GIDEOX
855
GIDEON"
present, of a kid and some nnleavened cakes. These the angel touched with the tip of his staff, and a fire presently rose out of the rock and consumed them. Immediately the angel himself disappeared, though not till he had by a word of peace quieted the mind of Gideon, which had become agitated by the thought of having seen the face of the Lord (comp. Exod. xx, 19 ; Judg. xiii, 22).
The family of Joash had fallen into the prevalent idolatry of the times, which was characterized by backsliding from the true worship of Jehovah ; and it was the first, task of Gideon as a reformer to rebuke this irreligion, and liis first sphtre was at home. In a dream the same night he was ordered to tlirow down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah (A. Vers, "grove") upon it [see Asiierah], which his father had caused, or at least suffered, to be erected on the family grounds ; and with the wood of this he was to offer in sacrifice his father's "second bullock of seven years old," an expression in which some see an allu- sion to the seven years of servitude (vi, 2G, 1). Per- haps that particular bullock is specified because it had been reserved liy his fatlier to sacrifice to Baal (Ro- senmiiller, Scho'l. ad loc), for Joash seems to have been a priest of that worship. Bertheau can hardly be right in supposing that Gideon was to offer tu-o bullocks {Pdcht. p. 115). At any rate, the minute touch is valuable as an indication of truth in the story (see Ewald, Gesch. ii, 498, and note). Gideon, assisted by ten faithful servants, obeyed tlie vision. He deemed it prudent, however, to do this under cover of the darkness. The same night, apparently, he built on the spot desecrated by the idolatrous shrine the altar Jehovah-shalom (q. v.), which existed when the book of Judges was written (vi, 21). As soon as the act was discovered, and the perpetrator suspected and identified, which was immediately on the following morning, he ran the risk of being stoned ; but Joash appeased the popular indignation by using the com- mon argument that Baal was capable of defending his own majesty (compare 1 Kings xviii, 27). This cir- cumstance gave to Gideon the surname of Jeruhbaal ("'??"??) "Let Baal plead," vi, 32; Sept. 'lepojida\), a standing instance of national irony, expressive of Baal's i^npotence. Winer thinks that this irony was increased by the fact that b"U"l"^ was a surname of the Phoenician Hercules (comp. Movers, Phoniz. i, 431). We have similar cases of contempt in the names Sy- char, Baal-zebul, etc. (Lightfoot, Tlor. Hth. ad Matt. xii, 24). In consequence of this name, some have identified Gideon with a certain priest, Jeromhalus (^ItpoiijiciKoif), mentioned in Eusebius (Prmp. Evang. i, 10) as having given much accurate information to Sanchoniatho the Berytian (Bochart, Phalef/, p. 77G ; Huetius, Dem. Evanr/. p. 84, etc.), but this opinion can- not lie maintained (Ewald, Gesch. ii, 404). We also find the name in the form .ferubbrshetk (2 Sam. xi, 21) ; probably indicative of contempt for the heathen deity (comp. Eshliaal, 1 Chron. viii, 33, with Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. ii sq.). The mind of Joash, at all events, was confirmed by this bold act of his son, and he seems re- solved to leave the solution of the controversy to di- vine Providence.
2. Gi<leon soon found occasion to act upon his high commission.* The allied invaders were encamped in the great plain of .lezreel or Esdraelon, when, "clothed" by the Spirit of God (Judg. vi, 34 ; comp. 1 Chron. xii, 18 ; Luke xxiv, 49), he blew a trumpet, and thus gath- ered round him a daily increasing host, the summons to arms which it implied having been transmitted through the nortliern tribes by special messengers. Being joined liy "Zebiilun, Naphtali. and even the re- luctant Asher" (which trilies were chiefly endangered by the Midianites), and possibly also by some of the original inhabitants, who would suffer from these pred- atory "sons of the East'' no less than the Israelites
themselves, he encamped on one of the neighboring slopes, from which he overlooked the plains covered bv the tents of Midian. Mount Gilead, indeed, is named in the movement of Gideon against INIidian. but probably only as the first place of rendezvous for his army (Judg. vii, 3). For the sake of security, ho might be obliged to assemble the people on the mountainous lands to the east of Jordan. Stanley {Sinai and Pal- estine, p. 342), after Le Clerc, without any authority from MSS., would substitute Gilboa for Gilead in the passage referred to. This is otherwise objectionable, as one does not see how thousands from Asher, Naph-' tali, about and beyond Esdraelon, could have been able to meet on Gilboa, with the Midianitish host lying between. Ewald is perhaps right in regarding the name as a sort of war-cry and general designation of the Manassites. (See, too, Gesenius, Thes. p. 804, n.) The inquietude connected with great enterprises is more sensibly felt some days before than at the mo- ment of action ; and hence the two miraculous signs which, on the two nights preceding the march, were required and given as tokens of victory. The first night a fleece was laid out in the middle of an open threshing-floor, and in the morning it was quite wet, while the soil was dry all around. The next night the wonder was reversed, the soil being wet and the fleece perfectly dry. Strengthened by this double sign from God (to which Ewald gives a strange figu- rative meaning, Gesch. ii, 500), Gideon advanced to the brook Harod, in the vallej' of Jezreel. See Ha- KOD. He was here at the head of 32,000 men; but, lest so large a host should assume the glory of the coming deliverance, which of right belonged to God only, two operations, remarkable both in motive and procedure, reduced this large host to a mere handful of men. First, by divine direction, the usual procla- mation (Deut. XX, 8; comp. 1 Mace, iii, 56) was made that all the faint-hearted might withdraw; and no fewer than 22,000 availed themselves of the indul- gence. The remaining 10,000 were still declared too numerous : they were therefore all taken down to the brook, when only those who lapped the water from their hands, like active men in haste, were reserved for the enterprise, while all those who lay down leis- urely to drink were excluded. The former numbered no more than 300, and these were the appointed van- quishers of the huge host which covered the great plain. It was but a slight circumstance which mark- ed the difference between them and the others, but still it indicated a specific quality ; they were the per- sons that took the more expeditious method of quench- ing their thirst, and thereby gave proof of a nimble- ness and alacrity which bespoke a fitness for executing quick movements in attacking or pursuing an enemj'. This affords a perfectly sufficient and natural explana- tion, and there is no need for resorting, as many do, to peculiar usages in the East, and no one who knows anything of the manners of people in rural and high- land districts can need to be told how common it is for them, when wishing to get a hasty refreshment at a running stream, to lift tlie water to their moutlis in the palm of their hand, instead of leisurely bending down, or laying themselves along to get a fuller draught. Josephus, however, explains these men to have been the most cowardly in the army {Ant. v, 6, 8).