but also Thespians and Thebans -- against the much larger Persian army of Xerxes, at the pass of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. during the Persian Wars. According to Herodotus, Leonidas had been warned by the Delphic oracle that either Sparta would be destroyed or their king would lose his life. Leonidas chose the second alternative.
Spartans were the ultimate soldier; they trained since they were children and were trained in nothing but war. They were known throughout the ancient western world for their battle-hardened image and for winning battles against much larger armies, such as the case in the Battle of Thermopylae, the inspiration for the hit film 300. The training regimen of Spartans are the model for the United States Marines.
TIME: 1380 – 1050 B.C.
LOCATION: Israel, the time of the Judges.
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
HEBREW TRAINING: NONE, LEARN AS YOU GO!
Judges 3:1 And these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least those who before knew nothing of it.
When told “[W]hoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.” Twenty-two thousand soldiers out of thirty-two thousand (32,000) left.
The out of the remaining ten thousand (10,000) only three hundred (300) were found to be fit for battle.
Trumpets, empty pitchers, and torches.
JEHOVAH, a.k.a. “Yahweh”, “The LORD”
Judges 7:19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers-they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing-and they cried, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!"21 And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.22 When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled ….
Defeat of the Midianites at the valley near the hill of Moreh. Gideon and his 300 men defeat a much larger Midianite army (“as numerous as locusts”) with no weapons. See above.
LEADER: GIDEON, a.k.a., Jerub-baal (“let baal contend with him”).
The least son of Joash the Abiezrite of the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh. Called by the Lord a “mighty man of valor!" while he was threshing wheat in a winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. Destroyed the altar of Baal at night, so as not to be seen because he was afraid. See Judges 6:27. Tested God several times and needed to be encouraged by God due to fear, lack of confidence.
Called a hero of faith in Hebrews 11:32.
Heb 11:32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Untrained laymen, who have not fought in battle, led by an untrained fearful leader, who put all his faith and trust in the Lord.
Spartan Warrior - Short Sword
Hebrew Warrior – Empty Pitcher
Advantage = Spartan
Spartan Warrior – Spear
Hebrew Warrior – Torch
Advantage = Spartan
Spartan Warrior – Javelin
Hebrew Warrior – Trumpet
Advantage = Spartan
Spartan Warrior – Shield/ The Phalanx
Hebrew Warrior – JEHOVAH-SABAOTH , “The LORD OF HOSTS”.
Advantage = Hebrew Warrior
WINNER: HEBREW WARRIOR
Spartan Wins in 1000 battles = 0
Hebrew Warrior Wins in 1000 battles = 1000
Despite the impressive combat training, physical abilities, military tactics, and superior weapons of the Spartan, the superiority of the ONE who created the Spartan cannot be overcome.
1 Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
This simulated battle has been really fought many times before and is still being fought today. Man trying to take God away from his throne. Satan tried it and failed, miserably. How can man, a creation, be so bold (prideful) to think that he can rule over his creator. King David said it best when confronting Goliath:
1Samuel 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.47 "Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands."
When we go into battle every day, may we first bow our knees and confess his name for he is JEHOVAH-NISSI, “THE LORD IS MY BANNER”. The Warriors of Warriors, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.