The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1888-12-08
GIDEON'S ARMY.
LESSON X, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, DEC. 9.

/ The summary of the history Of Israel I'M
/ der tho judges for 40 years, as given in our
I last lesson. was that they forsook the Lord
and served idols, then their enemies op-
/ pressed them, then they cried unto the Lord
| in their distress and lie raised up judges who
+ delivered them, the Lord being with the
/ judge; after the judges death they sinned
/ again, were again oppressed, cried, were
f again delivered, and thus they lived, SHINING
and repcnting 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 oppressions and the manner Of
/ the doliveTauce, with the number Of years
! they rested. Up to tho present lesson the
/ oppressors were the kings of MeSopotamia,
| Moab, and Canaan fer periods of eight, eigh-
| teen and twenty years; the dciiVCrcrs were
/ Athlaiel, Ehnd and Shamgar, Deborah and
/ BaraE, and the years of rest were forty
eighty and forty years respectively After
| tho rule of Deborah and Barak the
| next opprcssOrs were tho nidiauites, who
! for seven years had cruelty oppressed Israel
when God called Gideon to be their delivercr
| The record of his call and tho appearance Of
the Lord TO him is found in tho previcns
/ chapter, where we learn that the secret OF
/ his success IS a saviour and judge Of his peo-
! pie was in these words OF the Lord to him:
Go in this thy might, have not | sent thee;
/ surely | viii DO with thee" wi, l4-lG), which
is just tho secret Of the life Of every true be-
/ liover today. Being encouraged By God he
/ overthrow his fathers altar to Baal and
/ bu.lt an altar unto the Lord and offered sac
riace; the spirit of tie Lord came upon
4 him, be blew q trumpet, sent out messengers
and gathered al army of 5000 men. 70
/ days lesson tells Us Of the sitting of that
army down to 800 men, with whom God
wrought lsr2crs deliycrance.
l. "Jcrubbaal, who is Cidcon.n Gideon
/ signifed teller or braisor," and is TYPO
Of the Lord Jesus, the great dcliverer and
/ Judge who came to destroy the works of
tie devil and who VIII bruisc Satan under
4 cur feet shortly. lie was tie youngest of
/ poor family in tie tribe of Manasseh wi. l.,
but the spirit Of the Lord qualified him for
/ tho work to which he was called and made
him q successful leader of men God chooses
the foolish and the weak TO conlound the
wise and mighty that no flesh may glory in
His presence. Il Cor. i, 2G-31.j
| JeTubbaGl signifies "a contender with
| Baal,7 and Gideon was so called by his father
after no had oycrthroUn the altar OF Baal
! vi, 81, 81; if any one viii be filed with the
spirit and used of God they must first be
willing to overthrow all the idols of pride
and self ana let the Lord alone possess and
control them. Bacl signifies lord, - and all
the other lords must be set aside that Jesus
may reign supreme.
. 1.-THE Lord said unto Gideon Did vorr
heart ever say: "Oh, If could only hear the
Lord speak to me 1 wocld be strong and of
/ good courage" Wen, be sure CT this. that
just as truly as the Lcrd spoke to Gideon, Ia
is speaking to you today in His word; and
until you are sure Of this the Biblo viii never
be very precious book to you. The people
ere too many, lest Israel vaunt
themselves against Ne" \ small company
surely, when compared with tho great host
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 unseen
Almighty One rather than the seen multitude
who are only fleSh we shall not be valiant for
God.
3. 'Whosoever Is fearful and afraid, let
him return" This was in accordance with
the law, and the reason was, lest they should
make others to DO fearful and faint hearted.
Deut Xxx, s. \ fearful or DISCOURAGED per
son is not one whom the Lord can use: thcre-
fore lie so often eShorts His people to ''Ba
strong and ccUraC eOus.n LDeut. XXI. 6. :. %.
Josh. i, 6, 8 Is; x, %; xiii, 6: rs. xvii. II:
xxi, q, and many o;hers.1 There is ono
text which, il seems to me, ought to cure all
discouraged workers for Christ. and it is
this: He shah not fail nor DO discouraged
I'll! lie have set Judgment in the earth"
4. The people are yet too many; bring
them down unto the water, and | VIII try
them for thee there" II 33C00 was a com
Paratisely small army with which to con
Tod ut -
only 10,GoJ; and what mist Gideon have
thought when tho Lord said to him, The
people are yet too maryT' The process Of
weakening down our apparent strength for
service Is not an uncommon one; but the
Lord knows what lie IS doing, and lie must
have well tried material; faith says, Even
SO, Father" and yields ana obeys, although
it seems more and more like counting utter
failure. Gideon might have said, "forCi, If
you send me VITA less than 1900 | cannot
60, for 1t would be sheer madness" but he
evidently had 40 such thoughts; ho was not
managing this business and he had perfect
confidence il tho Lord.
81. "By the three hundred men that Ian
ped VIII / save you" The 1900 were
brought down to the wator to drink; 9.7GO
kne!t down to drink, while the other 800
lifted tho wa or 10 their mouths with their
hahdS, ana tlat simple test decided who
Should 50. " hat little thing, and what
was there III it; why should not soldier
knocl down and take good drink. and what
virtue YVES there in tapping it l!,o a dooa II
was simrIv n ,nat+or If eoIF inG,1te 80 -
e,.,tifc,ti1, j., ,o,, VI
- leiie S'-u MESS
1H''is, puO - was ~ d very critical time Tic
three hundred seemed to feel tie importance
OF tho work before them 50 much, and their
hearts were 50 set on the CONQUEST # ,beir,