And he said unto Him:-"Oh 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."

And he said unto him:-"If now I have found grace in Thy sight, then shew 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 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 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.

And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said: "Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an 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, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.

And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him:-"Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal' that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is by it: and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the Asherah which thou shalt cut down."

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, 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. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the Asherah 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 inquired 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

4. The Canaanites worshipped the powers of nature under the name of Baal. Altars to this God are frequently mentioned, usually in connection with "groves" or "Asherah," probably wooden images.

down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the Asherah 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." Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal," saying:—“Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar."

Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abi-ezer was gathered after him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathereed after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali ; and they came up to meet them. And Gideon said unto God:"If Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said, behold, I will put a fleece of wool in 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 mine hand, as Thou hast said."

And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

5. The word means "with whom Baal contends.”

6. See Note 25, Outline Study.

And Gideon said unto God:-"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 Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon :—“The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, 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 afraid, let him return and depart early 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 shall 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, were 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 other people go every man unto his place." So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him:-"Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host." Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.

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 host of Midian, and came unto

7. What is the significance of this test?