h Ps. xxxvi. 9. i Acts xxvi. 18. ^ phii. ij, 15^ 16.
1 Ps. xix. 1 — 3. "^ Eph. ii. 10. " Matt. v. 16.
0 Dan. xii. 2, 3. p Matt. xiii. 41 — 43. '! 2 Thess. i. G — 10.
Gideon's fleece.
Judg. vi. 36 — 40. And Gideon said unto God, If thou toilt save
Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, behold, I will put a
fleece of wool in the floor; and if the detv be on the fleece
only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I
knoiv that thou iviltsave Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so : for he rose up early on the morroiv, and thrust the jleeee together, and ivringed, the detv out of the fleece, a howl full of tvater. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger he hot against me, and I will speak hut this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry 07ily upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night : for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
IT is a comfort to know, that, however afflicted and apparently desperate our state may be in this world, there is no just ground for despondency. God can never want instruments for effecting our deliverance ; or fail in effecting it, however weak and inadequate those instruments may be.
We can scarcely conceive a more hopeless con- dition than that to which the nation of Israel was reduced at this time by " the Midianites and Amalek- ites and the children of the east." These enemies " came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude ; for both they and their cattle were without number ; and annually, for seven years, they entered into the land to destroy it ; whilst the children of Israel hid themselves in dens and caves and strong-holds in the mountains, destitute of any sustenance %" and incapable of re- sisting their invaders.
But, in this extremity, God was pleased to visit them in mercy, and to raise up for them a deliverer, '' even Gideon, whilst he was threshing out some wheat, to hide it from the Midianites^." To satisfy the mind of Gideon, who pleaded his utter incapa- city for the office devolved upon him, God gave him a sign : he accepted an offering of a kid, prepared as for food with unleavened cakes, and caused " fire to rise up out of the rock, on which the flesh and cakes were placed, to consume them : and then de- parted out of his sight'." But still, though further
a ver. 2—6. t ver. 11, 12.
<= ver. 17 — 21. It is clear that "the Angel " was no other than Jehovah himself. See ver. 14. and ver. 22 — 24.
266.1 Gideon's fleece. 25
encouraged by the success of his endeavour to destroy idolatry in his father's housed and by the wiUingness which several of the tribes manifested to enlist under his banners, he yet needed to have his faith strengthened ; and for that end, he desired a further sign from the Lord, that so he might be assured that the promise made to him should be fulfilled.
In this circumstance we see displayed before our eyes,
I. The weakness of man —
Gideon could not give full credit to the word of God —
[It had been declared to him by the Lord, " Thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites : have not I sent thee®?" On his expressing a doubt how this could possibly be effected by so weak an instrument as he, God had con- firmed his word, as with an oath, " Surely I will be with thee; and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man^" To re- move all doubt from his mind, a sign had been given him, similar to that which had been given at the consecration of Aaron to the priestly office f^. Yet still he wanted fresh signs, to convince him that God would indeed fulfil his word ; and even prescribed to God the signs that should be given, de- siring that a fleece might be wet with dew, whilst all was dry around ; and again, that the fleece might be dry, whilst on all around it the dew should rest.]