children of the east; and they entered into the land to destroy it. The voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, now ceased from among the children of Israel. In hunger and in thirst, and in want of all things, they served their enemies, whom the Lord had brought against them, because they would not serve the Lord their God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, as they might have done always if they would have obeyed His voice and walked in the way of His commandments 1. For seven years God left His people in the hand of their enemies-the people of Midian. But when they turned again to seek the Lord, and cried unto Him in the time of their affliction, He heard them from Heaven, according to His mercy, and delivered them out of their distress. He did not utterly forsake them, nor consume them; for He is a merciful God. B.C. So after the children of Israel had served the About Midianites seven years, the Lord sent an angel 1345. 1 Deut. xxviii. 47, 48. to Gideon, a man of the tribe of Manasseh. Gideon was threshing corn in the wine-press to hide it from the Midianites; and the angel of the Lord appeared to him, and commanded him to go forth and save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. And Gideon said, "O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, 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." Then Gideon besought the angel to give him a sign that he might know who it was that talked with him; and he prayed him not to depart until he should bring him a meat-offering. So he went and made ready a kid and cakes of flour, and brought them, and set them down on a rock before the angel. Then the angel of God put forth the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and fire came forth from the rock and consumed it: then he departed out of his sight. And when Gideon knew that he had seen an angel of God face to face, he was greatly afraid. And the same night the Lord commanded Gideon to throw down the altar of Baal which his father had, and to cut down the grove of trees that was beside it. And he said that Gideon should build an altar to the Lord his God on the rock near the place where the angel had appeared, and offer thereon a bullock for a burnt sacrifice. So Gideon took ten men of his servants, and threw down the altar of the idol Baal and burnt the grove, and offered the sacrifice as the Lord had commanded. He did it by night, and not by day, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city in which he dwelt. And when the men of the city arose in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the bullock was offered on the altar that was built to the Lord God of Israel. Then they said one to another, "Who hath done this thing?" And when they had heard that Gideon the son of Joash had done it, they went to Joash and said, "Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal." And Joash said, "Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? He that will plead for him let him be put to death. If he be a god let him plead for himself, because one hath thrown down his altar." Therefore Joash called his son Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar." And from that day Gideon was called by the men of Israel, Jerubbaal, which means, Let Baal plead. Psalm lxxxi. cvi. Judges vi. To plead for a person is to defend his cause, also to ask kindness for him. To plead against a person is to seek to have him punished. B.C. Chapter XCE. THE DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL FROM THE MIDIAN- About WHEN Gideon had obeyed the command of God, 1345. and had thrown down the altar of the idol Baal, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. And he blew a trumpet and sent messengers throughout the land of Israel, and the people gathered themselves together after him. Then Gideon prayed to the Lord to give him a sign that He would save Israel by his hand. And he said, "Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor, and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said." And when he rose up on the morrow the ground was dry, but the fleece was wet with dew; and he wringed the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water. And Gideon prayed again to God, and said, "Let not thine anger be hot 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 God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. Then Gideon believed that the Lord would surely save Israel by his hand, and he led forth the people who had gathered themselves together after him towards the place where the Midianites |