Heroes of Israel Part 18

WRITTEN REVIEW

This week you will undoubtedly have some difficult lessons a.s.signed in school. It will seem that they are too hard and you will feel inclined to give them up. Do not be afraid of the giants, be like Joshua and Caleb and you can conquer if you are brave enough. Make up your mind to conquer some hard task each day. When you are sure you have really conquered a difficulty think how those heroes must have felt about the giants. Write in your notebook the reason why Caleb and Joshua wanted to do the hard duty.

XV. GIDEON, THE WARRIOR

THE STORY

=--45. The Call of Gideon= (Judg. 6:2-6, 11-24, 36-40)

A. THE OPPRESSION OF THE MIDIANITES

The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of Midian the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up and encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor a.s.s. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, they came in as locusts for mult.i.tude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.

B. THE ANGEL'S VISIT TO GIDEON

And the angel of the Lord came, and sat under the oak that belonged unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor."

And Gideon said unto him, "Oh my lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?'

but now the Lord hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian."

And the Lord looked upon him, and said, "Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee?"

And he said unto him, "Oh Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Mana.s.seh, and I am the least in my father's house."

And the Lord said unto him, "Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man."

And he said unto him, "If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that it is thou that talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before thee."

And he said, "I will tarry until thou come again."

And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

And the angel of G.o.d said unto him, "Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth."

And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

And Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord G.o.d! forasmuch as I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face."

And the Lord said unto him, "Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die."

Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord.

C. THE SIGN OF THE FLEECE

And Gideon said unto G.o.d, "If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the thres.h.i.+ng-floor: if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken."

And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. And Gideon said unto G.o.d, "Let not thine anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew."

And G.o.d did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

=--46. The Defeat of the Midianites= (Judg. 6:33-35; 7:2-24; 8:4, 10-12, 21)

A. THE GATHERING OF THE TRIBES

Then all the Midianites a.s.sembled themselves together; and they pa.s.sed over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after him. And he sent messengers throughout all Mana.s.seh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

B. THE CHOICE OF THE WARRIORS

And the Lord said unto Gideon, "The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, 'Mine own hand hath saved me.' Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from mount Gilead.'"

And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. And the Lord said unto Gideon, "The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, 'This shall go with thee,' the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, 'This shall not go with thee,' the same shall not go."

So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, "Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink."

And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

And the Lord said unto Gideon, "By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the people go every man unto his place."

So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the men of Israel every man unto his tent, but retained the three hundred men: and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

C. THE DREAM OF THE ENEMY

And it came to pa.s.s the same night, that the Lord said unto him, "Arise, get thee down into the camp; for I have delivered it into thine hand.

But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Purah thy servant down to the camp: and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down into the camp."

Then went he down with Purah his servant unto the outermost part of the armed men that were in the camp. And the Midianites lay along in the valley like locusts for mult.i.tude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is upon the sea sh.o.r.e for mult.i.tude.

And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came unto the tent, and smote it that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat."

And his fellow answered and said, "This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hand G.o.d hath delivered Midian, and all the host."

And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he wors.h.i.+pped; and he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian."

D. THE PLAN OF THE BATTLE

And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers. And he said unto them, "Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, 'For the Lord and for Gideon.'"

So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon."

And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight. And they blew the three hundred trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, and against all the host: and the host fled and the men of Israel pursued after Midian.