Ver. 22.-Blew the trumpets, &c. Hear- quickly when they heard of the flight of the ing the confusion, the three companies blew Midianites. Zebulun is not mentioned. their trumpets, probably more loudly than Ver. 24.-Mount Ephraim. Rather, the before, to give the impression of o. hot pur- hill rountry of Ephraim. For some reason suit being e.t he.nd. The Midie.nites, thmk- Gideon had not invited the Ephraimites to in~ the enemy were upon them, e.nd not join in the war before (eh. viii. 1); but now, bemg e.ble in the dark to distinguish friend seeing the extreme importance of seizing the from foe, mistook their flying comrades for fords of Jordan, so as to stop the escape of pursuing Israelites, and fell upon e.nd slew the Midianites, he sent messengers in all one another. In like manner the Philis- haste to the men of Ephraim, who accord- tines had done when attacked by Jonathan ingly "took the waters unto Beth-barah and and his armour-bearer (1 Sam. xiv. 20), and Jordan." The waters seem to mean a number the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites of streams running from the hill country of when attacked by Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. Ephraim into the Jordan, and which had to xx. 23). Beth-ehittah. House of acacias. be crossed by the Midian.'~es before they The exact situation of it, e.nd of Zererath could reach the Jordan fords. The site of and Tabbath, is unknoivn. They must have Beth-barah is unknown. It is not thought been villages lying on the route from the to be the same as Bethabara beyond Jordan, plain of Esdraelon to the banks of Jordan, where John was baptising (John i. 28). Beth- probably between Little Hermon on the barah must have been on the west of Jordan. north and Mount Gilboa on the south, where Ver. 25.-0reb, a raven, and Zeeb, a wolf. there was a very ancient high road from The rock known afterwards as the rock of Oreb Jezreel to the Jordan by Beth-shan. Indeed (Isa. x. 26), and the wine-press (see eh. vi. it is highly probable that Shutta, a. village 11) known as the wine-press of Zeeb, were so mentioned by Robinson, marks the site, as called from being the places where these two it retains the name of Beth-shittah. For princes were taken and slain by the Eph- Zerera.th some read, with some of the old raimites. In like manner the well of Harod versions and manusc1ipts, Zeredath (r and is called by the name it afterwards received d being scarcely distinguishable in Hebrew), (ver. 1), and the palm tree of Deborah in and identify it with Zarthan nee.r Succoth, like manner (eh. ii. 5), and Lehi (eh. xv. 9). mentioned Josh. iii. 16 and 1 Kings iv. 12; 'l'hese are valuable indications (to which vii. 46. Abel-mehole.h (the meadow of the many more might be added) of a living tra- dance) was the birthplace of Elisha (1 Kings dition older than the written history. The xix.16), and is mentioned in conjunction with capture of Oreb and Zeeb is celebrated in Beth-shan, Jezreel, and Zartana in 1 Kings Ps. lxxxui. 11 and Isa. x. 26. On the iv. 12. Eusebius tells us that in his time other side Jordan, i. e. the ea.st side of the Abel-meholah was called Beth-maiela, and river, which Gideon had now crossed, as is situated ten miles below Beth-shan, or Scy- related in eh. viii. 4. The narrative runs on thopolis. There was also, he says, close by here to complete the history of the doings of an Abel-maiela. the men of Ephraim, e.nd goes back at eh. Ver. 23.-The men of Israel, &c. Gideon's viii. 4 to take up the thread of the history disbanded army got together a.gain very of Gideon (see eh. ii. 1-6, note).
HOMILETICS. Vers. 9-25.-Faith. The whole Book of Judges is so full of lessons of faith, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches us when he refers to " Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah" (Heh. xi. 32), that we cannot help recurring to the subject of faith if we would honestly draw the instruction which each portion of Scripture is intended to convoy. But though the same general lessons of fuith- its nature, its triumphs, its sure rewards-recur in the successive histories, yet each has some proper lesson peculiar to itself. Referring then to the remarks on eh. i. 8-21 for such general lessons, we will notice some peculiar trials to which the faith of Gideon was subjected. I. THE SACRIFICES OF FAITH. Let us put ourselves in Gideon's pince. Sudcleniy called out of insignificance ancl obscurity, he had played the part of a statesman, 11 leader, and a general. As the result of his well-concerted measures, he found himself at tne head of 32,000 men. As he reviewed this great force, so unexpectedly got togerner, how must his heart have swelletl with pride and hope I No doubt that great army Wll.S the instrument by which he was to deliver Israel, and he could but feel some self-gratulation at the success of his plans. To a man of an eager spirit as he lllust have been, no grouter disappointruont could have occurred than to be told tu 80 THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [cu. vu. 9-26.