3. Note the causrs of this fnintness. (1) These may be observed in the circumstances of life:-in the length of the course; the great difficulty being not to nerve ourselves for a few heroic actions, but to continue pressing on through the long hot day through the long weary night :-in the speed of the pursuit ; life is a race swift and stern, and the difficulty often is to overtake the duties which accumulate so fast that those who, so to say, "take things easily" must always find themselves behindhand:- in the impediments of ~he way, leading !hrough tangled thickets of prejudice and error, and up craggy heights ?f noble at~a)nments. (2) The causes of faintness may also be traced to our o"'Il habit and conditwii: such as want of nourishment-the soul which is always wor~ing! and does ~ot seek rei:iewed stre~gth in _spiritual feeding upon the bread of hfe, m prayer, m the readmg of Scripture, m meditation in communion witli Christ, will surely grow faint; want of rest-there is a spiritual insomnia, a habit of restless activity, which invariably results in faintness. Christ required rest, and called his disciples apart to rest (Mark vi. 31 ). II. FAINTNESS NEED NOT STAY us IN THE PURSUIT OF THE CHRISTIAN COURSE. Though the troops of Gideon were faint, they still pursued. 1. Faintness is not death. If our strength is slight, this is a good reason for making the best use of it. If faintness reduce our talents to one, we have no excuse to bury that one. 2. God expects our attainments to be no more than proportionate to our strength. He knows our weak- ness (Ps. ciii. 14). He is no bard task-master, expecting us to make bricks without straw; so we need not despair of pleasing God because our faintness permits of but slight service. 3. The real source of victory is not our strength, but God's mi,ght. When we are most faint, God's strength made perfect in our weakness may be most effective (2 Cor. xii. 9). The little one may chase a thousand, because God is with him. \Vhen we are most faint we are least self-confident, and in our humility and helplessness driven to the mighty for strength, so that our faintness may be the means of leading us to the real strength which alone can accomplish great things. 4. Faintness ca.n be overetYme. Faintness is not necessarily the precursor of death. It may be but temporary. We may find in God a sure remedy for spiritual faintness, because" they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isa. xl. 31). 5. If we are faithfully pressing on in spite of present faintness, we shall be rewarded with future rest and triumph. Gideon's troops were well recompensed for their brave pursuit. The short race of life will end in a haven of rest, in a home of honour. Let us then be brave and true, remembering that in proportion to the weariness of present toil will be the sweetness of future rest (2 Cor. iv. 16-18).-A..
EXPOSITION. Ver. 13.-Before the 1111D. was up. There gives an excellent sense. In eh. xiv. 18 is a wonderful diversity in the renderings of the same word for the l/'IJ//1, is used in the this verse. Some of the old versions and Yery similar phrase, " before the sun went Jewish Rabbis interpret it before BWnSet. down." In Gen. xix. 15 the phrase, "the Many of the best Jewish co=entators, moming arose," has the verb from which however, understand the phrase as the A. V. the word here rendered up is derived ; and a does-" Before the going up of the sun," i. e. note of time here exactly suits the context. before sunrise ; supposing Gideon's attack It marks the celerity of Gideon's move- on the Ji,Iidianitish camp to have been a ments that he was actually on his way back night attack, and Succoth to have been so to Succoth at sunrise, after having routed near to Karkor that he was able to reach it the Midianites and taken their two kings by sunrise. But others say that the word prisoners. here rendenid sun (heres) is only used in Ver. 14.-:e:e described. Rather, he wrote poetry, and that the wore! rendered up is down, i. e, gave him a list of the princes never used of sunrise, but, as in the phrase and elders. "the going up of Akrabbim" (eh. i. 36), of Ver. 15.-The men of Bucooth. Meaning an ascent up a hill. They therefore take the princes and elders. kere11 as a proper name, and translate "from Ver. 16. - B:e taught, i. e. corrected, the going up of Heres." Others again, by an punished. It is, however, very probable almost imperceptible chan_i;;e in the last letter, that the true reading is he threshed or tore read "the mountains" wstead of Heres. (ya.da.sk for yadak, the final letters ~ and ll But the A. V. may he well defended, and being very similar). We have then the fulfil- en. vm 13-21.J THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 89