صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

unto God, “Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece of wool only, and it be dry on the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou hast said." And it pleased God to grant Gideon the sign which he had asked of him; for, when he arose in the morning, he found his fleece so wet with dew, that he was able to wring out of it a basin of water; and yet the ground on which the fleece lay, was on every side quite dry; the dew, which had watered the fleece, had not fallen on the earth which was round about it. Here was proof enough of the hand of God: yet was he pleased to strengthen Gideon's faith still more, by adding yet another miracle to this. For Gideon said unto God, “Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night; for in the morning the whole ground was covered with dew, but the fleece, which lay upon it, was as dry as if no dew had fallen. With such proofs that tho Mighty One of Israel was with him, Gideon could fear no longer; we read, that on that very day, he began to prepare himself and his people for fighting against Midian. And he gathered together a very goodly army, even thousands of warriors from the hosts of Israel; but it was not thus that God intended him to proceed; it was not by a multitude of soldiers that he meant Gideon to overcome the enemy; for then, perhaps, Israel might have boasted in their own strength, and have forgotten him who gave them the victory : whereas God would show to them, and to all the world, the work of his own Almighty hand, In

[graphic]

parties, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with an empty pitcher and a lamp within the pitcher. And he told them when they came to the camp, to look at him and to do exactly as he did, saying, “ When I blow with a trumpet, then blow ye also the trumpets on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." So Gideon, and the three hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the middle of the night; and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held their lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal; and the words, with which they encouraged one another and struck fear into the hearts of their enemies, were only those few simple words, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." And all the host of the enemy, as they heard these words, “ ran, and cried, and fled:” and amid the hurry and confusion of the flight, and in the darkness of the night, the Lord turned all their swords against each other, instead of against the Israelites, so that they fell in numbers by their own hands, instead of by ine land of Israel. Then all the men of Israel, from all the parts around, gathered themselves together and pursued after Midian, and prevented them from crossing over the river Jordan to escape; and they took some of their great princes, Oreb and Zeeb, and slew them, and carried their heads to Gideon. And Gideon did not rest until he had slain the kings of Midian, and all the hosts of the children of the East. He took also a great deal of treasure from the enemies' hosts, who being many of them Arabians, or children of the East

[graphic]

the people from himself to God; and, therefore, would not for a moment listen to the offer which they made him. Good night now, dear boy ! let us hope to talk again another evening.

SIXTH SUNDAY EVENING.

STORY OF SAMSON.

M. You have heard, my love, how ungratefully the people of God acted, after their wonderful deliverance from the Midianites : you will not, therefore, be much surprised to hear, that they soon returned to the idols of the heathen again. For a little while they put them away whilst Gideon lived; but as soon as he was dead, the children of Israel turned again to their own wicked ways, and “ remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side.”

The wonderful way, in which God had saved them by the hand of Gideon, seems scarcely to have been thought of at all amongst them; for they were ungrateful afterwards to Gideon himself, and showed no kindness to his family, although he had done so much good for Israel. They did not even put away the dreadful sin of idolatry from among them; although it had so often brought down the fierce anger of the Almighty upon them: but they did evil again, even in this way, in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim and Ashtaroth and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods

« السابقةمتابعة »