A very remarkable trial was now to test the faith of Gideon. We left him in the proud position of the leader of an army of thirty-two thousand men; and we can imagine how the heart of the patriot would swell with thankfulness and joy, as the prospect of delivering his country by their means brightened before him,—how he would welcome the arrival of each brave band, and count up the increasing number of his forces.
Further encouragement was given to Gideon by miraculous signs vouchsafed to him by God in answer to prayer. “If Thou wilt save Israel by my hand as Thou hast said, behold,” cried Gideon, “I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said.”
Early on the morrow the chieftain arose, and sought the fleece where he had laid it. He found it heavy with moisture, though the ground lay dry around it; and Gideon wrung out from the dripping wool a bowlful of water.
Yet Gideon ventured to beseech God to grant a reversal of this miraculous sign, in further confirmation of his faith: “Let not Thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray Thee, but this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.”
Even as Gideon had prayed, so was the sign vouchsafed; the soft dew lay on the earth around, while the fleece remained dry.
It has been remarked that in the fleece of Gideon we may see not only a sign, but also a type of Israel, the chosen people of God. The living water of divine truth, the dew of a peculiar blessing, rested upon the children of Abraham when the rest of the world was as a dry and thirsty land. Now—alas for those who rejected, who still reject their Messiah!—the sign is reversed. As a dry fleece the Jews remain in the midst of Christian nations, a marvel to the world; the dew which falls so richly around them rests not on them as a people. Oh, may God hasten the time when the Jews also shall receive the water of life; when they shall look on Him whom they pierced; and when God shall make use of them as His chosen instruments for the conversion of the heathen! Looking forward to that blessed time, St. Paul—himself a Jew—exclaims, What shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? Let us pray then, my brethren, for the dew of grace to fall upon the dry fleece, that Jerusalem, the city of the great King, may once more become the joy of the earth.
Gideon, strengthened by signs from heaven, and surrounded by the hosts of Israel, might now fearlessly and confidently await the conflict with Midian; but he was not only to do God’s work, but to do it in God’s appointed way. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. The Lord thus spake unto Gideon: “The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now, therefore, go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead.”
In making such proclamation, Gideon was obeying a command given through Moses (Deut. xx. 8), though it is possible that he might have omitted to do so without the special direction from above. Startling was the effect of the proclamation, and it needed strong faith in Gideon not to falter when the force of Israel began to melt away like a snow-ball, till more than two-thirds of the whole number had deserted the camp. Truly many had been called, but few were chosen. Where were those who had so readily obeyed the call of the trumpet, and quitted their homes for the field of war? Of how many might it be said, Being harnessed and carrying bows, they turned back in the day of battle. They were not to share the glory; they had faltered in the moment of trial. Oh, brethren, may it never be so with us! May the fear of man, which bringeth a snare, never make us shrink back from the duty before us. What must have been the shame of those who had come to the gathering of the hosts of Israel, and who had then departed without striking one blow, when the rocks and mountains rang with the shouts of their conquering brethren, and the victory in which they might once have shared was won without them! No man having put his hand to the plough (or, to the sword), and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven.
The force under Gideon had now dwindled from thirty-two thousand to ten thousand men. Human wisdom would have deemed these all too few to oppose the multitudes of Midian encamped in the valley before them; but not so judged the God of hosts. The Lord said unto Gideon, “The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.”
Gideon, in obedience to the command, brought down his forces unto the water, leaving the selection of the chosen band of heroes unto Him who readeth the thoughts of the heart. Doubtless the Israelites were thirsty from their long march in the heat of that sultry clime; by far the greater number threw themselves on their knees by the water, stooping down eagerly to drink; three hundred only lapped from their hands the cooling draught. And the Lord said unto Gideon, “By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand; and let all the other people go every man unto his place.”
GIDEON’S ARMY DRINKING AT THE BROOK.
Mysterious command, and yet was it instantly obeyed. Gideon dismissed the greater part of his forces, not to their homes, but to their tents. They had yet their appointed part to take; they would complete the victory; they would follow up the pursuit. It is not given to all to be foremost in peril or in fame. Some are called to do great things, to suffer great things for God; others have a humbler part to perform: they have to follow up the successes of their brethren; not to shine conspicuously as Christian heroes, but to do their duty steadily as Christian men. It is very possible that some bold spirits amongst Gideon’s ten thousand may have been tempted to repine at being excluded from the glorious privilege of those who were to bear the brunt, and win the highest renown. And now the zealous servant of Christ, kept back by sickness or some other dispensation from active usefulness for his Lord, finds it hard to realize the truth, “They also serve who only stand and wait.” He fain would be in the scene of action; he fain would join in the glorious strife. Must he look on while others labour? must he stand still while others fight? My brethren, the place which our great Leader assigns to us is the right place, however humbling it may be to our pride. The submission of those who retired to their tents may have been as acceptable to God as the courage of those who remained to perform the perilous duty before them.
The truth which is especially brought to our notice in this remarkable portion of the story of Gideon, is the necessity that God should be given the glory of every high and holy work which He enables His people to perform. Israel was not to say, “Mine own hand hath saved me.” Weak instruments were purposely chosen, that the honour of success might pertain unto God, and not man. And how often has the same lesson been taught in the history of the Church! Not the mighty, not the noble or the learned were appointed at the first to proclaim the gospel of salvation. When the lowly and illiterate, when fishermen from Galilee were chosen as leaders of the hosts of the Lord, who could not but own that their success was due to the power of the Spirit? It is right that we should employ all lawful means to further God’s work, but let us beware that we rest not in means; let us especially beware that we use no means that are not sanctified by His blessing. Had the ten thousand valiant men been led forward by Gideon against the foe, what would their number, what would their courage, what would their zeal have availed? Doubtless shameful defeat would have followed presumptuous self-confidence, and he who had rested on an arm of flesh have found that he had leaned on a broken reed.
Christians are now not unfrequently placed in a position which may remind us of that of Gideon, when he found his forces melting away in the face of a formidable foe. In the midst of active labours for God, one is smitten down by sickness, his work is still to be done—the power to do it seems taken away. Another, active in works of charity, suddenly loses the means of which he has made such liberal use, his resources dwindle like the army of Gideon, and he is tempted to cry, “O Lord, wherefore hast Thou crippled my usefulness? what I had, was it not devoted to Thy service?” My brethren, if the blessing of God be left behind, we may rest trustfully in the assurance that He will care for His own work. He can make a few victorious over the many. His blessing on a cruse of oil and a handful of meal made them a surer source of supply than the granaries of the wealthy. God hath not forsaken, He would only humble and prove His servants, and teach them through trials of faith to look for success only to Him.
Were it not for our past experience that flowers must fade to make way for fruit, how sad would be the sight of the fading blossoms on a tree—the petals strewed in the dust, their brilliant beauty departed! But we know that what is more precious is left behind; that on the bough remains the green germ of the fruit which shall renew the beauty of the tree, and give to it a value beyond what it possessed in the smiling days of spring. So see we faith in trial. Outward advantages may be taken away, sweet hopes may fall and wither, but if the fruit-tree be thriving and deep-rooted, harvest glory is yet to come. Job—stripped of property, children, health—might lament the day of his birth, and believe that his season of active usefulness was departed for ever; but through his very trials and losses he passed to greater glory and joy, and has become a fruitful source of blessing to the Church of God through many generations.
