The Bible Story Part 156

And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

And the Lord said to 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 {326} unto thee, 'These shall go with thee,'

the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, 'These 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, "Everyone that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink."

And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 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 people go every man to his place."

So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men: and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

And it came to pa.s.s the same night, that the Lord said to him, "Arise, get thee down into the camp; for I have delivered it into thine hand.

But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Purah thy servant down to the camp: and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down into the camp."

{327}{328}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON

From a photograph belonging to Prof. H. G. Mitch.e.l.l and used by his kind permission.

The plain of Esdraelon or Jezreel is one of the famous battle fields of the world's history. Lying in the heart of Palestine, the great highways of commerce come down through the hills and cross its level fields. Through it runs the little river Kishon. On the banks of this stream the hosts of Sisera were routed (see Tales of Brave Women, Vol. III). Here Gideon and his three hundred men swept before them the hordes of Midian in the panic of the night attack. Here began the battle between Saul and the Philistines which ended in the death of the king, whose force had been pushed back to the height of Gilboa (see The Great Kings in this volume). Here King Josiah was mortally wounded in his fatal fight with the armies of Egypt (see The Story of a Divided Kingdom, Vol. III). Through its fertile fields in all ages of history the armies of the great kingdoms of the East have marched to battle and conquest [End ill.u.s.tration]

{329}

Then went he down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men that were in the camp. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for mult.i.tude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is upon the sea sh.o.r.e for mult.i.tude. And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream to his fellow, and said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and smote it that it fell, and turned it upside down, that the tent lay flat."

And his fellow answered and said, "This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hand G.o.d hath delivered Midian, and all the host."

And when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, he worshiped; and returned into the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian."

And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers. And he said to them, "Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say,--

"'For the Lord and for Gideon.'"

So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set {330} the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow wherewith: and they cried, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon."

And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight. And they blew the three hundred trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, and against all the host: and the host fled in confusion.

And the men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Mana.s.seh, and pursued after Midian. And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian, and hold the fords as far as the fords of Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and held the fords as far as the fords of Jordan. And they took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the wine press of Zeeb, and pursued Midian: and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond Jordan.

Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, "Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast saved us out of the hand of Midian."

And Gideon said unto them, "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you."

{331}

So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulcher of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

{332}

ABIMELECH

_The Story of the Sons of Gideon, and the Evil Which Befell Them_.

ABIMELECH SEIZES THE LEADERSHIP.

(This is the first of the b.l.o.o.d.y conflicts for leadership in Hebrew history, so common after the kingdom was established. Abimelech, the son of Gideon, whose mother was a woman of Shechem and a servant, killed all the other children but Jotham, and died himself in battle after a brief period of supremacy.)

And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brethren, and spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, "Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, 'Which is better for you, that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are threescore and ten persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.'"

And his mother's brethren spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, "He is our brother." And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, who followed him. And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of {333} Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

AN OLD FABLE.

(This is one of the earliest of those stories called fables in which animals or trees or other things not living are represented as speaking and acting like living persons. Such stories were usually told to teach some lesson.)

And all the men of Shechem a.s.sembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem. And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, "Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that G.o.d may hearken unto you. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, 'Reign thou over us.' But the olive tree said unto them, 'Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor G.o.d and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?' And the trees said to the fig tree, 'Come thou, and reign over us.' But the fig tree said unto them, 'Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?' And the trees said to the vine, 'Come thou, and reign over us.' And the vine said unto them, 'Should I leave my wine, which cheereth G.o.d and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?' Then said all the trees to the bramble, 'Come thou, and reign over us.' And the bramble {334} said to the trees, 'If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

"Now therefore, if ye have dealt truly and uprightly, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands; (for my father fought for you, and adventured his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian: and ye are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maid-servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;) if ye then have dealt truly and uprightly with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech." And Jotham ran away, and fled, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

THE FATE OF ABIMELECH.

_After Several Years of Uneasy Rule Abimelech Met His Fate at the Hands of His Enemies_.

And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. And Abimelech went up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder: and he said to the people that were with him, "What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done."

{335}{336}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

SHECHEM

In the time of the Judges, Shechem was known as the City of Abimelech. The people of the town first made him king and then revolted against him. Afterward he captured the city and utterly destroyed it [End ill.u.s.tration]

{337}

And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them about the tower, and set the hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.