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Gideon divided his army into
three companies, and gave every man a trumpet, and a pitcher, and a lamp
in every pitcher. They had no swords, nor spears, nor bows, nor
arrows. They had God to fight for them, and they did not want
arms. Then Gideon said, "Come with me, and do as I do.
When I blow with the trumpet, you must blow too, and cry, 'The sword of
the Lord, and of Gideon.'" The people did not murmur at
Gideon's command, for they were humble and obedient servants and soldiers
of God. He had taught them to trust and to obey. It
was still night when Gideon went again, with his soldiers, to the camp of
the Midianites. They all stood round the camp; and when Gideon
commanded, they blew with the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and cried
aloud, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon." The
Midianites heard the noise, and the shout, and were very much frightened,
for God had made them fear. They knew not what to do; they were like
wild mad men. They all fell one upon another, and killed their own
friends, and fathers, and brothers, and those who were not killed fled
away, and the Israelites followed after them, and killed them.
Gideon took the two kings of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb, and put them
both to death, and cut of their heads. Then he came to Jordan, and
took two more kings of Midian, Zeba and Zalmunna, and killed them. When
Gideon had gained all these victories, the Israelites came and thanked
him. They felt very grateful for all he had done, and they said,
"Come and rule over us, and be our king, and we will serve and obey
thee." But Gideon was not an ambitious man; he did not want
power, nor riches, nor possessions; he wanted only to be useful. We
read in history about many great conquerors, who fought battles, and
conquered enemies, and gained victories, because they wished to be rich,
and powerful, and to have great possessions; they were ambitious selfish
men; they thought only of pleasing themselves, not of pleasing God, nor of
being useful. But Gideon was not like these men. He was a
servant of God; and God's servants must be meek and humble, like Jesus
Christ. So when the Israelites asked Gideon to be king, he said,
"No, I do not wish to rule over you; the Lord is your king; obey
Him." But Gideon asked them to give him all the earrings and
gold chains, which they had taken from their enemies. The people
said, "Yes, we will willingly give them;" and they spread out a
large garment, and threw into it all the earrings and chains they had, a
very great number, and purple garments, and many more beautiful
things. Gideon took all, and made them into an ephod like Aaron's
ephod, and took it into his own city Ophrah. Gideon made the ephod
in remembrance of his victory. He was right to remember God's
kindness in giving him the victory, but it was very wrong to make an
ephod, a holy garment which God commanded the priests alone to wear. This
was the beginning of idolatry. The Israelites now learnt to worship
in their own way at Ophrah, and not in the right way at Shiloh, the place
appointed by God. Gideon was a good man, but when he trusted in his
own strength, he did wrong. The best people sin often, and should
always be coming to God to ask for pardon for the past, and grace for the
future. If Gideon sinned, we may believe he prayed for forgiveness,
and that God heard his prayer, and pardoned him. But it must have
grieved him very much to see his family and his people learning idolatry
through his sin. He died a very old man, and was buried in his
father's tomb at Ophrah.
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