The Bible Story Part 155

The Story of the Young Man Who Killed a King.

And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. And he gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and smote Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees (that is, Jericho). And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a saviour, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man: and the children of Israel sent a present by him unto Eglon the king of Moab. And Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he girded it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he offered the present unto Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end of offering the present, he sent away the people that bore the present. But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret errand unto thee, O king."

And he said, "Keep silence." And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in his summer room. {316} And Ehud said, "I have a message from G.o.d to thee."

And he arose out of his seat.

And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body: and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, for he drew not the sword out of his body; and it came out behind. Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the room upon him, and locked them. Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the room were locked.

And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the room; therefore they took the key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and pa.s.sed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah.

And it came to pa.s.s, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he before them. And he said unto them, "Follow after me: for the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand."

And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan against the Moabites, and suffered not a man to pa.s.s over. And they smote of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every strong man, and every man of valor; and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

{317}{318}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

A CAMP IN THE DESERT The black tents of the Arabs on the desert sands.

From a photograph belonging to Mr. S. E. Bridgman and used by his kind permission.

"The Midianites came up with their cattle and their tents, they came in as locusts for mult.i.tude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it." This is no doubt just the way in which the camps of the Midianites looked in the old days when they raided the farms of the Israelites.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

{319}

GIDEON

_The Story of a Brave Man Who Freed His People from Oppression_.

(There was a time when every year one of the tribes of the desert which lies south and east of Palestine raided the farms and pastures of the Israelites, plundering and burning, and carrying off the crops and herds.)

The Midianites came up with their cattle and their tents, they came in as locusts for mult.i.tude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.

And it came to pa.s.s, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of Midian, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel: and he said unto them, "Thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, 'I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land; and I said to you, I am the Lord your G.o.d; ye shall not fear the G.o.ds of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not hearkened unto my voice.'"

And the angel of the Lord came, and sat under the {320} oak which was in Ophrah, which was on the land of Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor."

And Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works of which our fathers told us, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' but now the Lord hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian."

And the Lord looked upon him, and said, "Go in thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee?"

And he said to him, "O Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Mana.s.seh, 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 show me a sign that it is thou that talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come to thee, and bring forth my present, and lay 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 meal: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it. And the angel of G.o.d said unto him, "Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth."

{321}{322}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

DESERT WARRIORS

Riding thus on their camels the hosts of Midian came out of the desert like locusts and swarmed over the fair fields of Palestine.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

{323}

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 went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord G.o.d! because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face."

And the Lord said unto him, "Peace be to thee; fear not: thou shalt not die."

Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it "Jehovah is Peace": to this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

And it came to pa.s.s the same night, that the Lord said to him, "Take thy father's bullock, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the pillar that is by it: and build an altar to the Lord thy G.o.d upon the top of this stronghold, in the proper manner, and take a bullock, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the pillar which thou shalt cut down." Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had spoken to him: and it came to pa.s.s, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he dared 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 broken down, and the pillar was cut down that was by it, and the bullock was offered upon {324} 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 to Joash, "Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath broken down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the pillar that was by it."

And Joash said to all that stood against him, "Will ye plead for Baal?

or 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 G.o.d, let him plead for himself, because one hath broken down his altar."

Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, that is, "Let Baal plead."

_How a Few Brave Men Saved the Nation_.

Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east a.s.sembled themselves together; and they pa.s.sed over, and camped in the valley of Jezreel. But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and the men of Abiezer were gathered together after him. And he sent messengers throughout all Mana.s.seh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

And Gideon said to G.o.d, "If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it {325} be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken."

And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.

And Gideon said to G.o.d, "Let not thine anger be kindled 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 G.o.d did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

Then Jerubbaal (which is another name for Gideon), and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and camped beside the spring of Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast themselves against me, saying, 'Mine own hand hath saved me.' Now therefore, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.'"