CHAPTER V.

GIDEON DELIVERS THE ISRAELITES FROM THE YOKE

OF THE MIDIANITES AND AMALEKITES.

ABIMELECK.

THE Israelites again "did evil in the sight of the LORD," when the remembrance of the tyranny of Jabin had passed away, and another generation had arisen in the room of those who had suffered from it. Then the punishments so solemnly predicted by Moses and Joshua, came once more upon them, and they were given into the hands of their enemies; those very idolaters whose sinful worship they had joined. During this servitude, their sufferings were even greater than before; for the Midianites, into whose power they were delivered, were a nation resembling the present Bedouin Arabs; they lived a predatory life, wandering from place to place, and never settling in towns, but over-running a country and laying it waste, carrying off the cattle, and gathering or destroying the crops which the husbandmen had sown. No fixed payment, however heavy, secured the Israelites from the inroads of these wild and warlike tribes; and the misery caused by their oppressions was so great, that the wretched people deserted their homes, and took refuge in dens and caves in the mountains.

"And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the East, even they came up against them: And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude: for both they and their camels were without number, and they entered into the land to destroy it."

This dreadful desolation continued seven years; at the end of which time, the repentant people found mercy in that great and good God, who is always more ready to hear, than his creatures are to ask His blessing. A prophet was first sent to warn them of their guilt, in having followed after the gods of the Amorites and forsaken the pure worship of Jehovah, and to remind them of the threatenings which had been so frequently repeated, foretelling the misery which would always follow their disobedience of this great command. Immediately afterwards, a deliverer was raised up, and appointed to free the Israelites in the following manner:

Gideon, the son of Joash, of the tribe of Manasseh, was thrashing wheat by the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites, when an angel of the LORD appeared to him, and addressed him in these words, "The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour."

"And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all the miracles which or fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

To this sorrowful complaint, Gideon received an encouraging reply, "Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hands of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?"

Gideon felt afraid of the power of the enemy; he said, his family was poor in Manasseh, and he was the least of his father's house; and when the angel again assured him that the LORD would be with him, and he should smite the Midianites as one man, Gideon asked for a sign, that he might know that it was indeed a messenger from the LORD who had appeared to him, and given him a divine command. "If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee and bring forth my present, and set it before thee."

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

"And Gideon went in and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: 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 God 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 rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight."

Gideon erected an altar to the LORD on the spot where the Angel had appeared to him; and that night he received a command to throw down the altar of Baal, which his father, in weak and wicked compliance with the idolatrous customs of their conquerors, had built near his house. Accordingly, Gideon, in obedience to the divine will, took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him; and so it was that because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. In the place of the altar of Baal which he destroyed, Gideon built an altar to the LORD, and offered a bullock upon it in sacrifice.

"And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built."

"And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and

asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing."

"Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it."

"And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him! he that will plead for him let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar."*

To this just rebuke, there could be no reply; but the Midianites resolved to maintain their usurpation, and being joined by the Amalekites, they assembled their forces, and pitched their camp in the valley of Jezreel. To the vast host of the idolaters, the Israelites had apparently to oppose only those of their tribes which could be hastily assembled, men who were dispirited with seven years of heavy servitude, inexperienced in war, and not firmly united among themselves. But there is one above who rules unseen over the destiny of men, who was the defender and protector of the Israelites, and he appointed Gideon to deliver them from the yoke of their oppressors; the spirit of the LORD came upon him; he blew his trumpet, and sent messengers through

*On this occasion, Joash gave his son the surname of Jerubbaal, or, let Baal plead, because he had thrown down the altar of Baal, and Baal had not 'pleaded for,' or defended himself.