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Judges Chapter
Seven
Judges 7
Chapter Contents
Gideon's army reduced. (1-8) Gideon is encouraged. (9-15)
The defeat of the Midianites. (16-22) The Ephraimites take Oreb and Zeeb.
(23-25)
Commentary on Judges 7:1-8.
(Read Judges 7:1-8.)
God provides that the praise of victory may be wholly to
himself, by appointing only three hundred men to be employed. Activity and
prudence go with dependence upon God for help in our lawful undertakings. When
the Lord sees that men would overlook him, and through unbelief, would shrink
from perilous services, or that through pride they would vaunt themselves
against him, he will set them aside, and do his work by other instruments.
Pretences will be found by many, for deserting the cause and escaping the
cross. But though a religious society may thus be made fewer in numbers, yet it
will gain as to purity, and may expect an increased blessing from the Lord. God
chooses to employ such as are not only well affected, but zealously affected in
a good thing. They grudged not at the liberty of the others who were dismissed.
In doing the duties required by God, we must not regard the forwardness or
backwardness of others, nor what they do, but what God looks for at our hands.
He is a rare person who can endure that others should excel him in gifts or
blessings, or in liberty; so that we may say, it is by the special grace of God
that we regard what God says to us, and not look to men what they do.
Commentary on Judges 7:9-15
(Read Judges 7:9-15)
The dream seemed to have little meaning in it; but the
interpretation evidently proved the whole to be from the Lord, and discovered
that the name of Gideon had filled the Midianites with terror. Gideon took this
as a sure pledge of success; without delay he worshipped and praised God, and
returned with confidence to his three hundred men. Wherever we are, we may
speak to God, and worship him. God must have the praise of that which
encourages our faith. And his providence must be acknowledged in events, though
small and seemingly accidental.
Commentary on Judges 7:16-22
(Read Judges 7:16-22)
This method of defeating the Midianites may be alluded
to, as exemplifying the destruction of the devil's kingdom in the world, by the
preaching of the everlasting gospel, the sounding that trumpet, and the holding
forth that light out of earthen vessels, for such are the ministers of the
gospel, 2 Corinthians 4:6,7. God chose the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, a barley-cake to overthrow the tents
of Midian, that the excellency of the power might be of God only. The gospel is
a sword, not in the hand, but in the mouth: the sword of the Lord and of
Gideon; of God and Jesus Christ, of Him that sits on the throne and the Lamb.
The wicked are often led to avenge the cause of God upon each other, under the
power of their delusions, and the fury of their passions. See also how God
often makes the enemies of the church instruments to destroy one another; it is
a pity that the church's friends should ever act like them.
Commentary on Judges 7:23-25
(Read Judges 7:23-25)
Two chief commanders of the host of Midian were taken and
slain by the men of Ephraim. It were to be wished that we all did as these did,
and that where help is needed, that it were willingly and readily performed by
another. And that if there were any excellent and profitable matter begun, we
were willing to have fellow-labourers to the finishing and perfecting the same,
and not, as often, hinder one another.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Judges》
Judges 7
Verse 2
[2] And
the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to
give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me,
saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
Too many —
For my purpose; which is, so to deliver Israel, that it may appear to be my own
act, that so I may have all the glory, and they may be the more strongly
obliged to serve me. This may help us to understand those providences, which sometimes
seem to weaken the church of Christ. Its friends are too many, too mighty, too
wise, for God to work deliverance by. God is taking a course to lessen them,
that he may be exalted in his own strength.
Verse 3
[3] Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever
is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And
there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten
thousand.
Mount Gilead —
Not mount Gilead beyond Jordan; for both the camps of the Israelites and the
Midianites were on this side Jordan: but another mount Gilead in the tribe of
Manasseh.
There returned —
These finding their whole army very small, in comparison of their enemies, who
were a hundred and thirty five thousand, chap. 8:10, and they, no doubt well armed and
disciplined, and encouraged by long success; whereas the Israelites were
dispirited with long servitude, and many of them unarmed, lost the courage
which they had at first.
Verse 4
[4] And
the LORD said unto 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 unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of
whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
The water —
Either that which ran from the well of Harod, mentioned verse 1, or some other brook.
Verse 6
[6] And
the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three
hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to
drink water.
That lapped —
Taking up a little water in the palm of their hands.
Verse 7
[7] 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 other
people go every man unto his place.
His own place —
That is, to his own home. By this farther distinction it was proved, that none
should be made use of, but, 1. Men that were hardy, that could endure fatigue,
without complaining of thirst or weariness: 2. Men that were hasty, that
thought it long, 'till they were engaged with the enemy, and so just wetted
their mouth and away, not staying for a full draught. Such as these God chuses
to employ, that are not only well affected, but zealously affected to his work.
Verse 8
[8] So
the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the
rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men:
and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
Their trumpets —
That is the trumpets belonging to the whole army, which he retained for the use
following.
Verse 9
[9] And
it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee
down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.
The same night —
After he had dismissed all but the three hundred.
The Lord said — In
a dream or vision of the night.
Verse 11
[11] And
thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened
to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the
outside of the armed men that were in the host.
Thine hand strengthened — Thou wilt be encourage to proceed, notwithstanding the smallness of thy
number.
Verse 13
[13] And
when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his
fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread
tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it
fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.
A cake — A
weak and contemptible thing; and in itself as unable to overthrow a tent, as to
remove a mountain; but being thrown by a divine hand, it bore down all before
it.
Verse 14
[14] And
his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the
son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and
all the host.
His fellow answered, … — As there are many examples of significant dreams, given by God to
Heathens, so some of them had the gift of interpreting dreams; which they
sometimes did by divine direction as in this case.
Verse 15
[15] And
it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation
thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said,
Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.
He worshipped-He praised God for this special
encouragement.
Verse 16
[16] And
he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in
every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.
Three companies — To
make a shew of a vast army.
Within the pitchers —
Partly to preserve the flame from the wind and weather; and partly to conceal
it, and surprise their enemy with sudden flashes of light.
Verse 17
[17] And
he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the
outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.
Look on me —
For though two hundred of his men were placed on other sides of the camp; yet
they were so disposed, that some persons, set as watchmen, might see what was
done, and give notice to the rest to follow the example.
Verse 18
[18] When
I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets
also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of
Gideon.
Of Gideon — He
mentions his own name, together with God's, not out of arrogance, as if he
would equal himself with God; but from prudent policy, because his name was
grown formidable to them, and so was likely to further his design. See verse 14.
Verse 19
[19] So
Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the
camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the
watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their
hands.
Middle watch —
That is, of the second watch; for though afterward the night was divided into
four watches by the Romans, Matthew 14:25, yet in more ancient times, and in
the eastern parts, it was divided into three: he chose the dark and dead of the
night, to increase their terror by the trumpets, whose sound would then be
loudest, and the lamps, whose light would then shine most brightly, to surprise
them, and conceal the smallness of their numbers.
Verse 21
[21] And
they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran,
and cried, and fled.
They stood — As
if they had been torch-bearers to the several companies.
Verse 22
[22] And
the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against
his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in
Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
Against his fellow —
They slew one another, because they suspected treachery, and so fell upon those
they first met with; which they might more easily do, because they consisted of
several nations, because the darkness of the night made them unable to
distinguish friends from foes, because the suddenness of the thing struck them
with horror and amazement; and because God had infatuated them, as he had done
many others.
Verse 24
[24] And
Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against
the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then
all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto
Bethbarah and Jordan.
The waters —
That is, the passes over those waters to which they are like to come.
Jordan —
The fords of Jordan, which they must pass over into their own country.
Verse 25
[25] And
they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon
the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian,
and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.
The other side of Jordan — For Gideon in the pursuit had passed over Jordan. Oreb and Zeeb had
probably taken shelter, the one in a rock, the other by a wine-press. But the
places of their shelter were made the places of their slaughter, and the memory
of it preserved in the names of the places.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Judges》
07 Chapter 7
Verses 1-8
Gideon . . . pitched beside the wall of Harod.
Gideon’s army
I. The Lord called
him to fight. The world must see, now and then, the gigantic crimes of a mere
man turned back by rival arms upon both idol and idolater, and that by the
voice of the Almighty. Well said Victor Hugo, “Napoleon had been impeached
before the Infinite.” The groaning of the bond, man in our own land entered
into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Arrogance, lust, and greed combined to
challenge the eternal laws, and thousands went down together into silence, till
we could learn the unwelcome fact that God is no respecter of persons. But out
of the awful strife came praying souls, and a regeneration in the sources of
influence and power. God is known to speak in the crisis, in the hero--yes,
even in the rebel.
II. The Lord called
Gideon to success. We may notice the conditions.
1. Careful preparation. There must be selection when daring deeds are
to be performed. This is a principle in the Divine government as in the human.
God husbands and adapts His resources, though seeming to scatter His treasures
lavishly. Have you sifted out the real from the visionary and found the abiding
truths which will not fail you in that hour of trial which must come to all
living? They may be ominously reduced from all that promised well, as was
Gideon’s army, but, like it, be enough.
2. Obedience. The open heart learns soon and plainly the Divine will.
As, amid all the roar of Niagara, the practised ear catches the sweet notes of
birds singing in the grove above, so, in the confusion of tongues, the willing
soul may hear the clear voice of its Maker, instructing, guiding, cheering.
3. Humility. Nothing develops a nation’s pride like military success.
Parade of troops, battalion after battalion in all the splendour of equipment
and might of bearing, satisfies the popular ideals of greatness and strength.
War is still an honourable trade, and, while it is, meekness will be despised.
But, none the less, the King of kings “pours contempt upon princes, and
weakeneth the strength of the mighty.”
4. Faith. Belief in the need, the call, the power, the method, the
victory of Jehovah, was all-important with Gideon. (Sermons by the Monday
Club.)
Gideon’s army
I. The Lord
fighting for and with His people. God is the author of war, and He causes men
to fight, in the same way that law is the author of sin and causes men to
become transgressors. Were there no law there would be no transgression, and
were there no God there would be no conflict of righteousness with
unrighteousness. War is God’s whip for sinful nations; it is His rod of iron with
which He will dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. There is a Divine
retribution following nations, and sure to overtake them if they are workers of
iniquity. And there is a Divine deliverance waiting for nations and for
individuals, sure to come when they repent of their evil ways and cry unto God
for His salvation.
II. The army made
ready. When God has some great work to be done, or some hard battle to be
fought, He chooses the men who are best able to fight or work.
1. The fearful were suffered to go back. Moral courage is a Christian
virtue. Men are commanded to have it. Only “be strong and of a good courage.”
“Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee.”
When God is with a man he has nothing to fear. Even Grecian and Roman heroes,
when they showed great courage and wrought brilliant exploits, believed
themselves to be acting under the influence of a Divine inspiration. It was the
power of some god in their arms, they thought, that enabled them to smite great
blows; and it was the courage of some god in their hearts that enabled them to
face undaunted the most terrible foes.
2. The next process was to rid the army of the rash and unreliable.
Audacity, no less than want of courage, unfits men for the highest service. Among
all the qualities needed in a soldier of Jesus Christ, among all traits of
character essential to true manliness, none perhaps is more important than a
certain command of one’s self, a certain keeping of the body under and holding
back of adventurous impulse. Those whom God will lead to victory must be
“steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
III. The three
hundred called to great exploits (Judges 7:7). Here is the key to human
history. Common, ease-loving men are, by their own wish, excused from glory, from
heroic deeds, lasting renown, and high fellowship with God in fighting the
great battles of humanity and righteousness. They are permitted to return to
their own places. They sink down into obscurity and oblivion. Three hundred
heroes are chosen to be their deliverers and to smite for them the host of
Midianites. Side by side with Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans, the
immortal heroes of Thermopylae, will we place Gideon and his three hundred Hebrews, the
immortal heroes of Mount Gilboa, asking for them no greater glory than belongs to
the Grecian company, and believing that they are worthy to stand together as
the immortal six
hundred. (Edward B. Mason.)
The best work of the world done by the few
When did God ever complain of having too few people to work
with? I have heard Him say, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name there am I.” I
have heard Him say, “One shall chase a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand
to flight,” But I never heard Him say, “You must get more men, or I cannot do
this work; you must increase the human forces, or the Divine energy will not be
equal to the occasion.” I hear Him say in the case before us, “Gideon, the
people are too many by some thousands. If I were to fight the Midianites with
so great a host, the people would say, after the victory had been won, ‘My own
hand hath saved me.’” The work of the world has always been done by the few;
inspiration was held by the few; wealth is held by the few; poetry is put into
the custody of but a few; Wisdom is guarded in her great temple but by a few;
the few saved the world; ten men would have saved the cities of the plain;
Potiphar’s house is blessed because of Joseph; and that ship tossed and torn
upon the billows of the Adriatic shall be saved because there is an apostle of
God on board. Little child, you may be saving all your house--your father, your
mother, your brothers, and your sisters. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The sifting
And was this the upshot of all the talk, and preparations, and
professions they had made? Who more eager apparently to rush to battle, who
more loud in their bravados, than the very cravens who now slunk, with so
cowardly a heart, from the shock of actual collision with the foe? We may
readily suppose that Gideon, while making his proclamation in accordance with
the Divine command, would not fail at the same time to remind them of the
positive promise which he had received of the Lord, that He would be with them,
and of the remarkable signs whereby that promise had been sealed. Nor in all
probability would he neglect to point out to them the deplorable consequences
which would certainly ensue to themselves and their families in the event of a defeat.
And, if so, it might have been expected that all of them with one accord,
would, in the chivalric spirit of high-toned patriotism, have scorned the base
idea of deserting their colours, especially at such a crisis. What a
mortification must this defection have been to Gideon! Yet, mindful of our own
weakness and love of carnal ease, let us not too rashly or censoriously judge
these men. It were only fair to take into consideration how surely bondage and
subjection to a foreign yoke tend to crush the spirit of a people, to degrade
and lower their mortal tone down to utter effeminacy. Nor ought it to be
forgotten that a large proportion of these men had for some time past cast off
their allegiance to the one living and true God, and that it is not improbable
that conscience, which makes cowards of the bravest, might have had something
to do with the retrograde movement which they so rapidly adopted. At the same
time, however it may be palliated or accounted for, there can be no doubt that
the conduct of which they were guilty was extremely reprehensible, and that it
affords fitting occasion for just animadversion on the conduct of too many
professed followers of Christ, who are ready enough to cast in their lot with
Him so long as there is no immediate appearance of suffering or of sacrifice
for His name’s sake, but who, the moment that real danger stares them in the
face, take the earliest opportunity of slinking away and renouncing the
principles to which they formerly in words adhered. Such disciples are totally
unworthy of the name. They are not good soldiers of the Cross. They are
devoid of the sterling principle which is essential to constancy and success in
the Christian warfare--mere “carpet knights,” who “make a fair
show in the flesh,” flourishing their trumpets and brandishing their weapons
when there is no foe with whom to contend, but bating their breath and altering
their whole tone and demeanour whenever circumstances occur which put their
sincerity to the proof. (W. W. Duncan, M. A)
The people . . . are too many for Me to give the
Midianites into their hands.
Pride excluded
Pride hurled Satan from heaven, and turned angels into
devils. Pride drove Adam out of paradise, and barred its gates against his
posterity. Pride of intellect, pride of family, pride of wealth, pride of
power, are adamantine chains, which bind men in fetters of sin. Boasting and
vainglory are inherent to fallen nature. Angels, archangels, and cherubim, who
stand in the unveiled presence of Jehovah, are the most humble of God’s
creatures the most conscious of their own unworthiness. But fallen man ever
boasts of his sufficiency, his goodness, his wisdom, his power. He will not
believe that he can do nothing, and that God must do everything for his
deliverance. Now, pride is a blind sin. It is an illogical sin. It has lost all
sound logic in theology. Let man help grace to save him, and what would be the
result? Why, just in proportion that man helped God he would “vaunt himself”
against God. He would claim a share of God’s glory. Now, God will not give His
glory to another. He is jealous of His own honour, majesty, glory.
I. We have a
remarkable instance of the Lord’s jealousy of His own honour and glory.
Salvation is essentially for the happiness of God’s people, But it is supremely
for the glory of God. The Lord gives the victory to Israel as a free gift. Now,
the salvation of the sinner is just as much a free gift as was Gideon’s
victory. There is no more fitness in the creature to win heaven than there was
power in these three hundred to win the victory. We are as powerless to help
ourselves, as were they. Our calling, repentance, adoption, sanctification, are
a free gift.
II. Now mark Man’s
tendency to vaunt himself against the Lord. We may truly say of every man what
Joash said to Amaziah, “Thine heart lifteth thee up to boast.” Vainglory is
natural to the human heart. In the fable of the ancients the fly that sat on
the axletree of the chariot-wheel gave out that she made the glorious dust of
the chariot. Sin is proud. It exalts itself at the expense of God’s glory.
When, therefore, the Lord visits the sinner with grace, grace is at once
opposed by pride. “I will save thee,” saith the Lord. “Be it so,” saith the
sinner. But “I will save thee freely,” saith the Lord. “Freely?” saith the
sinner. “But what am I to do? Am I to do nothing? Are my good works to go for
nothing? God! I thank thee that I am not so bad as some other men are!” Thus
pride speaks, and would vaunt itself against the Lord, and say, “Mine own hand
hath saved me, or at least helped to save me.” Do any doubt this? Think you
that we are drawing colours too deep? Look for a moment--
1. At man’s notion respecting some good thing still remaining in his
heart, notwithstanding his fall. How few really believe in the total depravity
of the natural heart!
2. Look at man’s notion respecting the only ground of the sinner’s
acceptance before God. The vaunting of the first-named evil is against God the
Holy Ghost; boasting that He need not do everything in the soul. This vaunting
is against God the Son, boasting that He need not do everything for the soul.
III. the means by
which the Lord humbled man and exalted Himself.
1. The reduction of external means may be God’s way of giving
success. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. Be not discouraged, then, if God
cut down numerical strength. What if 32,000 be reduced to 300? “If God be for
us, who can be against us?” “What are all the hosts of Midian to the Lord?”
2. The Lord thus manifests His tender care for His own people. The
ungodly, like the Midianites, count the people of God “as sheep for the
slaughter.” They think they can swallow them up as in a moment. But they forget
that the Lord regards the cause of His people as His own. They forget that He
hath said, “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of Mine eye.” Oh! how
sensitive is God to all injuries done wrongfully to the least of His saints!
(G. A. Rogers, M. A.)
Whosoever is fearful and
afraid, let him return.--
The trial of Gideon’s army by the proclamation
Gideon has now obtained the necessary assurance of God’s favour;
he takes courage to blow the trumpet, and to collect the forces of the various
tribes, if haply, after all the strength he can procure, Israel may be able to
stand before those fearful enemies, the Midianites. We may conceive Gideon in
such a season of anxiety, hoping that more hearts will be stirred up for the
arduous contest, when lo, the Lord says unto Gideon, “The people are too many
for Me to give the Midianites into their hands.” What a majesty there is in
these words! In consequence of this intimation, Gideon’s faith is to be tried
by the lessening of his army upon the very eve of battle; and the courage of
the army is to be tried, that it may be seen that “with God it is a little
thing to save by many or by few.” As this trial respected Gideon, it was no
slight one. To see, on the one hand, the Midianites “as grasshoppers for
multitude,” and, on the other hand, twenty-two thousand turning their backs on
their enemies at the very first sound of the trumpet, must have been a fearful
sight indeed. It must have driven him for consolation to God’s own promise. We
may see in it a picture of the outward and visible Church of Christ militant
here on earth. Nay, to make the picture more striking still, it may be called a
representation of the various congregations of which that outward and visible
Church is composed. What is a congregation of professing Christians but an army
enlisted under the banner of the Cross; soldiers engaged to contend with one common
army, which would hold them in a bondage worse than Midian’s? And what is every
faithful minister of the gospel but the leader of this host, the Gideon of the
army? And what is the preaching of the gospel but the “proclamation” which
calls our people to the battle against the Lord’s enemies and theirs? We can
tell them of a better sacrifice than Gideon’s having been accepted on their
behalf; we can point to “the Angel of the covenant” Himself, and say, “Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” We can testify that
the enemy against whom we are called to fight has been already vanquished; that
the Captain of our salvation has “led captivity captive,” that He has “overcome
death, and him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Did Gideon
represent the “dew” upon the fleece and on the earth, as an encouragement to
his followers? We can testify that the very “dew” of the heavenly favour and
blessing is even now poured out abundantly on the means of grace, moistening
many a dry fleece and fructifying many a barren spot; and that the word of
prophecy and promise is as sure as ever, that “Godwill be as the dew to His
Israel.” And if we have greater encourage-ments than Gideon to offer, we have
also more fearful warnings to hold out. We call to remembrance the baptismal
vow by which each is bound to “fight the good fight of faith.” We tell our
hearers of the awful consequences of being taken captive by the enemy. It may
be asked, “Is it possible that, with such tremendous consequences hanging on
the battle, men should not answer to the call? Alas! so it is. The spirit that
is in them is one of cowardly inactivity, and it “cleaveth unto the dust.” They
need a new heart and a new spirit to be put into them before they will enter
upon the warfare against sin and Satan, a heart actuated by the principle (the
only constraining principle) of love. In verse 34. of the former chapter we
read, “But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon,” and then “he blew the
trumpet.” So the same Spirit must come upon him that leads, and upon them that
follow, before the gospel trumpet will be blown effectually. This trumpet we
would blow to-day. We blow it in the ears of those who, like Gideon’s army,
appear to be all equally “on the Lord’s side”; but “the Lord knoweth them that
are His.” Gideon’s proclamation, too, shall be ours: “Whosoever is fearful and
afraid, let him return, and depart from Mount Gilead.” It is right to sound
this proclamation, that men may “count the cost.” If we speak of religion as a life
of enjoyment, we testify of it also that it is a life of self-denial. But if
“the Spirit of the Lord” come upon those who hear this “proclamation,” then
these apparent contradictions will be reconciled, the seeming mysteries will be
all made plain; and it will be understood that Christ has a yoke to be borne by
His people, but it is easy; that He has a burden to be carried by them, but it
is light; that He has a service for them to engage in, but it is perfect
freedom. Depending upon “the Spirit of God” to make known these “things of
God,” we are to set before you good and evil, bitter and sweet, life and death,
and then to say, “Choose you this day.” Now, if the whisperings of men’s
consciences could be heard in the pulpit, as they are heard in heaven, what
reply, I ask you, would yours be found to make to this appeal? If the motion of
the body correspond with that of the mind, would there be none discovered among
us “departing from Mount Gilead”? Would there be no man found to steal away
from the spiritual battle through fear? Let conscience judge. Or if the reasons
which urged the “fearful” to depart were to be given in as each left the field,
what would they present? One is “afraid” that the service of Christ is too
austere; it requires too many privations. He is unwilling to renounce a sin he
loves. Another is “afraid” of being ridiculed or despised for entering
decidedly on a religious course of life. He is ashamed of Jesus. A third is
“afraid” of being “righteous overmuch.” Tell me, is the soldier “afraid“ of
being thought too zealous when fighting in his country’s cause? Is the patriot
“afraid” of being thought to love his native land too much when called upon to
act in defence of its laws or its liberty? Time would fail to enumerate all the
fears of the faint-hearted. Some are “afraid” of sacrificing their worldly
subsistence. “What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his
own soul?” Others “depart from Mount Gilead” for fear of persecution. When we
exhort them as soldiers of the Cross, they listen perhaps to our exhortation;
when we tell them of a warfare to be accomplished, they hearken possibly to the
discourse; when we point out the enemy, all appear outwardly to be ready to
engage; but when we say, “Come now, and testify by your lives that you are in
earnest in your profession, that you mean what you say when you declare without
reserve, “Here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls,
and bodies!“ how many depart! how few remain! We close with a word of encouragement
to those who still keep their post in the field of battle. To such we say, “Be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of
God,” etc. (F. Elwin.)
A sifting among the defenders of the faith
The men who had hastily snatched their fathers’ swords and
pikes of which they were half-afraid represent to us certain modern defenders
of Christianity--those who carry edged weapons of inherited doctrine with which
they dare not strike home. The great battle-axes of reprobation, of eternal
judgment, of Divine severity against sin once wielded by strong hands, how they
tremble and swerve in the grasp of many a modern dialectician! The sword of the
old creed, that once, like Excalibar, cleft helmets and breastplates through,
how often it maims the hands that try to use it, but want alike the strength
and the cunning. Too often we see a wavering blow struck that draws not
a drop of blood nor even dents a shield, and the next thing is that the knight
has run to cover behind some old bulwark, long riddled and dilapidated. In the
hands of these unskilled fighters, too well armed for their strength, the
battle is worse than lost. They become a laughing-stock to the enemy, an
irritation to their own side. It is time there was a sifting among the
defenders of the faith, and twenty and two thousand went back from Gilead. Is
the truth of God become mere tin or lead that no new sword can be fashioned
from it, no blade of Damascus prim and keen? Are there no gospel armourers fit
for the task? Where the doctrinal contest is maintained by men who are not to
the depth of their souls, sure of the creeds they found on, by men who have no
vision of the severity of God and the meaning of redemption, it ends only in
confusion to themselves and those who are with them. (R. A. Watson, M. A.)
Backing out of God’s service
We have here a striking evidence of the different estimate men
make of danger and hard work at a distance and at hand. The large numbers of
the Christian army are singularly made up--are made up by those who are bold in
intention, brave at home, but cowards in the field; they answer, or seem to
answer, God’s summons at first, but take the earliest opportunity of backing
out of their engagements. Many persons, when you speak to them of this and that
useful undertaking, seem quite to enjoy the prospect of engaging in it, promise
their services, and actually appear at the rendezvous; but the actual sight of
the destitution, the disease, the ignorance, the incivility, the lying and
fraudulent selfishness with which they must cope, quite frightens them, and
they avail themselves of the first plausible opening to escape. And it is
better they should do so, for by remaining, their faint-heartedness would be
contagious, and unnerve their comrades. Every one knows how easy it is to work
alongside of a cheery, bright, hopeful spirit; how difficult to bear up against
the continual complaint and fear and wretchedness of the cowardly. Such,
therefore, God rejects from His army (Marcus Dods, D. D.)
Why were the fearful dismissed
Because fear is contagious; and, in undisciplined armies
like Gideon’s, panic, once started, spreads swiftly, and becomes frenzied
confusion. The same thing is true in the work of the Church to-day. Who that
has had much to do with guiding its operations has not groaned over the dead
weight of the timid and sluggish souls, who always see difficulties and never
the way to get over them? And who that has had to lead a company of Christian
men has not often been ready to wish that he could sound out Gideon’s
proclamation, and bid the fearful and afraid take away the chilling encumbrance
of their presence, and leave him with thinned ranks of trusty men? Cowardice,
dressed up as cautious prudence, weakens the efficiency of every regiment in
Christ’s army. Another reason for getting rid of the fearful is that fear is
the opposite of faith, and that therefore, where it is uppermost the door by
which God’s power can enter to strengthen is closed. Not that faith must be
free of all admixture of fear, but that it must subdue fear, if a man is to be
God’s warrior, fighting in His strength. Many a tremor would rock the hearts of
the ten thousand who remained, but they so controlled their terror that it did
not over come their faith. We do not need, for our efficiency in Christ’s
service, complete exemption from fear, but we do need to make the psalmist’s
resolve ours: “I will trust, and not be afraid.” Terror shuts the door against
the entrance of the grace which makes us conquerors, and so fulfils its own
forebodings; faith opens the door, and so fulfils its own confidences. (A.
Maclaren, D. D.)
The people are yet too
many; bring them down unto the water.--
The trial of Gideon’s army by the water
As Gideon took his men to the water and tried them there, so we
would bring your heart and conscience to the spiritual test which the subject
may be understood to signify. Are you a self-indulgent Christian? The two terms
have no connection with each other. If God discard the “fearful,” will He
retain the “carnal”? If He dismiss those who are so cowardly that they dare not
enter upon a profession of His religion, will He bear with those who have the
audacity to live in the disgrace of it? To affect to serve God one day and
really to serve divers lusts and passions another; to pretend to be one of
“Christ’s Church militant here upon earth,” and yet actually to make no
resistance to the enemy; this is only showing that instead of being, as you
profess, a soldier of Christ, you are in reality a servant of Mammon. Tell us
not, ye that are thus carnally-minded, of any warfare that you are waging with
the great adversary of souls. The fact is, that you are already taken prisoners
by the enemy, you are already led captive by him at his will. But the active
soldiers of Christ need refreshment, as Gideon’s chosen band did; and they have
it. What are the ordinances of Divine grace when blessed to the soul, but
“times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord”? And now God says to
Gideon, “By the three hundred men that lapped will I save Israel; and let all
the other people go every man to his place.” We hear no complaint from Gideon.
When he is commanded to send the men away, he sends them one after another by
the hundred and by the thousand; not knowing when God would stay His hand or
say, “It is enough.” This is faith, vital and practical faith. It is exactly
that faith which the Christian is required to carry into the common
transactions of life, and to act upon in the occurrences of every day: “The
just shall live by faith.” In the evil day he is to live upon it when God takes
away the desire of his eyes, or the means of his present subsistence, or the
outward helps which he has been accustomed to, and on which, perhaps, he has
been leaning too confidently. When these are struck from under him, then the
proof of his faith is that he can “trust in the Lord, and stay himself on his
God.” We are apt to tremble for the cause of the gospel around us when we see
many depart and walk no more with Christ. But let those who remain think of the
concern which their own souls have in the matter. Have some drawn back? The
Captain of salvation says, “What is that to thee? follow thou Me.” Is the
number of the fearful or disaffected great, and is it increasing? No matter if
it be twenty-two thousand. “What is that to thee? follow thou Me.” Certainly it
is our duty to use all the means which God puts in our power to strengthen our
missionary ranks; but, nevertheless, when He is pleased from time to time thus
to draft off, if I may so speak, the great men, and the strong men, and the
chief captains, and the mighty men from our missionary host, it becomes us to
look on with Gideon’s patient faith and meek submission; to regard the
mysterious dispensation as intended
to make known that “the excellency of the power is of God, and not of us.” Thus
every death of a missionary will have a voice in it of encouragement as well as
of warning from our God; and if we listen to it with the ear of Gideon’s faith,
it will tell us “The people are yet too many.” And our answer should be, “Be
Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength: so will we sing, and praise Thy
power.” (F. Elwin.)
Testing-points in life
Many are the commonplace incidents, the seemingly small
points in life, that test the quality of men. Every day we are led to the
stream-side to show what we are, whether eager in the Divine enterprise of
faith or slack and self-considering. Take any company of men and women who
claim to be on the side of Christ, engaged and bound in all seriousness to His
service. But how many have it clearly before them that they must not entangle
themselves more than is absolutely needful with bodily and sensuous cravings,
that they must not lie down to drink from the stream of pleasure and amusement?
We show our spiritual state by the way in which we spend our leisure, our
Saturday afternoons, our Sabbaths. We show whether we are fit for God’s
business by our use of the flowing stream of literature, which to some is an
opiate, to others a pure and strengthening draught. The question simply is
whether we are so engaged with God’s plan for our life, in comprehending it,
fulfilling it, that we have no time to dawdle and no disposition for the merely
casual and trifling. Are we in the responsible use of our powers occupied as
that Athenian was in the service of his country of whom it is recorded: “There
was in the whole city but one street in which Pericles was ever seen, the
street which led to the market-place and the council-house. During the whole
period of his administration he never dined at the table of a friend”? Let no
one say there is not time in a world like this for social intercourse, for
literary and scientific pursuits or the practice of the arts. The plan of God
for men means life in all possible fulness and entrance into every field in
which power can be gained. His will for us is that we should give to the world
as Christ gave in free and uplifting ministry, and as a man can only give what
he has first made his own, the Christian is called to self-culture as full as
the other duties of life will permit. He cannot explore too much, he cannot be
too well versed in the thoughts and doings of men and the revelations of nature, for all he
learns is to find high use. But the aim of personal enlargement and efficiency must
never be forgotten, that aim which alone makes the self of value and gives it
real life--the service and glory of God. Only in view of this aim is culture
worth anything. And when in the Providence of God there comes a call which
requires us to pass with resolute step beyond every stream at which the mind
and taste are stimulated that we may throw ourselves into the hard fight against
evil there is to be no hesitation. Everything must yield now. The comparatively small
handful who press on with concentrated purpose, making God’s call and His work
first and all else, even their own needs a secondary affair--to these will be
the honour and the joy of victory. (R. A. Watson, M. A.)
The revelation of character
A man is known only when he is tried. And yet it would be a
mistake to suppose that this test is administered to us in some great matter,
or on some grand occasion. The two most suggestive words to us in the parable
of the good Samaritan are these, “By chance there came down a certain priest.”
The Saviour does not mean by using this expression to give countenance to the
idea that anything really occurs by chance, but rather to fix our minds on the
ordinary and incidental nature of the occurrence. It happened that there came a
priest. He was going on his journey. He had, most likely, a definite object
before him. He was not thinking, probably, of his own character. Least of all
was he dreaming that he was at the moment being tested. He only made it evident
that he could not be troubled to do anything for the half-dead traveller, and
so he unconsciously revealed his true character. But so it is always. We let
out our truest selves when we do not know that we are doing it. When Gideon led
his army to the brook and bade them drink, the men thought only of slaking
their thirst. Some, more luxurious in their nature, went down upon their hands
and feet and put their lips to the stream to take in a full supply. Others,
more dashing and impetuous in their disposition, could not take so much
trouble, but lifted the water by their hands, lapping it up thus with them, as
a dog lappeth it with his tongue. Not one of them, perhaps, was conscious of
doing anything special. Yet, through that tiny drink, each one revealed the
sort of man he was; and Gideon, by Divine direction, selected the latter to be
the deliverers of Israel. Now it is by the casual engagements of every day that
God is testing us yet. By the little opportunities that are furnished to us, so
to say, by chance, He is causing us to unveil our inmost selves. For the test
is all the more searching because we are unconscious of its application. We
prepare for great occasions, thus putting such an unnatural strain upon
ourselves that we are not really ourselves. It is only in the abandon of
unconsciousness that we make manifest genuinely what we are. We all know how
true that is in the art of portrait-taking. The best likeness of a man is taken
when he is unaware of it; but if you set him down before a camera and tell him
to look pleasant, the result will be a prim, precise expression, meant to be
the best, but, just because of that, exceedingly unnatural. But it is quite
similar with character. To know what a man is you must take him when he is not
aware that you are judging him. God gauges us in little things. He watches us
not so much when a great occasion is making its demand upon us, and we are
trying to do our best, as when some ordinary opportunity is at our hand. Thus
regarded, life even in its minutest and apparently most trivial aspects becomes
a very solemn thing. We are being weighed in God’s balance every day. Men think
with dread of the Day of Judgment, and we do not desire to take a single
element from its importance. There will be such a day, and it will be more
awful than we think of. But in the light of the principles which we have now
tried to enforce, every day is, in its measure, also a Day of Judgment. God is
testing us every hour, and according as we stand His scrutiny He sends us
forward with His Gideons to emancipate the enslaved, or dismisses us
ignominiously from His service. (Christian Age.)
By the three hundred men
that lapped will I save you.--
Gideon’s three hundred
I. Then, little
things make great differences in life. It was a little thing that made the
difference between “the three hundred” and the rest of the army--“lapped.” But
little things represent great equivalents. Little things test and reveal
character.
II. Then, quality
in human instrumentality is of more importance than quantity. We are taught
here that success in God’s cause does not depend upon numbers. The victory is
already potentially ours when we use the right means in the right spirit. The
great want of the Church is not more members but more of the right stamp. The
only soldiers that amount to anything in God’s service are volunteers; men who
enlist, put on the armour, obey orders, and delight in the service.
III. Then, the few
may stand firm, and do noble service in spite of the bad example of the many.
IV. Then, God is
worthy of our trust and hearty co-operation in selecting His agents and
carrying on His work. Divine wisdom was afterwards seen in the selection of
these men. So it must be in God’s spiritual army, in our conflict with self and
sin. Evil habits, unholy practices, false principles, must all be pursued, tracked
to their hiding places, and remorselessly slain with the edge of the sword. It
is harder to live Christianity than to be converted to it.
V. Then, is it
God’s fixed plan to work through the few, rather than the many? No; it is God’s
plan, all things being equal, to work, not through a part, but through all His
people whether few or many. Why, then, did He reduce Gideon’s army from
thirty-two thousand to three hundred men? Happily we are not in the dark as to the cause; God
Himself tells us why He did it. He had to do so in order that His power might
be recognised in the victory. (T. Kelly.)
Gideon and the three hundred
1. It is the small matters which reveal us, the slight occasions.
Think not that the Lord is cheated by the world’s bravos. He leaves the world,
religious or profane, to judge you when you are got up for its inspection. He
follows you home in your most familiar moods, your most simple and necessary
actions, your frank and free communications, and He sees there the man, as all
beings, angels, men, devils, will see him one day, when the veils are lifted
and the inner realities of life and character appear.
2. There is One watching us when we are most unconscious, drawing
silently auguries of character, and forecasting destiny. The Lord proves
faculty in His test-house the daily occasions of life, and hangs it up if found
true in His armoury for higher use. Hence the leisure hour is so precious; it
tells so mightily on the life and destiny of the man. The soul ungirds itself
then, and lets its bent appear. Teach it to love in the quiet hours the things that make for its
health, its growth, its life, and leave the work hours to their care. As the
man is in silent, secluded moments, God finds him in all the great crises of
his history.
3. Keep your knee for God alone. The men bent the knee to sensual
good. That was their fatal weakness in God’s sight. Kneel to God, and it will
cure you of all other kneeling. See His face each day before you look on the
world’s, and its frowns will not scare you nor its smiles allure. (J. B.
Brown, B. A.)
The reduced army
What an extraordinary difference between Gideon’s army as it was
at first and Gideon’s army as it was at last--between the thirty-two thousand
who set out with him in the morning and the three hundred who stayed with him
at night! But I can tell you of a difference which is far more wonderful than
that--the difference I mean between the visible Church of Christ and His real
Church. Just think of the number of our outwardly baptized persons. But how many
out of all this vast company are really chosen by the Lord to be His soldiers?
But how shall this remnant be distinguished from the rest? Is there not
something which, like the waters in the case of Gideon’s army, may make the
difference apparent between the true and the false? The world, for example,
forms a very good test by which you may discern a true Christian from a false
one. Look at the conduct of the generality. See how they bow down to drink at
the waters of the world! See how they give themselves up wholly to its
pleasures and pursuits! Unmindful altogether of eternal things they set their
affections upon things beneath, and make them the one great end for which they
live. Earth--earth--earth is all in all with them. But mark the conduct of a
little remnant who are here and there to be discerned amidst them. These men
come unto the waters with the rest. They have their business in the world as
others have. But oh! in how different a spirit from the rest! They may be
compared to those three hundred men that lapped. A little of earth’s comforts
is enough for them. They covet not great things in this life; but if the Lord
shall give them only “food and raiment,” they are well “content.” Their
moderation is known unto all men. Even whilst they are enjoying earthly
comforts there is still no “bowing down” towards them. Their eyes are rather
towards Him who gave these mercies, and their desire is to make so good an
improvement of them as to glorify the Giver. But is this the only test by which
you may discern the true Christian from the false one--the use which they
severally make of the world in which they live? Let me point you out another
water, as it were, where the distinction may be seen. Only here they that sip
are the professors, and they are the believers who “bow down to drink.” The
water that I mean is the water of the gospel--that water of the well of life to
which every thirsty soul is so graciously invited in those well-known words,
“Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!“ I have said that of
these waters professors only sip. Even that, perhaps, is a stronger term than
should be used. Oh, what thousands are there of men who call themselves
believers who just come, as it were, to these waters of salvation and look at
them, and go away again without a taste. They just come, I mean, to the
preaching of the Word, listen to it with a dull and idle ear, and then go off
again with no more knowledge of it than they brought to church with them.
Others will go a little further. They hear--they listen--they admire. There are
professors, I know, who will go further than this. Yet it is with the best of
them but a sipping at the stream. A little measure of the mere semblance of
religion is sure to satisfy the man who is but half a Christian. But not the
man to whom that name in truth belongs. The real Christian will be satisfied
with nothing short of a full and an abundant draught. Moderate as he is in his
desires of earthly things, he has a spiritual appetite which it takes no little
to content. Nor is he satisfied with attending any ordinance unless he leaves
it with a blessing--refreshed and strengthened for his Master’s work. It was
only the true-hearted part of Gideon’s army which remained with him. These only
shared his victory and reaped the fruits of it. And think you that Jesus will
not make the like distinction? (A. Roberts, M. A.)
Gideon’s three hundred
A striking story. Especially might it be a useful story for
all preachers to-day who find themselves in some little tide of popularity. It
is a sore story this on Church statistics, especially when the numbers swell,
and we are apt to indulge in a great chorus of praise because of numerical
success. How the Lord Almighty had to reduce thirty-two thousand stalwart men
to three hundred in order to bring the band up to its effective strength! The
Captain of our salvation has strange ways with Him, has He not? Sometimes past
finding out. Now, these men utterly deceived Gideon, and we have to learn that
lesson--that we may utterly deceive each other. Are our hearts right? When we
count you upon our totals, does the Lord also count one, or are you to Him a
mere fraction--a nothing? The Lord said, virtually, “Gideon, give these people
a chance to go home, and see what you shall see. Say to those that are timid
and of a fearful heart, Go back.” And twenty-two thousand showed the breadth of
their backs, executing strategical movements upon home! Are we going to be
blown away like chaff, or can we stand it? Are we wheat after all? And even
when there were not so many by twenty-two thousand with Gideon as at first,
still they were not dense and compact enough for God’s purposes. For God wants
His army to be not like a great, big, overgrown cabbage that has run to blades
and has no heart in it, but He wants His army to be dense--not extensive, but
intensive--sound at the heart, solid as a cannon-ball. Notice, then, when we
come to this second action of God’s testing of these people how difficult it is
to detect hypocrisy. Mark you, these other thousands ought to have gone off
with the first batch; they ought to have gone at the first telling. But such an
ingrained thing is formalism and hypocrisy that these people stood firm when
they ought to have gone. There ought to have been no second sifting process
needed. One was enough to lay bare the hearts of men to themselves if they had
been simple and honest and sincere. You have the same thing to-day,
precisely--people who come with you up to the point of real work, and then
“Presto! Pass!” they are gone. In God’s great name let me ask what are you
doing but coming to church once a week? Now, I wish to say that your seat could
be better occupied if that is all that is to come out of you. What was the test
which God applied to them in this sore business? Well, I think it was just
this. I am not going to say that these three hundred men were braver, bolder,
grander men than those who had gone away. I am not going to say that these men
were men of blood and iron--that they had no fear, no doubts, and no misgivings.
No, I do not think that. I think that they were men who felt their hearts beat
beneath their jerkins like any others. They had very likely the same doubts and
the same misgivings as to the success of this revolt against Midian as the
thousands had who had gone home; only they did not yield to them. They
encouraged themselves in God; they encouraged themselves in Gideon. In all
their weakness and helplessness they leaned all the harder upon Him who had
called them to this fight, in which were involved death or victory. And that is
all that God wants yet. God never asked any mortal man to do more than trust in
Him. These three hundred men were only flesh and blood, and this was a
desperate business. Twenty-two thousand of their countrymen had gone away from
fear; but when these three hundred came to the ford it seemed that what was in
their heart was not retreat, but fighting. Because when they came to that ford,
a key position, an important place, they cannot lie down and give themselves up
to the business of taking drink like the others. It was not drinking, but
fighting that was in their heads and in their hearts; and they lapped as a dog
lapped, so that they were free to see the oncoming of the host, and to spring
to their places in an instant. Thus they drank, and God said, “These are the
men.” This thing called faith in God is a thing that tells. It tinges, it
tinctures, it colours every word you speak, and everything you do. (J.
McNeill.)
The three hundred men that lapped
Here is one of those battles of God which are being waged in
century after century, crisis after crisis, by the armies of Truth against the
hordes of unrighteousness. Gideon, trusting manfully in his Divine commission,
sets himself to deliver Israel from the Midianites. Cheered himself by God’s
manifest goodness, he succeeds, as men count success, in gathering together a
strong army. Thirty-two thousand men was a serviceable army to put into the
field to risk the chances of battle with a successful, arrogant, and
overwhelming enemy. “The people that are with thee are too many.” What? Is not
Providence on the side of big battalions? Is it not the defiant cry which is
ever rising up in hoarse murmurs from the army of the world? “Every one thinks
as we do. You are alone. Every one does as we do. You are the victim of a
foolish prejudice. You must yield in the end. The house of Baal is full from
one end thereof to the other, while you, you prophet of the Lord, shivering in
your isolation, try to perpetuate a failure.” Midian comes on with its
overwhelming cry, “Every one thinks so, every one says it, every one does it;
numbers are on our side, therefore we are right.” Ah! my brethren, do I touch
on a subtle danger which is incident to societies--to count heads, and to boast
of numbers on the books? Remember, the very charter of existence in a guild is
quality, not quantity. It is the concentration of the earnest few against the
careless and undisciplined many. So Gideon has to submit--there in the presence
of the enemy, with a tradition of disgrace behind him, he, a leader of reputed
cowards, has to submit to the departure of twenty-two thousand men, leaving his
splendid band reduced to a pitiable ten thousand. The fearful and the
half-hearted go away, and more than half his host has vanished. Ah, is it some
annual meeting we are thinking of there in our guild room, where the leader
says, “I do not care for a guild of non-communicants, who do not keep to the
rules. Let every one resign who does not intend to live up to his profession,”
and with a heavy heart he sees the diminution of his flourishing band. Poor
Gideon, with his wretched ten thousand! But what is this? “The people are yet
too many “ is the inexorable decree of God. They must yet be submitted to the
test. They are brought down to the water of the well Harod near where they were
encamped, to be tried with the test of thirst, which has so often proved the
value of disciplined troops. “By the three hundred men that lapped, I will save
you.” There are many wells of water to try the guild members in this city. He
will never fight a battle of the Lord who, with his badge round his neck, goes
down on his knees to drink his fill of pleasure, unrestrained, unmindful,
self-indulgent. The servant of the Lord who is to win in the battle of Midian,
just tastes lightly of the pleasures of life, which are free from sin, as they
that use this world as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passeth
away. “The three hundred men that lapped.”
1. These are the sort of members that we want for Church guild, for
they represent in the first place a band of men who have learnt the great
lesson of self-control. They were men not to be moved by a draught of water on
a hot day. The cause of God had stilled the cry of appetite. Ah, it is not a
bit of use joining in a splendid service, waving banners, singing hymns,
talking about the Catholic Faith, wearing a badge, and attending sometimes a
guild meeting, if we have not learnt the splendid lesson of self-control. “The
three hundred men that lapped.”
2. They represented to Gideon also a band of enthusiasts. Their heart
was elsewhere, when they stood by the water. They barely had time to remember
the keenness of their thirst, as they strained at the leash, and pulled at the
bridle, the restraint of delay, between them and victory. Only second in
importance to the moral basis is the enthusiasm of right in the member of a
guild. There are few things more depressing, and few things more wrong than the
listless apathy, which men either affect or feel in this glad world of God’s
creating. As you step into rank you feel what a splendid thing it is to exist,
to live at all. You feel what wondrous powers God has given you in body, soul,
and spirit. With your senses you reach out to all around you. With your mind
you live in the past, enjoy the present, or imagine the future in all the
freedom of intellect, with your spirit you are in touch with God. You feel at
least you never can cumber the ground as one of those painted grubs who crawl
about the earth, or flit about as creature of the day in bright clothes and
meaningless flight, now expanding in the sunshine, now dying at the first frost
of adversity. The guild member is serious, he is active, he is useful, because
he has the enthusiasm of life, and even more, he has the enthusiasm of
Christianity. He knows what the Church has been to him. He is enthusiastic--how
can he help it?--none of these things move me, he says, as he passes the well,
as he gazes at the hosts of Midian, and his own attenuated ranks. He longs to
help others, himself to be a centre of good and a rallying point for the forces
of the Lord. We want a band of enthusiasts, alive with the enthusiasm of God.
We are suffering at the present moment from silliness, men who play at
religion, men who are not in earnest, men who talk and do not act. “The three
hundred men that lapped.”
3. Gideon might count on these as determined men. They were men who
had counted the cost; when others refused to come forward they had presented
themselves; when others went back they had stood firm; when others had failed
in a simple trial, they had shown what manner of men they were. A battle of
three hundred against a host would mean determined men, and the battle of the
Lord needs determined men now. The conflict for each of us needs strength and
determination of character. Do not believe for one moment that it will ever be
easy to be good. Our fathers found it hard to resist evil, so shall we; our
fathers found it hard to pray, so shall we. You will want all the firmness of
your will in the combat of life which lies before you. Moab lies in ambush with
all his countless hosts, the battle will be hard and long. If you be but an
insignificant fraction out of the number of professing Christians, keep on; if
you be but a small and attenuated remainder, out of those who have fallen away
since you first became enrolled, still keep on. The freshness, it may be, has
worn off; the monotony
of life is beginning to tell upon you; it may be, the hard falls and rough
blows of life have disheartened you--keep on. Bodies of pledged men like you
are, after all, the strength of the Church. (Canon Newbolt.)
Gideon’s band
1. Nearly everything great in this world has been effected by a few
men, or, perhaps, a single man, who believed in it when everybody else saw only
difficulties and objections. The struggle between the right and the expedient,
or the practical and the ideal, is always going on. The exploit of Gideon’s
band was as nothing compared with the daring of the few Galilean fishermen who
went forth to preach to a hostile world the story of Christ and Him crucified.
“All things are possible to him that believeth.”
2. In the next place we may observe that God chose for this great
work the man who was to be His instrument, and Gideon obeyed the call. It then
became his duty to set to work and collect an army. The result was just what
might have been expected. A large number of Gideon’s compeers thought it highly
desirable that the yoke of the invader should be cast off their necks, but they
were afraid to try and do it. They saw the difficulties more plainly than they
saw the good to be attained. Even some of those who volunteered at first went
back after they had counted the cost. Just so. Every man who honestly assumes a
responsibility and attempts a good work may be perfectly sure that ten people
will say, “Well done! Go on!” for every one who will say, “I will help you,
though I stand to lose by it!“ In such cases the man who sees what ought to be
done must just obey his call and go forward. It is not upon men, but upon God
that he must depend.
3. Further, let us bear in mind that the issues of all things are in
the hands of God. We need not be afraid of compromising the doctrine of moral
freedom by any such assertion as this. Man has power of choice when he has not
power of action. Power of action may be indefinitely extended. God may complete
our purposes when they are beyond our ken, and may supplement our deficiencies
if we honour Him by obedience and faith. The shortest road to the attainment of
an ideal or the fulfilment of a duty is to fearlessly perform what one knows to
be right, and trust in God for the issue. We need but lamps and pitchers and
trumpets. We must take trouble and be wise, while remembering that the race is
not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. (R. J. Campbell, B. A.)
Fit men for the fight
God required but few men, but He required that these should be
fit. The first test had sifted out the brave and willing. The liquor was none
the less, though so much froth had been blown off. As Thomas Fuller says, there
were “fewer persons, but not fewer men,” after the poltroons had disappeared.
The second test, “a purgatory of water,” as the same wise and witty author
calls it, was still more stringent. The dwindled ranks were led down from their
camp on the slopes to the fountain and brook which lay in the valley near the
Midianites’ camp. Gideon alone seems to have known that a test was to be
applied there; but he did not know what it was to be till they reached the
spring, and the soldiers did not know that they were determining their fate
when they drank. The two ways of drinking clearly indicated a difference in the
men. Those who glued their lips to the stream and swilled till they were full
were plainly more self-indulgent, less engrossed with their work, less patient
of fatigue and thirst than those who caught up enough in their curved palms to
moisten their lips with out stopping in their stride or breaking rank. The
former test was self-applied, and consciously so. This is no less self-applied,
though unconsciously. God shuts out no man from His army, but men shut
themselves out; sometimes knowingly, by avowed disinclination for the warfare,
sometimes unknowingly by self-indulgent habits which proclaim their unfitness.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Verses 9-14
A cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian.
Encouragement for Gideon
Gideon felt that he was but the thin, weak, limp cake; that there
was a ludicrous disproportion between the means at his command and the work he
was to accomplish. But then, behind him was the unseen but mighty wind of God’s
Spirit, that swept him on irresistibly and made him invincible. This was
Gideon’s encouragement, and this must be the encouragement of each of us in all
duty. That man must have low aims indeed who never finds himself confronted by
duty that he feels to be impossible; who does not feel again and again that the
conquest of sin in himself is impossible; who is not again and again perplexed
by the difficult circumstances he is silently swept into; who does not feel
helpless before the profound, rooted misery, the masses of distress and crime
in the world. What can one do? We can do nothing of ourselves; God does not
expect that we should. But there is nothing we may not do, if the almighty
inspiration of God takes us and carries us forward as its instrument. But how,
you will say, are we to secure that inspiration? how are we to get into the current
of God’s Spirit, so as to be carried along by it? How, we may ask in reply, do
sailors get to their destination? They cannot themselves drag their ship
along--they are helpless in this respect; neither can they raise winds for
themselves. They cannot supply their own motive power, and yet they can do all
that is necessary. They know where and when certain winds blow, and getting
into the current of these, they guide their vessel to its port. You also know
the directions in which God’s Spirit blows; you know the objects towards which
God is willing to help you; you know what God Himself aims at and wishes done;
and though you cannot reach those objects by your own strength, yet if you set
your face towards them, if you keep your soul in their direction, if you make
them your real aim, God’s Spirit cannot miss you--you will be caught and
carried along in His powerful inspiration. (Marcus Dods, D. D.)
The Midianite soldier: the power of the little
1. A great end reached by most insignificant instrumentality.
2. The influence it had upon the mind of Gideon.
I. An argument for
special providence. The little and the great are not only inseparable parts of
a whole, but what is called the little sometimes creates and sometimes destroys
the great.
II. A lesson for our
everyday life.
1. Despise not things of humble aspect. To do so is--
Give the acorn time, and it shall become a forest, and cover
oceans with the fleets of nations; give the little rill, starting from the
solitude of the hills, time, and it shall become a river bearing on its bosom
the wealth of kingdoms.
2. Cultivate an appreciation of the little. The observation of little
events has done wonders before now. The fall of an apple unfolded the true
theory of the material universe. The rushing of a little steam from a kettle
led to the introduction of that steam power which has already almost changed
the face of the world. A feather shows how the wind blows, and an insignificant
event may indicate the direction of an eternal law. Mark little tendencies of character;
small wishes and preferences may often throw a flood of light upon your
spiritual history. Respect little virtues. Shun little sins.
3. Recognise God’s presence in the minute as well as the vast. (Homilist.)
The dream of the barley cake
I. The striking
providence which must have greatly refreshed Gideon. It may appear to be a
little thing; but an occurrence is none the less wonderful because it appears
to be insignificant. God is as Divine in the small as in the stupendous, as
glorious in the dream of a soldier as in the flight of a seraph.
1. Now observe, first, the providence of God that this man should
have dreamed just then, and that he should have dreamed that particular dream.
Dreamland is chaos, but the hand of the God of order is here. God is not asleep
when we are asleep; God is not dreaming when we are.
2. Further, I cannot but admire that this man should be moved to tell
his dream to his fellow. It is not everybody that tells his dream at night; he
usually waits till the morning. God ruleth men’s idle tongues as well as their
dreaming brains, and He can make a talkative soldier in the camp say just as
much and just as little as will subserve the purposes of wisdom.
3. It is remarkable that the man should tell his dream just when
Gideon and Phurah had come near. God has so arranged the whole history of men,
and angels, and the regions of the dead, that each event occurs at the right
moment so as to effect another event, and that other event brings forth a
third, and all things work together for good. O child of God, when you are
troubled it is because you fancy that you are alone; but you are not alone; the
Eternal Worker is with you. Oh, for a little heavenly eyesalve to touch our
eyes that we may perceive the presence of the Lord in all things. The stars in
their courses are fighting for the cause of God. Our allies are everywhere. God
will summon them at the right moment.
II. The comfortable
trifle which Gideon had thus met with. It was a dream, and therefore a trifle,
and yet he took comfort from it. We are all the creatures of sentiment as well
as of reason, and hence we are often strongly affected by little things. Gideon
is cheered by a dream of a barley cake. When Robert Bruce had been frequently
beaten in battle, he despaired of winning the crown of Scotland; but when he
lay hidden in the loft among the hay and straw, he saw a spider trying to
complete her web after he had broken the thread many times. As he saw the
insect begin again, and yet again, until she had completed her net for the
taking of her prey, he said to himself, “If this spider perseveres and
conquers, so will I persevere and succeed.” There might not be any real
connection between a spider and an aspirant to a throne, but the brave heart
made a connection, and thereby the man was cheered. If you and I will but look
about us, although the adversaries of God are as many as grasshoppers, yet we
shall find consolation. I hear the birds sing, “Be of good cheer,” and the
leafless trees bid us trust in God and live on, though all visible signs of
life be withered. But what a pity it is that we should need such little bits of
things to cheer us up, when we have matters of far surer import to make us
glad! Gideon had already received, by God’s own angel, the word, “Surely I will
be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” Was not this
enough for him?
III. The cheering
discovery. Gideon had noticed a striking providence, he had received a
comfortable trifle, but he also made a very cheering discovery; which discovery
was, that the enemy dreamed of disaster. You and I sometimes think about the
hosts of evil, and we fear we shall never overcome them, because they are so
strong and so secure. Hearken: we over-estimate them. The powers of darkness
are not so strong as they seem to be. The subtlest infidels and heretics are
only men. What is more, they are bad men; and bad men at bottom are weak men.
It is natural to men to fear, and doubly natural to bad men.
IV. The dream
itself and its interpretation. The Midianite in his dream saw a barley cake.
Barley cakes were not much valued as food in those days, any more than now.
People ate barley when they could not get wheat, but they would need to be
driven to such food by poverty or famine. Barley-meal was rather food for dogs
or cattle than for men; and therefore the barley cake would be the emblem of a
thing despised. A barley cake was generally made upon the hearth. A hole was
made in the ground, and paved with stones; in this a fire was made, and when
the stones were hot a thin layer of barley-meal was laid upon them, covered
over with the ashes, and thus quickly and roughly baked. The cake itself was a
mere biscuit. It may have been a long piece of thin crust, and it was seen in
the dream moving onward and waving in the air something like a sword. It came
rolling and waving down the hill till it came crash against the pavilion of the
prince of Midian, and turned the tent completely over, so that it lay in ruins.
1. Now, what we have to learn from it is just this, God can work by
any means. He can never be short of instruments. Gideon, who threshes corn
to-day, will thresh the Lord’s enemies to-morrow. Preachers of the Word are being trained
everywhere.
2. God can work by the feeblest means. He can use a cake which a
child can crumble to smite Midian, and subdue its terrible power. I have heard
that a tallow candle fired from a rifle will go through a door: the penetrating
power is not in the candle, but in the force impelling it. So in this case it
was not the barley biscuit, but the almighty impulse which urged it forward,
and made it upset the pavilion. We are nothing; but God with us is everything.
“He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth
strength.”
3. Note, next, God uses unexpected means. If I wanted to upset a tent
I certainly should not try to overturn it by a barley cake. If I had to
cannonade an encampment I should not bombard it with biscuits. Yet how
wonderfully God hath wrought by the very persons whom we should have passed over
without a thought! O Paganism, thy gigantic force and energy, with Caesar at
their head, shall be vanquished by fishermen from the sea of Galilee! God
willed it so, and so it was done.
4. But the dream hath more in it than this. God useth despised means.
This man Gideon is likened unto a cake, and then only to a barley cake; but the
Lord styles him “a mighty man of valour.” God loves to take men whom others
despise, and use them for His glorious ends.
5. But, then, God ever uses effectual means. Even if He works by
barley-cakes, He makes a clean overthrow of His enemy. A cannon-ball could not
have done its work better than did this barley cake. Wherefore, be not afraid,
ye servants of God, but commit yourselves into the hands of Him who, out of
weakness, can bring forth strength. Do you not think that this smiting of the
tent of Midian by the barley cake, and afterwards the actual overthrow of the
Midianite hordes by the breaking of the pitchers, the blazing of the torches,
and the blowing of the trumpets, all tends to comfort us as to those powers of
evil which now cover the world? When we are thinned out, and made to see how
few we are, we shall be hurled upon the foe with a power not our own. Were
things worse than they are, we should still cry, “The sword of the Lord, and of
Gideon!” and stand each man in his place till the Lord appeared in strength.
Another lesson would I draw from the text as to our inward conflicts. You are
feeling in your heart the great power of sin. The Midianites are encamped in your
soil; in the little valley of Esdrelon which lies within your bosom there are
countless evils, and these, like the locusts, eat up every growing thing, and
cause comfort, strength, and joy to cease from your experience. You sigh
because of these invaders. I counsel you to try what faith can do. This seems a
very poor means of getting the victory, as poor as the barley cake baked on the
coals; but God has chosen it, and He will bless it, and it will overthrow the
throne of Satan within your heart, and work in you holiness and peace. Once
again, still in the same vein, let us try continually the power of prayer for
the success of the gospel, and the winning of men’s souls. Prayer will do
anything--will do everything. It fills the valleys and levels the mountains. By
its power men are raised from the door of hell to the gate of heaven. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
The soldier’s dream
There is a little incident in connection with Christ’s
resurrection which merits careful notice. We allude to the following words:
“Then went in that other disciple.” Unconsciously men influence each other
mightily for good or evil, The incident before us illustrates this. A soldier
wakes and tells “his fellow” of a curious dream which he has had; the latter
volunteers an interpretation of it. How little they thought that the
commander-in-chief of the enemy was eagerly listening outside! Still less did
they imagine that their conversation was the means of nerving him to new
courage. More than that: the brief talk of these heathen soldiers was a link in
the chain of events by which the destiny, not only of Israel, but of mankind,
was effected. Truly, “no man liveth unto himself.”
I. God condescends
to human infirmities. Gideon had a direct, distinct assurance that in the
coming battle he should be triumphant. “I have delivered it into thine hand.”
What more could he want? But see how graciously the Most High came down to the
tent of His servant. If a sign or “token” will do what a promise cannot, then,
although it ought not to be necessary, it shall be granted. In His dealings
with us God “knoweth our frame.” Brightly does this fact shine out in the life
of the Incarnate One. After His resurrection Thomas was sceptical. He must see
and feel or he “will not believe.” In this he was quite wrong. All the world
over, testimony is accepted as a sufficient ground for faith. The evidence
sought was granted.
II. God adapts His
revelations to our special needs. Think of Gideon’s position. It is the night
before the battle: the forces of the foe are “like grasshoppers for multitude,”
the Hebrew army is stringently limited to three hundred men. Under such
circumstances, the temptation of the Jewish generalissimo would be to think
that an attack by such an unequal, fearfully disproportionate host would result
in defeat. What, then, does he require? A conviction to the following effect:
that in the impending conflict numbers will count for nothing. And that is
exactly what, in singular and indeed grotesque style, the dream teaches him.
The barley-cake flung against the tent upsets it, stakes, pole, canvas, and
all. Well may we pause to admire this exquisite adaptation of Divine revelation
to human requirements. The ascended Redeemer has “gifts for men,” not one gift
but many, and none shall seek a suitable gift in vain. In a certain Austrian
city there is a bridge in the parapets of which stand twelve statues of the
Saviour. He is represented in various relationships--Prophet, King, Priest,
Pilot, Physician, Shepherd, Sower, Carpenter, and so forth. The country people
coming into the city in the early morning with produce from the market, pause
before the Sower, or Shepherd Christ, and offer their worship to Him. Two hours
later, the artisan, coming to his workshop, bends before the Carpenter. Later
still, the sailor prays to the heavenly Pilot. And in the warm sunlight of the
forenoon, the invalids, creeping out to enjoy the fresh air, rest and adore
under the image of the Great Physician. Christ has a manifestation of Himself
to fit all human needs. Indeed, what is true of Him holds good also of the
whole Bible: it is adapted to all: whatever our peculiar circumstances, we may
find in it something to meet them.
III. God teaches us
to get help from the enemy. Who were the instruments of Gideon’s encouragement?
Not allies but adversaries: the reassuring voices came not from an Israelitish
home but from a Midianite tent. Unwittingly, the heathen arrayed against him
proved his timely stimulus. Here is another valuable lesson for us: make your
very foes your aid. Satan is an enemy. Learn from him and his artifices where
much of your moral strength is to be found, namely, in the Bible. “The devil
can quote Scripture for his purpose.” A careful, painstaking, sympathetic
knowledge of Scripture is the grand panacea for heresy and the true palladium
of our faith. Temptation is a foe, otherwise we should never have been taught
to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Albeit, it is often one of our best
friends. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.” Vanquish it and you are
mightier than you were before. The ancient Scandinavians believed that the
power and the prowess of each foe they felled to the dust entered into them,
and, unquestionably, new courage and fresh zeal are the portion of him who
overcomes sin. Again: St. Paul speaks of those as “enemies of the Cross of Christ” “who mind
earthly things.” The worldly are foes of the gospel; whether they mean it or
not, they retard its glorious progress. Yes: but what a lesson those “enemies
of the Cross” read us who are believers in it! Their intelligence and
earnestness about business, education, pleasure, may well put to shame the slow
advances that we make, with heaven itself in view. (T. R. Stevenson.)
The insecurity of the godless
In every combination of godless men there is a like feeling of
insecurity, a like presage of disaster. Those who are in revolt against
justice, truth, and the religion of God have nothing on which to rest,
no enduring bond of union. What do they conceive as the issue of their attempts
and schemes? Have they anything in view that can give heart and courage, an end
worth toil and hazard? It is impossible, for their efforts are all in the
region of the false where the seeming realities are but shadows that
perpetually change. Let it be allowed that to a certain extent common interests
draw together men of no principle so that they can co-operate for a time. Yet
each individual is secretly bent on his own pleasure or profit, and there is
nothing that can unite them constantly. One selfish and unjust person may be
depended upon to conceive a lively antipathy to every other selfish and unjust
person. Midian and Amalek have their differences with one another, and each has
its own rival chiefs, rival families, full of the bitterest jealousy which at
any moment may burst into flame. The whole combination is weak from the
beginning, a mere horde of clashing desires incapable of harmony, incapable of
a sustaining hope . . . Look at those ignorant and unhappy persons who combine
against the laws of society. Their suspicions of each other are proverbial, and
even with them is the feeling that sooner or later they will be overtaken by
the law. They dream of that and tell each other their dreams. The game of crime
is played against well-known odds. Those who carry it on are aware that their
haunts will be discovered, their gang broken up. A bribe will tempt one of
their number and the rest will have to go their way to the cell or the gallows. Yet with the
presage of defeat wrought into the very constitution of the mind, and with
innumerable proofs that it is no delusion, there are always those amongst us
who attempt what even in this world is so hazardous, and in the larger sweep of
moral economy is impossible. In selfishness, in oppression and injustice, in
every kind of sensuality men adventure as if they could ensure their safety and
defy the day of reckoning. (R. A. Watson, M. A.)
Verses 15-25
Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of
Midian.
Divine Providence overruling the result
I. The hand of the
Lord visible in this deliverance.
1. In the general effect produced.
2. In the use of the particular means employed.
II. A picture of
the Church’s experience in every age.
1. She is still surrounded by enemies numerous as the sand on the sea
shore.
2. The enemies are a heterogeneous confederation. Science,
philosophy, criticism, atheism, agnosticism, etc.
3. The attacks are persistently made.
4. Every possible advantage is on the side of the enemy. Truth is in
the minority, and has always been exposed to the grossest misrepresentation.
5. The inherent power of Bible truth makes victory certain in the
end. (J. P. Millar.)
A trumpet . . . empty pitchers, and lamps.
Our life
I. Consider the
mortal and material part of man under the emblem of a pitcher containing within
it a lamp or firebrand.
1. The pitcher is made of potter’s clay, even as man was formed of
the dust of the ground.
2. Again, the pitcher’s manufacture is brittle, and easily shattered
into a thousand fragments.
3. Notice, as a final point of comparison, the intransparent
character of the earthen vessel. If we desire to see the beauty and brilliancy
of a light, and at the same time to preserve it from extinction by the rude
breath of the atmosphere, we must perforce find for it a transparent medium of
glass or crystal; hardly a ray will struggle out of the mouth of a pitcher. The
human body is an inapt vehicle for certain strong and passionate emotions of
the natural soul. We speak, for example, of a grief that is too deep for tears,
and much more for the spiritual emotions of a holy and devout soul. Those
emotions are rather hindered than furthered by the material body. The mortal
frame is not a fitting tabernacle for the display of the exhibition of grace.
II. Consider the
light within the pitcher; the soul, or immaterial part of man, enclosed for the
present within a material framework, the breath of lives breathed into the
vessel of clay.
1. First, there is the animal life. And even this lowest species of
life is very beautiful and glorious, and worthy of Him from whom it emanates.
Like a flame it is most subtle, and, as it were, eludes the grasp and ken of
man. How does it interpenetrate the whole realm of nature! And yet you cannot
tell where it resides. It is transfused through matter without taking up its
abode in any particular locality. Like a flame it glows in the ruddy cheek of
health; like a flame it glances and sparkles in the sunlit stream; like a newly-kindled lamp it
gradually dawns in the opening bosom of the flower. Learn to bless God for
natural as well as for spiritual life.
2. But to
turn to the second kind of life--rational--the life of the intellect. This,
too, is a very subtle and very beautiful emanation from the Father of life. I
spoke of animal life just now as diffused through the whole realm of matter.
How does the keen
and active intellect of man seek to explore and penetrate through all subjects
and substances. How beautiful does the tide of words gush forth from the pen or
from the lip! How is the reader or the audience carried along against his will,
and captivated by the happiness and beauty of such discourse! And whence this
happiness and beauty? It is the lamp of life-rational struggling forth, the
spirit within the earthen pitcher; it is the fire-brand of the human mind
shaking off on every side its lustrous sparkles.
3. But there was yet a higher life breathed into man at his first
creation--spiritual life. And if the two former lives admit of a comparison
with a lamp or a fire-brand, how much more apt is such a similitude to set
forth the life of the immortal spirit. By the life of the spirit I mean that
life which evinces itself in holy affections of joy, love, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. It resembles a flame
principally in the circumstance
that it aspires towards heaven. Like a flame, moreover, it has a wonderful
property of self-propagation. Spiritual life kindled in one little dark corner
of the earth will soon, by throwing out sparks as of a fire-brand, light up
other beacons near and around it. And, finally, amongst those so brought, there
subsists the warmth of spiritual intercourse, which is called, in the technical
language of theology, the “communion of saints.” (Dean Goulburn.)
The battle of the pitchers
1. I learn, in the first place, from this subject, the lawfulness of
Christian stratagem. You all know what strategy is in military affairs. Now I
think it is high time we had this art sanctified and spiritualised. In the
Church, when we are about to make a Christian assault, we send word to the
opposing force when we expect to come, how many troops we have, and of course
we are defeated. There are thousands of men who might be surprised into the
kingdom of God. We have not sufficient tact and ingenuity in Christian work. We
have in the kingdom of God to-day enough troops to conquer the whole earth for
Christ if we only had skilful manoeuvring.
2. I learn from this subject also that a small part of the army of
God will have to do all the hard fighting.
3. Again, I learn from this subject that God’s way is different from
man’s, but is always the best way. If we had had the planning of that battle,
we would have taken those thirty-two thousand men that originally belonged to
the army, and we would have drifted them, and marched them up and down by the
day, week, and month. But that is not the way. God depletes the army, and takes away
all their weapons, and gives them a lamp, and a pitcher, and a trumpet, and
tells them to go down and drive out the Midianites. I suppose some wiseacres
were there who said, “That is not military tactics. The idea of three hundred
men, unarmed, conquering such a great host of Midianites!” It was the best way.
What sword, spear, or cannon ever accomplished such a victory as lamp, pitcher,
and trumpet? God’s way is different from man’s way, but it is always best.
Take, for instance, the composition of the Bible. If we had had the writing of
the Bible, we would have said, “Let one man write it. If you have twenty or
thirty men to write a poem, or make a statute, or write a history, or make an
argument, there will be flaws and contradictions.” But God says, “Let not one
man do it, but forty men shall do it.” And they did, differing enough to show
there had been no collusion between them, but not contradicting each other on
any important point. Instead of this Bible, which now I can lift in my
hand--instead of the Bible that the child can carry to school--instead of the
little Bible the sailor can put in his pocket when he goes to sea--if it had
been left to men to write, it would have been a thousand volumes, judging from
the amount of ecclesiastical controversy which has arisen. God’s way is
different from man’s, but it is best, infinitely best. So it is in regard to
the Christian life. If we had had the planning of a Christian life we would
have said: “Let him have eighty years of sunshine, a fine house to live in; let
his surroundings all be agreeable; let him have sound health; no trouble shadow
his soul.” I enjoy the prosperity of others so much I would let every man have
as much money as he wants, and roses for his children’s cheeks, and the
fountains of gladness glancing in their large round eyes. But that is not God’s
way. It seems as if a man must be cut, and hit, and pounded, just in proportion
as he is useful. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
A good general
It was said by Napoleon that God was on the side of the strongest
battalions. Notwithstanding our present advances, materialism is still deified.
Gideon’s first battle teaches another lesson. We may go back to rude ages in
order to learn the might of moral forces.
I. A good general
is led, not by caprice, not by the promptings of ambition, not by the desire of
spoil, not by the voice of an unthinking host, but by patriotism, by the love
of humanity broadly considered, and by the leading of the Eternal.
II. A good general
leads. Gideon himself gave the example of brave deeds: took his part in the
fray, ready to do, dare, die. Consider the Captain of our salvation. He goes
before in every conflict.
III. A good general
inspires. The men catch the burning enthusiasm of their leader.
IV. A good general
wisely disposes. Three companies. Christ places each where best for him.
V. A good general
skilfully uses unlikely weapons. The ram’s horn of gospel preaching more
affectual than the silver trumpet of philosophy. Fishermen have beaten the
savants. A tinker’s the greatest name in modern literature. A cobbler a great missionary.
A weaver mightiest of explorers.
VI. A good general
raises a good battle-cry: “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” Better than
Napoleon’s--“Gentlemen, remember that forty centuries are looking down upon
you.”
VII. A good general
makes good soldiers.
VIII. A good general
secures a good issue. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
Lamps
Valuable as the light of the sun and moon is to us, yet there are
times when we cannot enjoy either, and therefore require artificial lights. And
of these we have a fair variety. We might notice a few of the lamps that are in
daily use amongst us.
I. The street
lamp. This light is for the benefit of the public generally. But we have living
street lamps as well. They give us moral and spiritual light. Every true
Christian is a lamp, lit by God with the light of Christ, and is to be like the
street lamp, giving light to the multitudes who pass by. And we ought to be
unselfish, and whether in storm or sunshine we should show our light. And
although one lamp does not seem to be of great importance, yet a number of them
give us a light almost as good as the sun.
II. The house lamp.
The first place where Christians ought to shine is at home. There we must stand
up for Christ and show whose side we are on. Sometimes we find people ready to make
a great profession in the street or at the meeting, but very different at home.
They may thus deceive men, but they cannot deceive God.
III. The private
lamp or lantern. This is a faithful companion to us when in the country on dark
evenings. We are all travellers on life’s journey, the way is strange, and the
end hid from our view, and unless we can find lamp we must be eternally lost.
We discover in Scripture the assurance that, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path.”
IV. The stable
lamp. This lamp would scarcely be suitable for the mansion, but it is well
adapted for the stable. And among Christian lights we have some suited for one
sphere and some for another.
V. The lighthouse
lamp. This is a stationary light, and as such is of great service. Let us as
Christians seek to be as steady lights, contented with our lot and shining
there. The lighthouse is a saving light. Multitudes have been saved by them. We
as Christians ought to be saving lights. If we have been saved ourselves we
must seek to save others. (John Mitchell.)
Blowing the trumpets
Each man had one, and each blew it as he joined in the assault.
They did not leave this
business to their leader alone. Just so should every Christian soldier make it
his duty to proclaim the glad tidings of the kingdom of grace and redemption.
Not that every private in the ranks is to aspire to be a Gideon--a captain of
the army. A battalion cannot be all officers, whether the corps be Caesar’s or
Christ’s. While all cannot guide and control the movement of the host, all can
assert, with consenting voice and stroke, the merits of the cause for which it
has taken the field. Every Christian is not called to the pulpit. But this is
by no means the only method of publishing salvation. “Let him that heareth say,
Come.” They therefore mistake who think they have no word to utter for God.
Every man blew his trumpet. They blew together--commander and followers. So do
not always the men of Christ’s army. While zeal for their Master may move the
energies of part, others have lost sight of the point of successful assault,
have loitered or laboured elsewhere very much to no purpose. Or their note is a
dispiriting one, sounding a retreat rather than an onward, resolute movement.
Their tones of brooding discontent spread discouragement through the whole
encampment. Gideon and the three hundred blew their trumpets together. It not
unfrequently happens that the minister blows one note, but many of his band a
very different one. How many sermons preached in the fear of God, on the
Sabbath, are utterly negatived by professed believers of the gospel in the
family, the workshop, the counting-house. Look at this common and mischievous
habit among Church members. Men and women of Israel, remember that if the
Church is to speak effectually for God in the ear of a disobedient world, it
must speak in unison, in harmony. (N. Y. Evangelist.)
A meagre equipment
It is always pathetic to read of that experience of Agassiz when
as a young man he was summoned to Paris to be associated with a great
naturalist. He was too poor to provide himself with the appropriate instruments
for the conduct of his work; so poor he could not procure a decent coat in
which he might present certain letters of introduction. He was no mean man in
the esteem and knowledge of the world even then, but he was poor. He had a
meagre equipment, but the very meagreness of his equipment had in it a
sufficiency for the thing he had in hand, and in spite of the want of equipment
he rose to be our greatest naturalist.
The sword of the Lord, and
of Gideon.--
The finite-infinite--the work of God and the work of man
There is a strange power in a battle-cry. In certain circumstances a
single word, or a simple motion, may rouse men to a frenzy of heroism. One
electric sentence, such as that addressed by Nelson to his men, “England
expects that every man this day will do his duty,” may be the making of a
victory. It brings before the imagination in a moment such a picture of
country, of home, of duty, of fame, as suffices to awaken some of the grander
elements of the mind. A battle-cry is fitted to inspire confidence in friends
and fear in foes. It is not strange, therefore, that the followers of Gideon,
so few in number, should seek, as they were about to meet the countless hosts
of Midian and Amalek, to fortify their hearts with a stirring watchword--“They
cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!” What strikes us at first as
somewhat strange is that they should add the name of Gideon to the name of the
Lord. It is not without good reason that this addition is made. Just as great
and abstract ideas have not their full influence over the mind until they are
associated with some illustration--embodied in some concrete form; so the
thought of God, in the height and infinitude of His being, has not that
practical influence on the mind as mere abstraction, which it has when
associated with some human agency--when brought down to the earth and brought
near to us in the form of a man. Hence, indeed, the incarnation of God in man.
And so the battle-cry of Christianity is, not merely the sword of the Lord, but
the sword of the Lord and His Christ. Besides, it was literally the arm of
Gideon, as well as the arm of the Lord, that gained the victory; and therefore
we have suggested to us by these words the union of the Divine and the human in
the work of the world, or the co-existence and co-operation of the Infinite and
the finite.
I. The fact of
this union. As the planet flies swiftly in its orbit, impelled by the opposing
centripetal and centrifugal powers; as the path of the ship is the result of
the combined action of wind and helm; as the body of man moves freely over the
solid ground, finely balanced between earth, air, and sun; so the path of the
soul is the result of the combined action of heaven and earth. The breath of
the Divine Spirit fills the sails, and the little helm of the human will is
allowed to modify the course.
1. The union of the Divine and the human in the operations of nature.
God created paradise and led man into it; but He did not leave His creature to
a life of idleness. He put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. The fruits of the earth were to be matured by the touch of man as well as
by the power of God. As the seasons revolve in their beauty and variety, the
creature has always to unite his energies with those of the Creator to bring
the harvest forth. And what is all art and science but man following God,
imitating God, working with God? Man looks upon the works of God; and from the
union of his beholding mind with these fair forms there come forth the
creations of art--the inspired poem, the pale statue, and the coloured canvas.
These productions are the combined result of that inspiration which the
Almighty has given, and the artist’s own earnest labour. The result is cut out
by “the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.”
2. The union of the Divine and the human in the administration of
secular affairs. What is the true idea of government? Is it not that of a
theocracy, or a world in which God is king--a world in which every king is
clothed with power as Gideon was, and in which every magistrate’s sword is the
sword of the Lord as well?
3. More directly is it seen in the individual Christian life that the
power of God is working with the power of man. Conversion is pre-eminently a
work of God. It is a new creation, and God is the Creator. The wounds of
conviction are made by the sword of the Lord. We are born again of God. At the
same time, it is no less clear in Scripture that conversion is a work in which
man himself must play a part. There is an act of the Divine will, but there is
also an act of the human will. We are “justified by faith,” and faith is an act
of the mind. Every righteous action performed is a fruit both of the Divine Spirit
and the human spirit. Every true and believing prayer is at once an inspiration
of man and an inspiration of God. In the warfare of the soul the Divine arm and
the human arm must both be lifted against the foe; and it is still “the sword
of the Lord, and of Gideon,” that gains the victory. To the same effect are
those wonderful words, “Work out your own salvation . . . for it is God who
worketh in you,” etc.
4. The union of the human and the Divine in the work of spreading the
gospel.
II. The invisible
relation of the two powers. We cannot draw a line between the two, and say,
“There the Divine ends, and here the human begins: up to this point God has
been the worker; after that man is the worker.” As the battle goes on, we
cannot say, “On yonder part of the field are the heavenly forces, and on this
part the earthly forces.” We cannot say, “Now God has laid down the sword, and
now man has taken it up.” The two energies are blended in such invisible
relation and mysterious co-operation that we cannot thus distinguish them.
There is but one sword between the Lord and Gideon; and both grasp the hilt at
the same time.
III. The wisdom and
advantage of this arrangement.
1. It reveals to us the dignity and solemnity of life. We are
fellow-labourers with God. We are grasping and wielding the same sword. This
truth invests life with the highest sacredness and solemnity. If it does not
derogate from God’s dignity to work, it cannot derogate from man’s. The dignity
that comports with or consists in idleness is altogether foreign to true
elevation of life.
2. While this co-operation is fitted to lift us up, it is also fitted
to cast us down. True humility is wrought in us by the increasing realisation
of God’s existence and presence. His majesty looks down upon us and His
holiness looks in upon us evermore. Earthly honours inflate and pamper the
vanity of the human heart, but heavenly honours humble still more the heavenly.
3. The combination of entire dependence upon God with the greatest
individual activity. What a blessed thing it is to have the arm of the Almighty
to lean upon in our daily life! Dependence upon others is not always desirable;
but dependence upon God is our very life and strength. The former has a
tendency to produce servility and inactivity, the latter leads to the greatest
activity. Those who believe most entirely that everything depends upon God at
the same time work as energetically as if everything depended on themselves.
Those who have done most good in the world are those who have ascribed all goodness
to God.
4. Since God is a worker, the success of His work is certain; but
since we also are workers, we should be filled with fear lest we be found
unfaithful and fall short at last. The fact that an army has a great
general--one who is a host in himself, one sure to lead to victory, does not
make the men who fight under him indifferent as to how they fight. It makes
them fight all the better. It inspires them with an almost superhuman power.
Under the leadership of God, then, what great deeds might we not accomplish, if
we had faith to follow Him more closely! With what joy might we even fall in
the fight, when we know that the day is already ours! But the practical point
for every believer is, that a certain portion of the work is entrusted to him.
What an awful responsibility! What a value does this give to time! (F.
Ferguson, D. D.)
Gideon’s watchword
Few things are more remarkable than the inspiring power, whether
for good or evil, which a short, pithy, pregnant saying possesses for the mind. Proverbs,
watchwords, party cries, have always played an important part in human affairs,
and leaders of men have ever recognised their value as powerful instruments for
swaying and controlling masses of people. No Spartan of old fought tamely who
had received from wife or mother that parting mandate, “Return either with your
shield or upon it!” No Crusader in the ranks of Richard the Lionhearted, as
they charged against the hosts of Saladin, could have heard unthrilled that
glorious watchword, “Remember the Holy City!” “God defend the right!” was the
suppliant cry of youthful enthusiasm that rang out from the lips of the Black
Prince at Cressy. “St. George for England!” was the cheer with which the whole
fleet saluted the flagship of Howard of Effingham, in an hour when the heart of
England stood still. “Victory or Westminster Abbey!” shouted Nelson as he
boarded the great “San Josef” in Sir John Jervis’s engagement with the Spanish
fleet off Cape St. Vincent; and in less than eight years afterwards he had signalled
along the line at Trafalgar that never-to-be-forgotten message, “England
expects that every man will do his duty!” All these watchwords had their
meaning, their deep and inspiring meaning, at the time they were uttered, but
none ever meant more, ever suggested a mightier truth, than that oldest
battle-cry we know of, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!” Trust in God and
implicit faith in and dependence upon His wisdom, power, and love, was the
central truth, the central duty, inculcated throughout the Divine education of
the chosen race. Trust in God lies at the foundation of all true character; for
it is that which “can alone” (to use Martineau’s fine words) “render absolute
the rules of righteousness,” and “save them from the gnawing corrosion of exceptions,
and raise them from flexible convictions of men into a law secured on the
eternal holiness.” “Intellectual integrity,” adds the same writer, “moral
tenacity, spiritual elevation, all alike involve, in their higher degrees, an
unconditional trust in the everlasting sway of Divine justice, wisdom, and
love.” God saw fit to educate one particular people in this all-important
truth, that they might become witnesses to the world, for all time, of that
saving spirit of loving and faithful submission to the will of God which found
its most perfect exponent in Christ our Saviour. To this end all God’s dealings
with Israel were invariably directed. Those three hundred men in Gideon’s
little band did not complain that they had neither sword, nor spear, nor shield.
They made the best of what they had, and committed themselves to the guidance
of a wise and protecting God. He knew that they must conquer that mighty host
(if they were to conquer it at all) not by their own unaided strength, but by
His wise generalship. It was for them a bloodless victory. The battle was won,
not by their own skill in fighting, but by their obedience to Jehovah and their
implicit trust in Him. “By faith” they conquered, “as seeing Him who is
invisible,” and their victory will remain for all time a parable to successive
generations of men. For a parable it is of the battle of life. The divinest
success in life is achieved, not through the possession of great power, but by
the faithful use of such powers as we have. If God be not for us how shall we
prevail? Round your life and round mine there lie foes--hidden, spiritual
foes--which we are powerless to conquer in our own unaided strength and wisdom.
The evil lusts and passions of our own hearts, and the trials and difficulties
and temptations of the world, these are the foes that lie “like grasshoppers
for multitude” encamped around our daily life, and if we would conquer them we
must fight with the weapons that God has given us, and not be faint-hearted;
for we shall overcome, not of ourselves, but by the help and the guidance of
Him “who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Nay more, if we
would conquer we must surely do so with those same three weapons which Gideon
put into the hands of his three hundred warriors--the lamp, and the pitcher,
and the trumpet.
1. God commits to each of us a lamp or torch, which is to be trimmed
and kept bright through life. Every man has his own torch; his own peculiar
powers of mind and body; his own individual character; his own special post in
life, and opportunities of influencing others for good or for evil. The work we
do and the example we show--this, in short, is the torch we hold as trust from
God, who says to each of us, as He said to the Jews of old, “Let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.”
2. But then, in the second place, we learn that our lamps, like those
of Gideon’s band, must not be displayed until the proper moment arrives for
them to be seen. For awhile they must be concealed, as it were, within empty
pitchers. Our characters are not formed, we are not fitted for the work of
life, in a moment. Hence those years of school discipline through which we have
all passed. This season of preparatory culture and seclusion is as necessary
for us men as it was for “the Son of Man,” who, for thirty years, during which
He prepared Himself for His short ministry, lived a life of retirement and
subjection at Nazareth. In His career on earth there was no precocious
self-assertion, no premature display. But the time comes when we are each
summoned to leave the life of preparation and enter upon our life of work in
the world, and then, if we be true servants of God, and neither cowards nor
slaves to self, we shall be ready to cast aside the empty pitcher, and hold up
before men’s eyes a well-trimmed lamp.
3. And then, lastly, there are the trumpets. Just as the torch means
man’s work and knowledge and character, and the pitcher represents the method
by which he receives and matures his light until the hour comes for revealing
it, so the trumpet typifies the sound of the human voice, the power with which,
by precept and exhortation, by uttered principle and uncompromising assertion
of truth, we carry the gospel of Christ into the world. There are so many
time-servers amongst men, who will not dare to confess what they believe to be
true and know to be right, if it happens to conflict with the popular notions
of society. They reserve their principles for congenial company, where they
will be safe from contradiction, and they go about the world agreeing, like
sycophants, with anything and everybody. But let such men remember that the
world owes its highest good to those who have had the courage of their
convictions. They are the messengers of truth and of God. “Their sound is gone
out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the earth.” We have thus
arrived at the full meaning of that battle-cry, “The sword of the Lord, and of
Gideon.” It is the motto of our Christian profession. It expresses in a symbol
the bloodless victory of the Christian life, through Christ our Lord: the
victory which is won with no earthly weapon, but with the “sword of the
Spirit.” (H. E. J. Bevan, M. A.)
The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon
A company of English soldiers were in disgrace. Through
some bad conduct they had for a while lost their colours, and were in trouble
about it. It so happened that these men had to take part in some battle where a
piece of hard fighting had to be done. One morning the men were in line. Some
distance away was a hill held by the enemy which it was extremely important
that the English should secure. The commander addressed his men and urged them
on to the conflict which was soon to take place. He finished his brief address
to them by saying, “Men, your colours are on the top of yonder hill.” It was
enough. Their souls were fired, and long before the day was out they had
dislodged the enemy, secured the hill, wiped out the disgrace in which they had
been, and won back their lost regimental colours by their bravery that day. The
Church of God is engaged in war against the hosts of the world, and every
member of God’s Church has to take his share in the conflict, and must seek to
remove the enemies of God. If we notice how Gideon and his men carried on their
work for God, we may perhaps learn a few things which we may also practise with
some profit.
I. We will first
notice their unity. There were no divisions, no quarrels, no mutinies among
them. They stood as they were ordered to stand. Does not this speak to us and
with a loud voice? Have the hundreds of God’s hosts to-day that spirit of unity
which should mark all the soldiers of the Cross? Have we always obeyed orders
from headquarters? If the soldiers in the ranks of the armies of the living God
could only forget all party difference, and cease to contend about minute
distinctions, and present a united front, the kingdom of darkness would soon
receive such blows as would make it totter and reel. We have many illustrations
in the history of Christianity, of what can be done by a united Church of God.
II. Let us now
notice their courage. Had they been Englishmen they could not have displayed
more fibre and courage than was shown, In its conflict with the world the Church
needs men of courage. There never was a time it more needed them than now.
There are many great and pressing social and religious problems which need
attention and require men of courage and faith to deal with them; and in all
her work she needs men of brave hearts and true, who are not easily daunted.
She wants brave officers to serve in her ranks--men of skill, piety, and
courage. She wants the best sons and daughters in her ranks. She is charged
with the responsibility of the salvation of the world. She has to make greater
inroads into the ranks of the enemy. God is with us, and God can make us brave
and bold.
III. But we must now
notice the faith of these men. It was a victory of faith. Oh, what a theme for
contemplation the victories of faith furnish! The Church needs men of faith
to-day. This is an age of scepticism, of doubt, and criticism. It has become
almost fashionable to talk about doubting as if it were a mark of strength and
special attainment to do so. The
Church wants men who live in the sunshine of strong heroic faith and power. She
wants men who can, in mighty faith, march round the strongholds of sin, just as
the Israelites marched around ancient Jericho. She needs men who can go with
Bible in hand and win victories for God.
IV. In conclusion,
we will briefly notice the success they experienced. It was complete. They
stood in order round the camp as they were commanded. At the given signal they
raised their shouts, broke their pitchers, and flashed their torches. They
stood and watched the consternation of the enemy. It was a victory which was
God-given and full. The history of the Church of Christ abounds with God-given
victories. The victories of the past are to be far surpassed in the future. (C.
Leach, D. D.)
The natural and supernatural
I. Some of the
events in which we behold the co-operation of the natural and supernatural.
1. In providence.
2. In conversion.
3. In the sustenance of a religious life.
4. In the propagation of the gospel.
II. That the
co-operation of the natural and supernatural is necessary to ensure success.
1. This is the only way success is to he expected.
2. This is the only way in which success is possible.
3. The co-operation of the natural and supernatural makes success
certain.
III. Practical
lessons.
1. We should endeavour to form a true estimate of ourselves. We can
do a little, but cannot do all.
2. Learn to acknowledge the Lord in every success. (D. Lewis.)
Gideon’s gallant three hundred
I. The brave
company with which he attacked the foe.
II. the battle-cry
of Gideon and his gallant three hundred.
1. The first secret of their strength was that they all realised that
the battle they had to fight was not their own, but God’s. A man may fight very
hard for himself, yet there is a point at which heroism inspired by
self-interest fails; but let it be inspired by the love of another, and let
that love be centred in an object worthy of the greatest daring, and there you
will find a courage which is simply transcendent and irresistible. Look at the
men who have wrought the greatest deeds on earth, and you will find that the
first thing they emphasised was just this, “We are not come out in our own
cause and our own strength, but God’s.” There would not be sufficient
inspiration in any other cause to enable them to meet such overwhelming odds as
those which they met with unfaltering step, and at length overcame.
2. As the battle was the Lord’s, so the weapons were His: “The sword
of the Lord.” You notice how Paul emphasises the same truth--“Put on the whole
armour of God”; and again, “Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges?”
If we are to be God’s soldiers we must be armed with His weapons. A young man
enlists in the army; there is a sword given to him; it is not a sword he has
had made for himself, but one that has been submitted to certain tests, though,
alas! they have been more imaginary than real occasionally. It is the Queen’s
sword, and as such it is her will that it shall be so made as to be worthy of
the mettle of every soldier who will wield it and of the empire that supplies
it. The soldier is not allowed to risk his life by getting his village
blacksmith to make one for him. There must be the stamp of the Government upon
it. The battle is the Queen’s and the sword is the Queen’s; and when the
soldier gets that sword he feels that the whole British Empire has staked its
credit largely upon the quality of that sword, as well as the courage of the
man who has accepted it. The fact that the Queen supplies the sword, and that
it represents the power and the righteousness of the country whom he serves,
adds vigour to his arm and determination to his assault. So is it with us. We,
as the soldiers of Christ, have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of
God, and, thank God, this has never snapped yet in our hands.
3. In a glorious sense Gideon was joint possessor with the Lord of
the sword he wielded: “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” There was no
blasphemy in this cry; it was a humble recognition of the fact that God had
taken Gideon into His service, and into joint possession of the sword with
which Gideon fought. Once again, referring to the ordinary soldier, you ask
him, “Whose sword is that?” He replies, “It is mine.” Yet he never made it, and
never purchased it. You say to him, “Nay, but it is the Queen’s sword.” He
replies, “The Queen gave it me.” You add, “Then it is yours.” “Yes, the
Queen’s--and mine”; and it is in that conjunction, “and,” which joins the Queen
to the poor soldier, that we find the secret of his prowess on the battlefield.
Just so here, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon,” was the cry which
imparted more than human strength to Gideon and his soldiers. God’s warriors
have to fight with the world and its evil. The sword is the Lord’s, but it is
also ours. It is given us so that we may make the best use of it, and that
every man who has enlisted in Christ’s army can say in the same breath, “It is
God’s battle and mine.” (D. Davies.)
Gideon’s victory
I. The companies
engaged. Happy is he who is numbered among the three hundred. Be it so that he
is in the minority. Many have forsaken him, more are against him. But he is
invincible for all that, as long as he does battle with but one weapon, “The
sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.”
II. The trumpet’s
blast. Never did means appear more contemptible than those employed by Gideon.
Thus the Lord teaches us that means are weak or strong just according to His
appointment. Weak means are strong, powerful, and all-prevailing, when He
ordains the end to be fulfilled by them. When God blesses, the worm Jacob can
lift up his head, and thresh the mountains. But the mightiest instruments are
naught without His blessing. Now, we have here, in the trumpet’s blast, the
pitchers broken, and the lamps held forth, striking and appropriate emblems of
the preaching of the gospel. They are fit emblems of the weakness of the
instrument and of the power of its effects. The preaching of the everlasting
gospel is as the blowing of Gideon’s trumpets. How apparently inadequate the
means to the end! How weak, how foolish! “Men must be fanatics to suppose that
men’s evil passions will be subdued, that the love of sin will be uprooted,
that their affections will ever be turned heavenward, by preaching nothing but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Human nature,” says the world, “needs something
different. If you wish to convert the heathen, civilise them first, and then
preach the gospel to them.” But let us turn from man to God. He who made the
trumpet, knew full well its power. He would not put the trumpet into our hands
and bid us blow if the breath of His power were not ready to go forth with the
blast. The dead in trespasses and sins hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear do live, and live for ever. Whilst uncertain sounds, a gospel
which is not the gospel, settle men in their sins, and cause sport to devils,
the clear blast of this trumpet shakes the infernal kingdom to its centre,
spreads jubilee among the slaves of earth, and awakens joy in the presence of
angels. We pause to ask, have these gladsome notes sounded in your ears in the
dead night of your soul? Have you been awakened by the loud blasts of the
gospel trumpet?
III. The pitchers
broken. Earthen pitchers seemed to be of all things the most absurd to fight
with. The three companies might do some execution were they fully equipped.
Trumpets might alarm and terrify, but what could pitchers do? How astonished
must have been these three hundred men when Gideon said, “Arm yourselves with
pitchers”! The result proved the efficiency of these contemptible instruments.
They did what no sword, no battle-axe, no spear could do. They held the lights,
they contained the lamps. They were nothing in themselves, but they were
everything to the enterprise. Now, we have in these pitchers a striking emblem
of the ministers of the gospel. They are earthen vessels, carrying the lamp of
life. We ask, then--and does not the value of your never-dying interests compel
us to ask you?--have you seen this light? have you been guided by that lamp?
Has it shone into your mind, and given you the saving knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ? Has it been the power of God unto your
salvation? (G. A. Rogers, M. A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》