_Because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens _. .. _ and caves and strongholds._ DIVINE PUNISHMENT THROUGH NATURAL MEANS Thus God gets at men through various means. The Midianites came out and spoiled the fields of the Israelites. The camels of the Midianites were without nu... [ Continue Reading ]
_There came an Angel of the Lord _. .. _ Gideon threshed wheat._ GIDEON’S ANGELIC VISITOR I. That a man, when actively and unostentatiously doing his duty, is best fitted for the reception of heavenly visitants. II. That, however unconscious of the fact a man may be, God is really quickening him... [ Continue Reading ]
_Throw down the altar of Baal._ BAAL’S ALTAR DESTROYED 1. Observe God’s command to Gideon. He had been hitherto protesting against the idolatry of his family and country by a life of opposition, inasmuch as it was a life of humble, pious fear, and love of Jehovah, and of the worship of Him as the t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east._ THE VICTORY OVER THE MIDIANITES The mind of man is by nature like two hostile camps. In the higher region are principles of innocence, hope, love, justice, trust, kindness, purity, and tenderness--those angels of the soul--“For of su... [ Continue Reading ]
_He blew a trumpet, and Abi-ezer was gathered after him._ THE MUSTER And what did he do? He seized a trumpet and blew a blast so loud that it startled the slumbering echoes of the hills, and stirred to the lowest depths the latent patriotism of the inhabitants of Abi-ezer. The martial notes of that... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will put a fleece of wool in the floor._ GIDEON’S REQUEST 1. Impossible though it may be to acquit Gideon of unreasonableness, in demanding farther proofs of the certainty wherewith he might rely on the presence and blessing of the Lord on his perilous undertaking, we cannot deny that he displa... [ Continue Reading ]