Midianitish Oppression - The Calling of Gideon - Judgment begins at the House of God - The Holy War -

The Night-battle of Moreh

(JUDGES 6-7:22)

WITH the calling of Gideon commences the second period in the history of the Judges. It lasted altogether

less than a century. During its course events were rapidly hastening towards the final crisis. Each narrative

is given with full details, so as to exhibit the peculiarity of God's dealings in every instance, the growing

apostasy of Israel, and the inherent unfitness even of its best representatives to work real deliverance.

The narrative opens, as those before, with a record of the renewed idolatry of Israel. Judgment came in this

instance through the Midianites, with whom the Amalekites and other "children of the east" seem to have

combined. It was two hundred years since Israel had avenged itself on Midian (Numbers 31:3-11). And now

once more, from the far east, these wild nomads swept, like the modern Bedawin, across Jordan, settled in

the plain of Jezreel, and swooped down as far as Gaza in the distant south-west. Theirs was not a permanent

occupation of the land, but a continued desolation. No sooner did the golden harvest stand in the field, or

was stored into garners, than they unexpectedly arrived. Like the plague of locusts, they left nothing

behind. W hat they could not carry away as spoil, they destroyed. Such was the feeling of insecurity to life

and property, that the people made them "mountain -dens, and caves, and strongholds," where to seek

safety for themselves and their possession. Seven years had this terrible scourge impoverished the land,

when the people once more bethought themselves of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and cried unto Him.

This time, however, before granting deliverance, the Lord sent a prophet to bring Israel to a knowledge of

their guilt as the source of their misery. The call to repentance was speedily followed by help.

1. The calling of Gideon. - Far away on the south-western border of Manasseh, close by the boundary of

Ephraim, was the little township of Ophrah,245 belonging to the family of Abiezer246 (Joshua 17:2; 1

Chronicles 7:18), apparently one of the smallest clans in Manasseh (Judges 6:15). Its head or chief was

Joash -"Jehovah strength," or "firmness."

As such he was lord of Ophrah. In such names the ancient spiritual faith of Israel seems still to linger amidst

the decay around. And now, under the great oak by Ophrah, suddenly appeared a heavenly stranger. It was

the Angel of Jehovah, the Angel of the Covenant, Who in similar garb had visited Abraham at Mamre

(Genesis 18). Only there He had come, in view of the judgment about to burst, to confirm Abraham's faith -

to enter into fellowship with him, while here the object was to call forth faith, and to prove that the Lord was

ready to receive the vows and prayers o f His people, if they but turned to Him in the appointed way. This

may also explain, why in the one case the heavenly visitor joined in the meal,247 while in the other fire from

heaven consumed the offering (comp. Judges 13:16; 1 Kings 18:38; 2 Chronicles 7:1).

Close by the oak was the winepress of Joash, and there his son Gideon  248 was beating out the wheat with a

stick.249 Alike the place and the manner of threshing were quite unusual, and only accounted for by the felt

need for secrecy, and the constant apprehension that at an unexpected moment some wild band of

Midianites might swoop down upon him. If, as we gather from the Angel's salutation, Gideon was a strong

hero, and if; as we infer from his reply, remembrances and thoughts of the former deeds of Jehovah for Israel

had burned deep into his heart, we can understand how the humiliating circumstances under which he was

working in his father's God-given possession, in one of the remotest corners of the land, must have filled his

soul with sadness and longing.

It is when "the strong warrior" is at the lowest, that the Messenger of the Covenant suddenly appears

before him. Not only the brightness of His face and form, but the tone in which He spake, and still more His

words, at once struck the deepest chords in Gideon's heart. "Jehovah with thee, mighty hero!" Then the