ii. Tried and not found wanting in moral courage, Gideon was now

directed to carry out the second part of his commission. Blowing a trumpet he first gathered around him his own clan of Abi-ezer, and then sending messengers throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali[199], invited the aid of these tribes against the common enemy. With characteristic caution, however, he requested a further sign from Jehovah before actually entering upon his arduous task. A double sign was vouchsafed to him. A fleece of wool, first dripping with dew while all the soil around was hot and dry, then dry while all the soil around was damp, convinced him that the Lord would indeed deliver Israel by his hand.

By this time upwards of 32,000 of his countrymen had gathered around him, and with this force he encamped on the slope of Gilboa, near the spring of Jezreel, henceforth known as the _Spring of_ Harod or _Trembling_, overlooking the plain of Jezreel covered with the tents of the Midianites. But the host was too many and too great for God to give victory thereby. If they were successful with their present numbers they might vaunt that their own hand had saved them. Proclamation was, therefore, made that from the _Spring of Trembling_ all who were afraid to persevere in their arduous enterprise might return to their homes. Of this permission 22,000 at once availed themselves and went their way. But another trial was to test the qualifications of the rest. By Divine command Gideon took the remaining 10,000 of his forces to the spring, and watched them as they asswaged their thirst. While all the rest bowed down upon their knees, three hundred _putting their hand to their mouth, lapped of the water with their tongues as a dog lappeth_ (Judg. vii. 5, 6).

These three hundred Gideon set by themselves, the rest he sent away. Night now drew on, and with his little band, like the same famous number at Thermopylæ, he was left alone on the brow of the steep mountain which overlooks the vale of Jezreel, where Midian and Amalek and all the children of the east lay along like locusts for multitude, their camels gaily caparisoned, numerous as the sand on the seashore (Judg. vii. 12). To confirm the faith of Gideon in this great crisis, God now bade him, attended by Phurah his armour-bearer, drop down from the height where he was, and go to the host of his enemy. Accordingly the two crept down cautiously from rock to rock[200] in the still night to the outskirts of the Midianitish tents, where Gideon overheard a man tell his fellow how he had dreamt a dream, _and lo! a cake of |common|[200] barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along_. To this recital the other replied, showing the reputation Gideon had gained even amongst his foes, _This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hands hath God delivered Midian, and all the host_ (Judg. vii. 13, 14).

The Listener heard the dream and the interpretation, and straightway knew what he was to do. Returning up the mountain to his faithful three hundred, he divided them into three companies, and gave to every man a horn, an earthen pitcher, and a firebrand or torch[201] (Judg. vii. 16, _margin_) to put therein. Then bidding them follow him, and do exactly as they saw him do, in the beginning of the middle watch he again stole down towards the outskirts of the tents of the Midianites, while the three companies following silently took their places every man round about the slumbering camp. Then Gideon and his company suddenly blew their horns, and at this signal 300 horns blew, 300 pitchers crashed, 300 torches blazed, and the always terrible war-cry of the Israelites, _The Sword of Jehovah and of Gideon_[202], rent the midnight air. In a moment the Midianites and Amalekites were roused, and thrown into inextricable confusion and alarm. Amidst the blazing of so many torches, the crashing of so many pitchers, and the blast of so many trumpets all on different sides, they imagined themselves attacked by an enormous force. Filled with uncontrollable terror, they turned their swords against one another, and then rushed with one accord down the steep descent towards the Jordan eastward, to Beth-Shittah, _the House of the Acacia_, and Abel-Meholah, _the Meadow of the Dance_, hotly pursued not only by the three hundred, but some of the forces of Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, now convinced amidst the returning light of day that Gideon had indeed achieved a great victory (Judg. vii. 23).

The Midianites hoped to reach the fords of Beth-barah immediately under the highlands of Ephraim. But Gideon had already sent messengers thither, and the Ephraimites were not slow to seize the fords and intercept the flying foe, but not before a considerable body had already crossed with the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. But they were in time to capture the two inferior chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb, the one at a sharp cliff, the other at a winepress, where they slew them, and cutting off their heads hurried after Gideon, who with his three hundred was already on the other side of the Jordan, _faint yet pursuing_. Annoyed, now the victory was won, that they had not been summoned to join in the battle, the haughty Ephraimites chode with him, and manifested great resentment. With rare self-restraint the victorious Leader asked what after all he had done in comparison with them. Pointing to the bloody heads of the princes they had slain, he enquired whether the _grapes_ Ephraim had already _gleaned_ were not better than the entire _vintage_ of his little clan of Abi-ezer. This soft answer turned away the wrath of the offended tribe, and the chase was renewed (Judg. viii. 1–3).

Two places on the track of the pursuit refused to befriend Gideon. The men of Succoth[203] on the east of Jordan, near the ford of the torrent Jabbok, and of Penuel further up the mountains, declined to supply his nearly exhausted troops with bread, and mocked at him, when he said he was chasing the kings of Midian. Halting only to threaten them with vengeance on his return, he hurried on after the enemy. The victorious Israelites had already slain 120,000, but 15,000 with the two kings had reached Karkor, far from any towns in the open desert-wastes east of the Jordan. Here they thought themselves secure, but Gideon ascending from the valley of the Jordan burst upon them, put them to a complete rout, and at last captured the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna.

Then in triumph the conqueror returned down the long defiles leading to the Jordan, followed by his cavalcade of captives mounted on their gaily decked camels (Judg. viii. 21). As he passed Penuel he razed to the ground its lofty watchtower, and slew the men of the city. Reaching Succoth he obtained from a young man of the place a description of its 77 head-men, and showed them the captive kings, and then “with the thorny branches of the neighbouring acacia-groves” he beat them to death. Then pushing westwards he reached his native Ophrah. There turning to the captive kings[204] and at length revealing the secret of this long pursuit, he enquired what manner of men they were whom they had murdered on the green slopes of Tabor. _As thou art, so were they_, was the reply, _each one resembled the children of a king_. The remembrance of his brethren, _the sons of his own mother_, filled the warrior with wrath. Had they shown mercy to them, he would have spared his prisoners, but now that could not be. Summoning, therefore, his firstborn Jether, he bade him draw his sword and slay them. But the boy quailed before those mighty kings, and at their request Gideon himself took the sword and slew them, and gathered up the golden chains and crescent-shaped collars and trappings of their camels (Judg. viii. 18–21).

The immediate effect upon the nation of this deliverance was greater than that of any other. Not only had the country quietness for 40 years (Judg. viii. 28), not only did Gideon’s Altar, and the Spring of Trembling, and the rock Oreb (or the _Raven’s Crag_), and the winepress of Zeeb remain standing monuments of this great day, when God _made like a wheel_[205], and drove over the uplands of Gilead _as stubble before the wind_ (Ps. lxxxiii. 13, 14), like clouds of chaff blown from the summer threshing-floors, the proud people which had said, _Let us take to ourselves the pastures of God in possession_ (Ps. lxxxiii. 12), but for the first time the Israelites offered hereditary royal dignity to the great conqueror. _Rule thou over us_, said they, _both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s sons also_. Gideon had the rare self-control to decline the flattering request. _I will not rule over you_, said he, _neither shall my son rule over you; Jehovah shall rule over you_. One request only and a strange one did he make of the grateful tribes, that they would give him the golden earrings and other ornaments they had taken from the conquered foe. Willingly into his cloak the people flung the ornaments, jewels, and chains from the camels’ necks to the weight of 1700 shekels, and with these Gideon made an ephod, and put it in his native Ophrah, and all _Israel went a whoring after it_, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. Though he declined the royal dignity, he was addicted to a royal failing. He multiplied wives and begat 70 sons, and after living to a good old age descended in peace to the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites[206] (Judg. viii. 32).