put confidence in the feigned civilities of his wife. S. What further success had Barak against Jabin ? T. Josephus acquaints us, that immediately after this victory, Ba. rak marched with his army towards Hazor, encountered Jabin by the way, slew him, and razed the city to the ground. But I apprehend this was not done, till Barak's army had been recruited by the additional forces of Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin and Issachar. S. Why is this family in particular mentioned on this occasion ? T. To shew the wonderful providence of God, which afterwards ensued in Boaz's becoming acquainted with and marrying Ruth, from whom sprung the family of David. S. How was that effected? T. Elimelech died in Moab, and Naomi married her sons to Orpah and Ruth, two women of that country; and these two sons dying in about two years after, Naomi determined to return to her own S. How long did Israel enjoy peace people; and Ruth, the widow of after this? T. Forty years. S. Did the Israelites commemorate this signal victory, with any thankful acknowledgments to God for their deliverance? T Deborah composed a triumphant song or hymn, upon this occasion ; in which she magnifies the mercy they had now received, in being delivered from so many and great calamities; acknowledges the power of God; ascribes the honour of the victory to him alone; exhorts all the people to join with her in praising him; and concludes with a commendation of those tribes that joined in the war, and with upbraiding those, that declined their country's service: S. How did the Israelites behave after this? T. It was not long before they turned from God again to idolatry.And he sent a grievous famine among them, whereby several were forced to seek bread in strange countries: among whom were Elime lech and his wife Naomi, with their two sons Mahlon and Chilion, who went to live in the land of Moab. her younger son, would accompany her to Bethlehem. This affection of Ruth engaged Naomi 'so dearly to her, that by her contrivance she managed to marry her to Boaz, by whom Ruth bad Obed, the father of Jesse, who was the father of king David, from whom, according to the flesh, Jesus Christ was lineally descended. T. It is most probable they were not, or that it was not lasting; for upon the death of Deborah and Barak, they fell again into their old impiety; and God scourged them so severely, by the Midianites, the Amalekites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Ishmaelites, who are the children of the east mentioned in this history; that they were forced to betake themselves to mountains and strong. holds, and make themselves dens and caves for shelter; and could neither sow nor reap with security or success, for the space of seven years. S. Did not you tell me, that the children of Israel had destroyed the Midianites in their way to Canaan ? : T. Yes but it is not improbable rate; because we do not find that he made the least hesitation to undertake the executing this divine command, after that the angel had convinced him of the truth thereof by a miracle. that some of that nation saved themselves by flight, and returning after the Israelites were settled in Canaan might, in the space of two hundred years, repossess their own land and retain their ancient name. Which certainly was the case of these Midianites, as well as of the Moabites and some other nations, that made head against the Israelites, after they had been in a manner quite destroyed. S. How were the Israelites delivered from this calamity? T. The oppression they suffered from their enemies, made them have recourse to God, who hearing their prayers, was moved with compassion and resolved to deliver them; whereupon he sent them a prophet, or perhaps the high-priest for the time being, who reproached them sharply for their ingratitude; and at the same time sent his angel to Gideon, to acquaint him that he had made choice of him for the deliverer of his people. S. Who was this Gideon ? T. He was the son of Joash, who dwelt at Ophrah, who is generally supposed to have been a worshipper, if not a priest of Baal, an ́Abi-ezrite of the tribe of Manasseh. Gideon was, at the time the angel appeared to him, busied in threshing out his corn in a private place, to conceal it from the depredation of the enemy. S. What was the miracle? : T. Gideon had requested some token of his divine mission, and intreated the angel to stay till he had prepared something for him to eat the angel accepted of his invitation; and when Gideon had provided a boiled kid, and unleavened cakes, and set it before him, the angel ordered him to place them upon a rock hard by, and to pour the broth upon them. Gideon obeyed, and the angel having touched them with his staff, fire immediately came out of the rock and consumed them whilst at the same time he himself vanished out of sight. S, What did Gideon on the disappearance of the angel ? : T. Being recovered from his fear on that occasion, he erected an altar upon the rock and called it Jehovah Shalom, which is, the God of peace or mercy, in commemoration of this glorious interview. S. Did God communicate to him any further notice of his divine plea sure? T. That same night God admonished him in a dream to destroy the altar of Baal, and cut down the grove in which it was built and diS. How did Gideon receive the rected him to build an altar to God message of the Lord?.. T. He at first excused himself by reason of the obscurity of his family, and meanness of his circumstances: and it is very probable that he doubt ed of the truth of the commission, by which he was to be sent on an undertaking, in all appearance so despe. : on the summit of the rock, and to offer thereon a burnt sacrifice to him, with one of his father's bullocks.— All which he punctually performed, being assisted therein by ten of his father's servants. S. Did not the worshippers of Baal resent this affront T. Very highly for they demand. ed him of his father, that they might put him to death; but Joash having been probably converted by his son, told them plainly, that if Baal was a god, it was his business, and not theirs to avenge his own quarrel. This appeased the tumult; and Gideon ob. tained from thence forward the name of Jerub-baal, or let Baal plead. S. What measures did Gideon take to effect the deliverance of the Israelites. T. He summoned those of his own family to take up arms first, and then the neighbouring tribes to join him, in shaking off the yoke of the Midianites; and thus raised an army of 32,000 men. About this time the enemy had passed over the river Jordan, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel, to the number of 135,000 men. As soon as Gideon had collected all his succours, he desired of God to give them a token of his commission, to satisfy and encourage them, that he acted only by the divine authority in this undertaking; to which the Almighty condescended. S. What was the token he desired? T. Gideon laid a fleece of wool on the ground, and prayed that the dew might fall upon the fleece only, and that the earth round about it might remain dry, which happened accordingly. Then he prayed that the dew might wet all the earth about it, while the fleece only remained dry, which accordingly came to pass. S. Were they confirmed by these signs of his commission being from God? T. Yes; and in this confidence Gideon led them directly against the Midianites, whom he found encamped in the plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon, which belonged to the half tribe of Manasseh, and adjoined to the tribe of Issachar, on the west of Jordan: a plain of vast extent, and very fertile; but now is uncul tivated, and only serves the Arabs for pasturage. But before he came thither, God rightly foreseeing that, if this army conquered the Midianites, they would vainly impute their success more to their own valour, and strength, than to his invincible hand, ordered Gideon to proclaim liberty to all such to return home, as from their apprehensions and their fears might be disposed so to do. Whereupon no less than 22,000 quitted the field; so that Gideon was now left with 10,000 men only. S. What happened after this! T. God resolving that the whole glory of the victory should be accounted his own, ordered Gideon to lead these few men down to the water to drink, and out of them to select only those for the expedition, who, instead of laying themselves down to drink, should take up the water in their hands, and lap it. This experiment reduced his army to no more than 300 men ; whom Gideon ordered to hold themselves in readiness, and to have each a trumpet, a lamp, and an empty pitcher to conceal the light in; then he stole privately with one servant only to the Midianitish camp, and viewed it well; where he overheard a Midianite relating his dream to his companion, which the other interpreted in Gideon's favour. Returning full of confidence from in triumph with him to Succoth, this good omen, Gideon drew out his little army, and dividing them into three companies, of an hundred men each, marched suddenly upon the Midianites in the beginning of the watch, or dead time of the night; and giving the watch-word, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, his men broke their pitchers, brandished their lamps, and sounded their trumpets all at once; which threw the enemy into so great a consternation and confusion, that imagining this handful to be a formidable army, they mistook their friends for their enemies, fell upon one another, and after a great slaughter made of their own men, the remainder sought to secure themselves by flight. S. Did Gideon with this small army of his pursue them? T. Gideon having obtained an easy victory, sent to the rest of his army, who, upon his proclamation, had withdrawn themselves, but had not yet got home, and also to the Ephraimites, some to pursue the enemy, and some to secure the passes of Jordan, to prevent their retreat.These took the two Midianitish princes, Oreb and Zeeb, and cut off their heads, and sent them to Gideon, who was now got over the river in pursuit of the two other kings of Midian, Zeba and Zulmunna, who had made their escape over some passes that were not early enough secured; these however he came up with at Karkor, where he surprized and beat their army, took the two kings, and having ordered them to be stripped of their royal ornaments and their camels of their rich trappings and furniture, he carried them and dispatched them both with his own hands. By this defeat, the power of Midian was broken; Gideon's victory rendered compleat, and Israel thereby enjoyed peace for forty years. S. Did Gideon find any difficulty to provide for his army in this pursuit? T. Yes: for he and his men having crossed over to Succoth, near the east bank of Jordan, grew faint with the length of the pursuit, and for want of bread, and therefore prayed some small refreshment, both from the men of Succotb, and the people of Pennel; but they, ridiculing the smallness of his army, treated them with insolence, and refused to give them any relief. S. Did Gideon revenge this insolent conduct ? T. Yes; for when he had taken Zeba and Zulmunna, and brought them to Succoth, he took the elders of the city and scourged them with thorns and briers; and afterwards went and beat down the tower of Penuel; in whose ruins, it is said, were buried the rulers of the city who had fled thither to escape his resentment. S. You mentioned that Gideon slew the two kings Zeba and Zalmunna with his own hand, was there any particular reason for it? T. These two kings had with distinguished cruelty, laid waste all the country, and put the inhabitants to the sword in their march; and were the very persons that had killed Gidion's brethren (whom he had by his mother's side) at mount Tabor. Gi. deon therefore to punish them had ordered Jether his son to execute them; but the youth being timorous, he him self avenged the blood of his brethren. S. Would it not have been more decent to have their lives taken away by the public executioner? 7. In those times there were no public executioners; and it was as much a custom for great men to do execution upon offenders, as it is now an usual thing for them to pronounce sentence upon them. Doeg, many years afterwards, though one of the chief officers in the court of Saul, was also his executioner. However, I cannot but suppose that Gideon had a further intention when he ordered his own son to this office; namely, to animate him early against the enemies of Israel. Hannibal is reported to have been thus animated against the Romans when he was a boy. S. How did the Israelites behave to Gideon after this great deliverance wrought by him ? T. They offered to settle the government of Israel on him and his posterity; but as he knew the honour of the victory was due to God alone, he modestly and generously declined their offer; yet desired they would of lige him with the ear-rings taken from the enemy. To which the people not only consented, but gave him also the costly ornaments and robes of the kings, and the golden chains that were about the camels necks. The whole amounted to a prodigious value. gift? very thing gave occasion to a fresh apostacy, and proved the ruin of his family? S. What family had Gideon? T. He had several wives by whom he had seventy sons; and a concubine by whom he had a son named Abimelech, which by interpretation significs, my father a king; which title might perhaps animate him afterwards to aspire to the crown. S. Did any of these succeed Gideon in the government? T. After Gideon's death, Abimelech, whom we have just mentioned, having by his mother's contrivance and interest at Shechem, where he was born, and by the assistance of a company of profligate fellows, whom he hired with mo ney taken out of the treasury of their god Baal-berith, repaired to his father's house, at Ophrah, seized and slew all his bethren, except Jotham, the youngest, who had made his escape; and afterwards obtained the kingdom by the consent of the people, in a general assembly at Shechem. S. What did Gideon do with this record, represented to the people his father's modesty and self-denial, in refusing to have the government settled on him and his family, which they had now conferred on one as much inferior in virtue and honour to Gideon and his lawful sons, as the T. He, out of religious zeal, made an ephod of it, and placed it in the city of Ophrab, as a memorial of what God had wrought for Israel by his ministry. But in the end, this |
