THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WORSHIP THE IDOLS OF THE CANAANITES, AND ARE PUNISHED BY BEING MADE SERVANTS TO THEIR ENEMIES. GOD CHOOSES JUDGES TO RULE OVER THEM. DEBORAH SETS THEM FREE FROM THE KING OF CANAAN, AND GIDEON FROM THE MIDIANITES.
AFTER Joshua was dead, the men of Israel went out to war against the heathen nations, as he had commanded; and the Lord helped them and gave them the victory. Yet they did not persevere until they had driven out all those nations from Canaan; they allowed some of them still to live in the land. And the Lord spoke to the children of Israel, saying, I brought you up out of Egypt into the land which I promised to give you, and I commanded you to destroy the idols of the nations that lived there, and never to make peace with those nations. But you have not obeyed me. Now, therefore, I will not any more drive them out from before you, but those that are left shall stay in the land, and they will tempt you to sin, and cause you great trouble.
When the children of Israel heard these words they wept. Yet they soon forgot what the Lord had said, for they not only allowed many of the heathen to stay in Canaan, but they treated them as their friends. They even married among them; the men of Israel took heathen women for their wives, and the daughters of the Israelites married heathen men. Then the children of Israel began to worship the idols called Baal and Ashtaroth, that the people of Canaan worshipped. And the Lord was very angry with them, and sent enemies who fought against them and made them their servants.
But when they repented, and asked the Lord for help, he heard them and gave them rulers called judges, who led them out to war against their enemies, and set them free. Yet as often as the Lord set them free, they forgot him and sinned again. So they went on sinning, and afterward repenting, for more than three hundred years. During that time fifteen judges ruled over them.
The first was named Othniel; he was Caleb's younger brother. He went out to war against the king of Mesopotamia, who had made the children of Israel his servants for eight years. And God gave Othniel and the men of Israel the victory, so that they had to serve the king of Mesopotamia no more. And they had rest from war for forty years.
But after Othniel was dead, the people sinned again. Then the king of Moab brought an army against them, and made them his servants for eighteen years. And the people cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord made Ehud judge over them. He was a man of the tribe of Benjamin, and was left-handed. And the Lord sent Ehud to put the king of Moab to death. So Ehud made a dagger, and hid it under his garment on his right thigh. And he came to the king of Moab's house, while the king was sitting in his summer parlor. And Ehud said, I have a secret errand from God for thee, O king. And when all the servants had been sent out, and Ehud was left alone with the king, he put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into the king's body, and the king fell down dead.
Then Ehud made haste to flee out of the house, and he shut the doors after him and' locked them. Now the king's servants did not know what Ehud had done. So when they came and saw that the doors were shut, they said to themselves, the king himself has shut them because he wishes to be alone; and the servants did not open the doors. Yet after they had waited a long while, and saw that the king did not open them, they took a key and opened the doors; and behold their master was fallen down dead upon the floor. But Ehud, by this time, had fled far away, so that they could not take him.
And Ehud went to mount Ephraim, in the land of Canaan, and blew a trumpet to call the men of Israel. When they came to him, he said, Follow me, for the Lord will give you the victory. And they followed him to the river Jordan; there they fought with the Moabites and slew ten thousand of them, who were all brave and strong soldiers; they let not a man escape. So God saved the children of Israel, and set them free from the Moabites: and they had rest from war for eighty years.
After Ehud, Shamgar was judge over the people. He fought against the Philistines, and the Lord helped him, so that, by himself, alone, with nothing but an ox-goad in his hand, he slew six hundred men.
And the children of Israel sinned again and displeased the Lord. Then the king of Canaan came against them, and made them his servants for twenty years. Now the Lord had chosen a woman to be judge over Israel at this time. Her name was Deborah; she lived in a house that stood under a palm tree near Bethel. And Deborah sent for a man named Barak, and told him, that the Lord commanded him to take ten thousand of the men of Israel, and go to fight against Sisera, the captain of the king of Canaan's army. But Barak was afraid, and answered, that he would not go unless Deborah went with him. Then Deborah said she would go, but that Barak should not have the praise of the victory, because a woman would put Sisera to death.
And Barak took ten thousand men and went out against Sisera, and Deborah went with him. And Sisera gathered all the king of Canaan's army together, his soldiers, and his war-chariots made of iron, nine hundred of them, and came to fight with the children of Israel. Then Deborah said to Barak, Up, for this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into thy hand. So Barak, with his ten thousand men, fought against Sisera, and the Lord gave them the victory. And Barak followed after Sisera's army, putting them to death with the sword; but Sisera got down out of his chariot and fled away on his feet, that Barak might not take him.
And he came to the tent of a woman named Jael, who was a friend to the children of Israel; and he said to her, Give me a little water, for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk and gave him to drink. Then he said to her, Stand in the door of thy tent, and when any one comes and asks if there is a man here, say, No. And he went into her tent to hide, and lay down and slept. Then Jael took a great nail of the tent, that was used in fastening the side of the tent to the ground, and she went softly to Sisera while he was sleeping, and drove the nail into his forehead, and he died there. Soon afterward Barak came by, seeking for Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou art looking for. And she took him into the tent, and there Sisera lay dead. So the children of Israel were set free from the king of Canaan that day, but Barak had not the praise of the victory, because Sisera, the captain of the king's army, was killed by the hand of a woman, as Deborah had said.
After this the people had rest from war for forty years. But when the forty years were ended, they did wickedly and displeased God, and the Midianites came up against them, and made them their servants and treated them very cruelly. For they drove the children of Israel from their cities, and their homes, so that they had to live in caves in the mountains. The grain which they planted, after it was grown up, the Midianites destroyed, or carried away, till there was nothing left for them to eat. They took their oxen, their goats, and their sheep also, and the people grew very poor, and were in great distress, because the Midianites did these things to them.
Then they cried to the Lord to help them. And there was a man of the children of Israel named Gideon. He was threshing wheat one day, that he might hide it from the Midianites. And the Lord came, in the form of an angel, to the place where he was. And the Lord spoke kindly to him. Then Gideon asked why such great trouble had come upon the children of Israel, because of the Midianites, The Lord said to him, Thou shalt set the children of Israel free from the Midianites. Gideon answered, O my Lord, how shall I set Israel free? The Lord said, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt destroy their whole army, as if it were but one man.
Then Gideon said to the Lord, Stay, I pray thee, until I can go and bring thee an offering. The Lord answered, I will stay till thou comest again. Then Gideon went and killed a kid and made it ready, and put the meat into a basket, and brought it out to him. And the Lord told him to lay it upon a rock that was there, and Gideon did so. And the Lord reached forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh, and there rose up fire out of the rock and burnt up the offering. And the Lord went away from Gideon's sight.
And the army of the Midianites came, and made their camp in the valley of Jezreel. Then Gideon blew a trumpet, and called the children of Israel to go with him and fight against them. He sent messengers also through different parts of the land, and many of the people came.
And Gideon asked the Lord to do a miracle for him, so that he might know the Lord would certainly help him, when he should go to fight against the Midianites. Gideon said he would take a fleece of wool, and leave it out on the ground all night. If, in the morning, it should have dew on it, and the ground all around it be dry, then he should know that the Lord would surely help him to set the children of Israel free. And Gideon took the fleece of wool and left it on the ground all night, as he had said. And he rose up early in the morning and went to it, and found it full of dew, so that he wringed the dew out of it with his hands, and filled a bowl with water; but the ground all around it was dry.
And Gideon spoke to the Lord again, and prayed that he would not be angry if he asked him to do one thing more. Then he said he would put the fleece out another night, and asked that this time it might be dry, but the ground all around it wet with dew. And he left the fleece of wool out another night, and in the morning, when he looked, it was dry, no dew was on it, but the ground all around it was wet with dew. So Gideon knew by these miracles which the Lord had done for him, that the Lord would certainly help him, when he should go out to fight against the Midianites.
Then Gideon and all the army of Israel, rose up early and came near to the camp of the Midianites. But the Lord spoke to Gideon, and told him, there were too many men in the army of Israel. For if such great numbers of them should go to the battle and gain the victory, they would say they had gained it by their own strength, and not that the Lord had gained it for them. And the Lord commanded Gideon to tell the men in his army, that all who felt afraid might go back to their homes. When Gideon told them this, twenty-two thousand went from the camp of Israel, and there were left ten thousand men.
And the Lord spoke to Gideon again, saying, There are yet too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will shew thee there which of them shall go with thee to the battle. So Gideon brought them to the water. Now all the men were thirsty and began to drink. But they drank in different ways—some lifting the water in their hands to their mouths, and some stooping down and. putting their mouths into the water. Then the Lord commanded Gideon to put those who drank out of their hands, apart, by themselves; and when he had done so, there were three hundred of them. It was the Lord who made them drink in this way, so that they might be separated from the others; for now he told Gideon that only these three hundred men should go with him to the battle.
That same night the Lord commanded Gideon to arise and go with his three hundred men against the Midianites; for, he said, he would give him the victory. But if Gideon were afraid to go with so few, then, the Lord told him, to go first with his servant, alone, near their camp, not to fight against them, but in the dark where they could not see him, that he might listen and hear what they said. And the Lord promised that after Gideon had done this, he should feel no more fear, but should be willing to go and fight against them.
Now the Midianites lay along in the valley like grasshoppers—there were so many of them—and their camels no one could number. And Gideon went down with his servant alone, in the night, and came near to their camp, and heard two of them talking together. One was telling the other of a dream he had dreamed. He said, I saw in my dream a loaf of barley bread come tumbling into our camp, and it struck against a tent and threw it down, so that the tent lay flat upon the ground. And the man who heard him answered, saying, That loaf of bread means the sword of Gideon; for the Lord is going to give all our host into his hand.
When Gideon heard this, he went back to the three hundred men, and told them to rise up and come, for the Lord would give them the victory. Then he set them in three different companies, and put a trumpet in every man's hand, and a pitcher, with a lighted lamp inside of the pitcher. And he told them that when they should come near to the camp of the Midianites, they must look at him and do as he did. When he should blow with a trumpet, they must all blow, and cry out, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
So he came with the three hundred men, near to the camp of the Midianites, in the middle of the night. Then suddenly they all blew with, the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands, and cried aloud, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. When the Midianites heard the noise, and saw the burning lamps that had before been hidden in the pitchers, they cried out with fear and fled. For the Lord made them afraid of the men of Israel, and afraid of each other also, so that they fought among themselves all through their host.
And Gideon followed them to the river Jordan, and passed over the river after the two kings of the Midianites, who fled before him with fifteen thousand men—all that were left of their great army. And Gideon and his three hundred men came up with them, and gained the victory over them, and took the two kings captives. So the Midianites were driven out of Canaan, and the children of Israel had to serve them no longer.
Gideon was judge over the people forty years. God gave him many sons, and he lived to be an old man. And he died, and was buried in his father's sepulchre.