Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-12-07
GIDEON'S ARMY.
LESSON X, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAl SERIES, DEC. 9.

Text of the Lesson, Judges vii, 1-S-Com-
nit Verses 2, 3-Golden Text, Zech. Nv,
documentary by Rev. ID. NJ. Stearns.
| CONDENSED from Lesson Helper Quarterly, by
permission of II. S. Hoffman, Philadelphia,
Pubsher.l
The summary of the history Of Israel I'M
der the judges for $50 years, as given in our
last lesson, was that they forsook the Lord
and served idols, then their enemies OPP
pressed them, then they cried unto the Lord
in their distress and He raised up judges who
delivered them, the Lord being with the
judge; after the judges death they sinned
again, were again oppressed, cried, were
again delivered, and thus they lived, SHINING
and repenting. The book of Judges opens up
to us this history and tells us who the oppres-
sors were and who the deliverers were whom
God raised up; the manner and duration Of
the various expressions, and the manner Of
the deliverance, with the number of years
they rested Up to the present lesson the
oppressors were the kings of Mesopotamia,
Moab, and Canaan for periods of eight, eigh-
teen and twenty years; the deliverers were
Athmiel, Ehud and Shamgar, Deborah and
Barall, and the years of rest were forty
eighty and forty years respectively. After
! the rule of Deborah and Barak the
next oppressors were the Midianites, who
for seven years had cruelty oppressed Israel
when God called Gideon to be their deliverer
The record of his call and the appearance Of
the Lord to him is found in the previous
chapter, where we learn that the secret of
his success as a saviour and judge of his peo-
pie was in these words of the Lord to him:
''Go in this thy might, have not l sent thee;
surely will be with thee" wi l4-16), which
is Just the secret of the life of every true be-
lever today Being encouraged by God he
overthrow his fathers altar to Baal and
built an altar unto the Lord and offered sac
rifce; the spirit of the Lord came upon
him. he blew trumpet, sent out messengers
and gathered an army of $4,000 men. To-
days lesson tells us of the sitting Of that
army down to 300 men, with whom God
wrought Israels deliverance.
l. "Jerubbaal, who is Gideon" Gideon
signifed "feller or bruiser," and is type
of the Lord Jesus, the great deliverer and
Judge who came to destroy the works of
the devil and who will bruise Satan under
our feet shortly. He was the youngest of a
poor family in the tribe of Manasseh wi, 15),
but the spirit Of the Lord qualified him for
the work to which he was called and made
him q successful leader of men. God chooses
the foolish and the weak TO confound the
wise and mighty that no flesh may glory in
His presence. Il Cor. i, 26-31)
Jerubbaal signifies "a contender with
Baal," and Gideon was so called by his father
after he had overthrown the altar of Baal
wi, 81, 80; if any one will be filled with the
spirit and used of God they must first be
willing to overthrow all the idols of pride
and self and let the Lord alone possess and
control them. Baal signifies "lord," and all
the other lords must be set aside that Jesus
may reign supreme.
2. 1.-THE Lord said unto Gideon" Did your
heart ever say; ooh, if could only hear the
Lord speak to me | would be strong and OF
good courage" Well, be sure of this, tina,
just as truly as the Lord spoke to Gideon, He
is speaking to you today in His word; ant
until you are sure of this the Bible will never
be very precious book to you 1.-The peopl,
are too many, lest Israel vaun
themselves against Me-" A small company
surely, when compared with the great hos
of indian, and yet God says they are too
many Numbers are not to God what they
are to us, and until we can see the unseel
Almighty One rather than the seen multitud
who are only flesh we shall not he valiant TO
God.
g. "Whosoever is fearful and afraid, lie
him return This was in accordance witt
the law, and the reason was, lest they shout,
make others to be fearful and faint hearted
Deut. Xxx, 81 A fearful or discouraged Der
son is not one whom the Lord can use; there
, fore He so often exhorts His people to s'B
strong and courageous Deut. XXI, g, Z, %
Josh. i, q, 8, Is; X, %; xiii. 8; Ps xvii, Il
XXI, "a, and many othersl There is on
text which, it seems to me, ought to cure al
hric IL
this: HE shall not fail nor be discourage
till He have set judgment in the earth"
4. 1.-THE people are yet too many; brn
them down unto the water, and | will tr
- them for thee there" If 81 900 was a con
paratively small army with which to cor
tend with INDIAN, what shall we think c
only 10000; and what must Gideon hav
e thought when the Lord said to him, 9Th
= people are yet too many7n The process c
weakening down our apparent strength fo
service is not an uncommon one; but tn
: Lord knows what He is doing, and He mu.
4 have well tried material faith says, "Eve
SO, Father" and yields and obeys, althoug
it seems more and more like counting ute
failure. Gideon might have said, Lord,
d you send me with less than 10000 | cannc
go, for it would be sheer Madness" but
q evidently had no such thoughts; he was M
managing this business and he had perfet
u confidence i'll the Lord
81. "By the three hundred men that lal
= ped will / save you" The 10000 wei
brought down to the water to drink: 8, Il
=. knelt down to drink, while the other q
y lifted the wa er to their mouths with the
hands, and that simple test decided WI
v should go. What little thing and VIII,
a was there i'll it; why should not sol-i,
kneel down and take good drink, and VIII,
70 virtue was there in tapping it like dogl
e was simply a matter of self indulgence {
qualification in very innocent and harmle
a thing, but it was at very critical time III
:, three hundred seemed to feel the importan,
u of the work before them SO much, and the
'r hearts were SO set on the conquest of the
enemies and the deliverance Of their peop
that they had no time nor inclination
think of their own personal ease or comic
: or qualifications; theirs was a whole heart6
- service for their God and their country al
-. 49, III. n II.