The descent of Gideon and his servant into the camp, and the conversation of the Midianitish watch, forms a vivid picture of Aral) life. It does more: it proves that as (iideon, or rinirali. his servaiu, or lioth, understood the language of ^lidian, tlie Shemitic languages dif- fered much less in the Ihh century B.C. than they did in after-times [see Arauia] ; and we besides obtain a remarkable proof of the consanguinity of the Midian- ites. and learn that, tliough tlie name was probably ap- ]ilied to all or most of the northern Abrahamic Arabs, it was not apjilied to the Canaanites, who certainly did not then speak a Slumitic language that (Iideon could understand. The stratagem of (iideon receives an illus- tration from modern Oriental life. Until lately tlie po- lice in Cairo were accustomed to go their rounds with a lighted torch thrust into a pitcher, and the pitcher was suddenly withdrawn when light was refpiired (Lane's Mod. Kij. .')th edit. )). 120)— a custom aftbrding an exact parallel to the ancient expedient adopted by Gideon.
The consequent panic of the great multitude in the val- ley, if it have no parallels in modem European history, ia consistent with Oriental character. Of all peoples, the nations of the East are most liable to sudden and vio- lent emotions; and a panic in one of their heterogene- ous, undisciplined, and excitable hosts has always proved disastrous. In the case of (iideon, however, the result of his attack was directed by God, the divine hand be- ing especially shown in the small number of Israel, 300 men, against 135,000 of the enemy. At the sight of the 300 torches, suddenly blazing round about the camp in the beginning of the middle-watch (which the Midian- ites had newly set), with the confused din of the trum- pets, " for the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow [withalj, and they cried, [The swordj of the Lord and of Gideon" (vii, 20), " all the host ran, and cried, and fled" (ver. 21). The panic-stricken multitude knew not enemy from friend, for " the Lord set everj' man's sword against his fellow even throughout all tlie host" (ver. 22). The rout was complete, the first places made for being Beth-shittah (" the house of the acacia") in Ze- rerath, and the "border" (I^S'w, lip) of Abel-meholah, " the meadow of the dance," both being probably down the Jordan valley, unto Tabbath, shaping their flight to the ford of Beth-barah, where probably they had crossed the river as invaders. The flight of so great a host, en- cumbered with slow-moving camels, baggage, and cat- tle, was calamitous. All the men of Israel, out of Naph- tali, and Asher, and Manasseh, joined in the pursuit; and Gideon roused the men of IMount Ephraim to " take before" the IMidianites " the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan" (ver. 23, 24). Thus cut oft', two princes, Oreb and Zeeb (the "raven," or, more correctly "crow," and the "wolf"), fell into the hands of Ephraim, and Oreb they slew at the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the wine-press of Zeeb (vii, 25; comp. Isa. x, 26, where the " slaughter of Jlidian at the rock Oreb" is referred to). It is added, in the same verse, that they pursued ^lid- ian, and brought the heads of the princes to (iideon " on the other side Jordan." This anticipates the account of his crossing Jordan (viii, 4), but such transpositions are frequent, and the Hebrew may be read " On this side Jordan." But though we have seen that many joined in a desultory pursuit of the rabble of the Mid- ianites, only the .300 men who had blown the trumpets in the valley of Jezreel crossed Jordan with Gideon, " faint yet pursuing" (viii, 4). 'With this force it re- mained for the liberator to attack the enemy on his own ground, for Jlidian had dwelt on the other side Jordan since the days of Moses. Fifteen thousand men. under the " kings" of Midian, Zebah ami Zalmunna, were at Karkor, the sole remains of 135.000, "for there fell a hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword" (viii, 10). The assurance of Ciod's help encouraged the weary three hundred, and they ascended from the plain (or ffhor) to the higher country by a ravine or torrent- bed in the hills, "by the way of them that dwelt in tents [that is, the pastoral or wandering people as dis- tinguished from towns-people], on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host, for the host was se- cure" (viii, 11)— secure in that wild countr}-, on their own ground, and away from the frequent haunts of man. A sharp pursuit seems to have foUowed this fresh vic- tory, ending in the capture of the kings and the final discomfiture of the Midianites. The overthrow of Jlid- ian in its encampment, when it was "secure," by the exhausted companies of (iideon (they were " faint," and had been refused bread both at Succoth and at I'emicl, viii, 5-0), set the seal to (iod's manifest hand in the deliverance of his people from the oppression of Midian. Zebah and Zalmunna were slain, and with them the name itself of Jlidian almost disappears from sacred history. That people never afterwards took up arms against Israel, though they may have been allied with