The Yale expositor., 1907-11-15
Gideon and His
Three Hundred
Sunday SchoolLessOn for Nov. IL. 1907
Specially Prepared for This Paper
Specially Prepared for This Paper

LESSON TEXT-JudgeS 1913. Mem
DRY verses II, Is.
GOLDEN TEXT.-"Ye shall not fear
them; for the Lord your God He shall
fight for you."-Deut. 1922.
TIME.-The period of the judges lasted,
according to our Bible margins, 1872 years,
Il. G. 1427-lO95 Including ELI and SamueD.
Gideon lived about the middle OF this pc
Rod Many scholars make the period
shorter, and place it later. The question
is unsettled.
PLACE-The broad valley OF Jezreel,
which extends from the plain OF Esdrae-
Ion southeast to the Jordan. The south
ern part of Galilee. The test Of the 300
was by the Well Harod. - miles from
the Jordan. and ten miles south of Naz-
areth. In this region took place the great
battle in which Saul and his sons were
slain q Sam. Pol; BID.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
The Period of the Judges.-The
Book of Judges is a collection of rec
ords belonging to the period between
the death of Joshua and the birth OF
Samuel, a period of ESQ years accord
ing to our common chronology. But
If we add together the numbers given
| in Judges they amount to 410 years.
For this and other reasons it is en-
tirely probable that "the expressions
and deliverances were not successive,
but in part, synchronous. There were,
in fact, without exception, local strug-
giles; and it is not only conceivable,
but highly probable, that while one
part of the land was enjoying secur-
ity under it's Judge other tribes were
grooming under the foreign yoke
Prof. Moore. While several OF the
events were thus occurring at the
same time in different parts of the
land, in other cases the judges ruled
practically over the whole. The
judges formed temporary heads in
particular centers, or over particular
groups of tribes,-Barak, in the north
of Israel, Gideon, in the center, Jeph-
than, on the east of Jordan, Samson,
in the extreme southwest. Driver.
The Moral Decline.-At the close
of long period of peace and pros
perity the people had degenerated
morally. Business transactions with
the Canaanites, transactions which
often required the performance of re-
ligious rites,-made it easy not to
realize the difference between them.
They were attracted by the easy NOR
ais Of the heather.
The Cry from the Depths.-In their
great distress the people began to re-
pent and cry unto the Lord for help.
A prophet was sent to show them that
their trouble was on account of their
sins (Judg. 6:7-10).
The Answer,-God Raises Up Gid
eon.-Gideon belonged to the tribe of
Manasseh. His fathers name was
Joash and lived at Ophrah, not far
from Shechem. He was a man OF
highly noble person, and noble race,
like the son of a king, and whose
brothers leach one resembled the
children of a king" (Judg. S:1S). He
was a man of strong common sense,
patriot, a true lover of God, eau
tious, modest, brave, and enthusiastic.
The signs of the fleece (Judg. 6: Sc
400, says Ewald, illustrate Gideon's
own character: warm and jealous,
while all around were Indifferent and
cold; calm and cool, when all around
were excited. Gideon was probably a
middle-aged man at this time, for he
had a son of his own almost grown up
(Judg. $500.
The Sitting of the Army-Gideon
proclaimed: Whoever is fearful and
afraid, let him depart" In view OF
the fearful odds against them two
thirds of the army turned back, leav-
ing only 10000 soldiers.
Still there were too many for the
purpose The second sieve was WOW
en- Of alertness, quick wit, self-control.
vigorous strength, boldness. The test
was through their way Of drinking in
the near presence of the enemy.
In order to understand the test we
must see clearly the circumstances.
Gideon's army was on one side of the
stream, and the enemy on the other,
and how near some scouting parties
might be was unknown. for the reeds
and shrubs along the banks afforded
ample cover for hostile ambushes.
Those who bowed down, drinking
headlong, did not appreciate their po-
sition or the foe
The Victory by the Sword of the
Lord and Of Gideon.-Vs. 9-23. The
Encouragement-Vs. 9-15. Everything
was now ready, except new inbreath-
ing Of courage and faith. To accom-
plish this Gideon and bis officer went
early In the night into the camp Of
the Midlanites sleeping in the security
of their numbers. Listening near o
tent, they heard man telling to his
comrade a dream from which he had
Just awakened. Compare with via the
translation and annexation of the
Polychrome Bible. II dreamed that
cake of barley griddle-bread,-a
kind of fiat, round, hard-baked, ash
cake, representing the Israelite peas
antry-was rolling hither and thither
through the camp of INDIAN. and it
came to a tent and struck it and
turned IL upside down" The men
interpreted the dream as meaning the
overthrow Of indian by Israel
Practical Points.