Yahweh said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand; and let all the people go every man to his place.
And so of the thirty-two thousand that came to fight with Gideon, twenty-two thousand were afraid to fight so they went home. Now there was a reason that God wanted to get rid of the fearful. It's not good to have men who are really frightened in the battle lines with you, for they're apt to panic in a time of crises and to flee and leave that flank exposed.So, God first got rid of the fearful.