39 And Gideon said unto God, 18 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.

40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

18 Gen. 18. 32.

Verse 2, "Dens which are in the mountains, and caves."-See the note on Gen. xix. 30.

3. "When Israel had sown.”—It will be recollected that the Midianites were chiefly wandering herdsmen-that is, just such a people as the Bedouin Arabs are at the present day. The oppression to which the Israelites were at this time subject was, therefore, of a very different nature from those which they had previously experienced; and from the minute and expressive details which are given, we discover, without difficulty, that the Israelites had never before experienced any thing so grievous. Under this view let us illustrate these details, by the present conduct of the Bedouins towards cultivators.

4. "Encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth...and left no sustenance for Israel."-It may be stated as a maxim, that whenever the nomade is the master of the cultivator, the impoverishment and ultimate ruin of the latter are inevitable. The Bedouin Arabs come up from their deserts in the spring, and perhaps remain through the summer, in the territories of those cultivators who are so unfortunate as to lie at their mercy. If there is not an established understanding between the nomades and the cultivators, as to the proportion which the latter are to pay for exemption, the Bedouins encamp and pasture their cattle in the cultivated grounds, after securing such corn and other vegetable products as they may happen to require for their own use during the remainder of the year. Thus the "increase of the earth is destroyed," and "no sustenance" remains to reward the cultivator for the labour and patience he has spent on its production.

"Neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.”—The Bedouins, when thus oppressing the cultivator, seize all the cattle that are brought abroad, and add them to their own flocks and herds; and as it is impossible and useless to keep them continually in confinement, the inhabitants soon become deprived of all their cattle, like the Israelites. Even their persons are not safe; as the Bedouins will not scruple to rob of his clothes and property any person whom they can find beyond the protection which the walls of the towns and villages afford,-if they do not kill him, or detain him as a prisoner till his friends have been induced to pay heavily for his ransom. We do not know whether the Midianites entered the towns. It is possible that they did not, as their visits were annual, and they do not appear to have taken or occupied any towns. This aggravation was not necessary, to reduce the people to ruin, and oblige them to relinquish their paternal fields and pleasant homes, to retire to "the dens which are in the mountains." Then doubtless the Midianites could enter the towns, and destroy and plunder at pleasure such property as the fugitives had left behind. It is possible that the Israelites returned to their homes for the season after the invaders had withdrawn for the year. The nomades usually come towards the end of April or beginning of May, and remain till September. In the period of their absence, some useful products might be raised, to eke out a subsistance during the period of their stay, and perhaps part of the barley harvest might in a favourable season be got in and carried off to the mountains before the Midianites arrived. This miserable state of things could not long be borne; and accordingly we find that the period in which the Israelites were subject to this urgent oppression of the Midianites was shorter than that in which any other of their oppressors tyrannized over them.

In Western Asia, those cultivators who are subject to such annual incursions, generally make a compromise with the invaders, agreeing to pay them a heavy tribute, on the condition that the harvests shall not be touched or the cattle driven off. Even powerful communities, which might be able to cope with the Bedouins, often enter into a compromise of this sort, to prevent the necessity for continual warfare and watchfulness. With these, the arrangement is a matter of convenience; but miserable is the condition of those with whom it is a matter of necessity, and to whom it is the only alternative on which they can secure a scanty subsistence from their own fields. The tribute, usually paid in produce, is generally very heavy; besides which the chiefs expect extraordinary presents, and what is received in one year as a present, is certain to be exacted in the next year as a right. Thus the pressure accumulates, till it can no longer be borne; cultivation is then relinquished, and whole settlements are abandoned by their inhabitants, who disperse themselves into other villages or towns, or form a settlement where they hope to be more at ease. This does not perhaps often happen; but individual families are continually changing one village for another, in the hope of that relief which they can no where find. In the Haouran, for instance, as described by Burckhardt, very few individuals die in the villages in which they were born. "This continued wandering," says that traveller, "is one of the principal reasons why no village in the Haouran has either orchards, or fruit trees, or gardens for the growth of vegetables. 'Shall we sow for strangers? was the answer of a Fellah, to whom I once spoke on the subject, and who by the word 'strangers' meant both the succeeding inhabitants and the Arabs who visit the Haouran in the spring and summer." Even in the pashalic of Bagdad, the pasha of which is enabled in ordinary circumstances to keep the Arabian tribes of his territory in some degree of order, no persons dare undertake the cultivation of the soil at any considerable distance from the city, except the Seids, who claim to be descended from Mohammed, and the supposed sanctity of whose character renders them comparatively secure from depredation. Yet even they are often obliged to erect a fort on their grounds, in which a strong guard is stationed at the time of harvest, These details will help to show the distressing situation of cultivators, when exposed to the oppression of pastoral tribes.

5. “ Grasshoppers.”—Locusts—a most expressive comparison.

11. “Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites."-This is a most expressive illustration of the preceding remarks. Gideon was obliged to thresh his wheat in a small quantity, and in an unusual place, to conceal it from the Midianites. This shows that the oppression of the Hebrews from the Midianites was in the severest form, seeing that they could not retain any part of their own produce except by stealth. The smallness of the quantity is shown by the manner in which it was threshed, which was not with cattle, as usual with large quantities, but by means of the flail, which was seldom employed but in threshing small quantities. And then the threshing was near the winepress, that is, in ground appropriated to another purpose. The flail also falling on corn placed on the dead ground, not on a boarded floor as with us, made but little noise, whereas the bellowing of the oxen might, in the other case, have led to detection. It will be observed that this threshing-ground was in the open air, else Gideon could not have expected dew to fall on the ground, or on the fleece which he spread out there (verses 37-40).

19. "The flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot."-The circumstances of this entertainment are, to a considerable extent, illustrated by the notes to Gen. xviii. The broth is the most peculiar circumstance of this hastily prepared meal. The word is (marak), which Dr. Boothroyd is for rendering "pure wine," after the Syriac and Arabic versions. We, however, prefer the current version; for the word unquestionably must mean "broth" in Isa. lxv. 4, and is there so rendered by Boothroyd himself. We are therefore to infer, either that Gideon boiled or stewed the kid, and served up the meat and soup separately; or else that he stewed one part of the kid, and roasted or broiled the other. Both methods are consonant to Oriental usages; and perhaps the latter is the best hypothesis, as the animal thus divided might be the more speedily dressed. In this case, the roasted part was probably prepared in the most usual way of preparing a hasty dish, that is, by cutting the meat into small pieces, several of which are strung upon skewer, like larks, and so roasted, or rather broiled; as several of these skewers of meat can be dressed together, a meal may in this way be very soon prepared. This dish is called kaboob, and is very common in Western Asia. When meat is thus dressed in two ways, the stew is generally intended for immediate use, and the kaboob for a future meal, or for the traveller to carry with him for his refreshment on the way. As Gideon brought the meat, as distinguished from the "broth." in a basket, it was probably intended by him that the stranger should take it away with him in that basket for his future use. This was a proper mark of careful hospitality and attention. The basket was probably a small hand-basket made of palm-leaves or rushes.

25. "The second bullock.”—Commentators are perplexed about the description of this bullock as the "second." We would hazard a conjecture, that as the Midianites took away all the cattle of the Hebrews that they could lay hands on, Gideon's father had very few cattle, the second of which, in point of age, he is directed to offer as the fittest for sacrifice. It is singular that one of seven years old should be selected, three years being the usual age. Was it with reference to the seven years which the oppression of the Midianites had lasted? or, was it that this bullock, although seven years old, was the youngest above three years of age, and therefore the most proper for sacrifice? This alone would imply how slender the herd of Joash had become. Perhaps he had but two bullocks above three years of age, this being the second of the two.

38. “A bowl full of water."—See the note on Gen. xxvii. 28, which will partly explain what seems to us extraordinary in this abundant dew. It will be observed, that we are to look for the miracle in its having fallen one time upon the fleece, without any on the floor, and that, another time, the fleece remained dry, while the ground was wet with dew. The quantity also may have been more than usually abundant; but less so than would seem to us in regions where dews fall lightly. We remember, while travelling in Western Asia, to have found all the baggage, which had been left in the open air, so wet, when we came forth from the tent in the morning, that it seemed to have been exposed to heavy rain, and we could with difficulty believe that no rain had fallen. So also, when sleeping in the open air, the sheep-skin cloak which served for a covering has been found in the morning scarcely less wet than if it had been immersed in water.

CHAPTER VII.

1 Gideon's army of two and thirty thousand is brought to three hundred. 9 He is encouraged by the dream and interpretation of the barley cake. 16 His stratagem of trumpets and lamps in pitch

ers.

24 The Ephraimites take Oreb and Zeeb. THEN Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

2 And the LORD said 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.

3 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. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

4 And 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.

5 So he brought down the people unto the water and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.

6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

7 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.

8 So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

9¶ And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.

1 Deut, 20. 8. 1 Mac. 3, 56.

the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.

22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the 'border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.

Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.

24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan.

25 And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan. 8 Or, towards. Heb. lip. 10 Psal. 83. 11. Isa, 10. 26.

23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of

7 Isa. 9. 4.

1

Verse 6. "Lapped, putting their hand to their mouth...bowed down upon their knees to drink.”—These two modes of action have been differently understood, and the first, in particular, has been the subject of various interpretations. The dog drinks by shaping the end of his long thin tongue into the form of a spoon, which it rapidly introduces and withdraws from the water, throwing each time a spoonful of the fluid into its mouth. The tongue of man is not adapted to this use; and it is physically impossible for a man, therefore, to lap, literally, as a dog laps. The true explanation, probably, is, that these men, instead of kneeling down to take a long draught, or successive draughts, from the water, employed their hand as the dog employs his tongue-that is, forming it into a hollow spoon, and dipping water with it from the stream. We have often seen it done, and the comparison to the lapping of a dog spontaneously occurred to our mind. Practice gives a peculiar tact in this mode of drinking; and the interchange of the hand between the water and the mouth is so rapidly managed as to be comparable to that of the dog's tongue in similar circumstances. Besides, the water is not usually sucked out of the hand into the mouth, but, by a peculiar knack, is jerked into the mouth, before the hand is brought close to it, so that the hand is approaching with a fresh supply almost before the preceding has been swallowed: this is another resemblance to the action of a dog's tongue. When travelling with small caravans, we have had opportunities of seeing both processes. On coming to water, a person who wishes to drink cannot stop the whole party to wait for him; and therefore, if on foot, any delay would oblige him to unusual exertion in order to overtake his party. Therefore he drinks in the manner we have described; and has satisfied his thirst in much less time than one who, having more leisure, or being disposed to more deliberate enjoyment, looks out for a place where he may kneel or lie down to bring his mouth in contact with the water, and imbibe long and slow draughts of the pleasant fluid. This consumes so much time, that few but those who are mounted indulge in it, as they can ride on before and satisfy themselves by the time their party comes up, or, if they linger behind after it has passed on, can easily overtake it again. This last was the course usually adopted by the writer and other Europeans, who were unprovided with drinking vessels, and to whom the difference of time was of no importance; as they were not practised in that facile and cleanly use of the hand in drinking which was so easy to the natives, and which scarcely interrupted their progress. This explanation may help to show how the distinction operated, and why those who "lapped, putting their hand to their mouth," were considered to evince an alacrity and readiness for action which peculiarly fitted them for the service on which Gideon was engaged.

10. “Go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host.”—The ideas of the Hebrews concerning the character of a spy were very different from those which prevail in modern Europe. The office was usually undertaken either by the commander-in-chief himself, or by some other person of high consideration. Joshua and Caleb were among those sent as spies into Canaan; and now Gideon is instructed to undertake the same office. It was much the same among the Greeks: indeed there are some lines in the tenth book of the Iliad, which seem rather a striking illustration of this pas sage. In a night consultation among the Grecian kings and chiefs, about the operations of the following day, Nestor inquired whether there was no chief whom the prospect of the glorious recompense of renown

"Extensive as the heav'ns, and fair reward,"

would not induce to undertake the perilous duty of proceeding as a spy to the Trojan camp. The task was accepted by Diomede in these words:

"I, Nestor, feel such courage; and myself

Will enter Ilium's host, encamp'd so nigh:
But shall adventure with a livelier hope,
And be embolden'd much, some valiant friend
Advent'ring with me; for a friend may spy
Advantage ere myself, and may advise
Its happiest uses overseen by me.

He ceased, and willing to partake his toils
Arose no few."

Among these were some of the most distinguished princes in the host, as both the Ajaxes, Menelaus, and Ulysses. From the various candidates for the distinction, Agamemnon advised Diomede to select whichever he considered the most deserving and best able to assist him, without respect to pedigree or power. He accordingly chose Ulysses; and the two proceeded together on their glorious enterprise. The sequel is minutely related. After gaining some information by the way from a counter-spy, whom they afterwards slew, they proceeded to the place where the Thracian allies of the Trojans lay encamped.

"They, wearied, slept profound; beside them lay,

In triple order regular arrang'd,

Their radiant armour, and their steeds in pairs."

Among the sleepers, the two illustrious spies committed terrible havoc, and returned safely, and with rich spoil and important intelligence, to their own camp.

Every one will also recollect the popularly known instance, in our own history, of king Alfred, who did not think it beneath his character to act as a spy, and who, under the disguise of a harper, went to the camp of the Danes, and remained there several days, caressed and unsuspected, making observations and collecting information which tended much to the success of his subsequent enterprises.

And

13. "A cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent....and overturned it."-To understand this, it is necessary to recollect that Gideon's force was in the hill of Moreh, and that the Midianites were below in the valley. The barley-cake which the man saw in his dream, doubtless seemed to roll down the hill into the valley, overturning the tent with which it came in contact. This naturally enough connected it with Gideon, nor less so the apparent inadequacy of the cause to produce this result. If it had been a great stone, it would have been no wonder that the tent had been overturned by it; but that it should be overturned by a barley-cake seemed as little likely, in human probability, as that Gideon with his little band should overthrow the vast host of Midian. That it was not only a cake, but a barley-cake, seems a circumstance designed to show more strongly the insignificance of the cause. that it was so understood, seems to imply that wheat bread had already become the substantial food of the people, barley having become limited in its use as the food of cattle, and of the poorest classes of the community. It is generally stated by old writers, that the use of barley was known before that of wheat; but it gradually sunk in importance when wheat came into extensive use; so that ideas of poverty and degradation became associated with cakes of barley. Among the Romans, cohorts and individual soldiers who misconducted themselves were, among other punishments, allowed only barley bread for food, instead of wheat; whence, among them also, bread of barley was associated with ideas of dishonour and insignificance.

20. Blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands....and they cried, The sword-of the Lord, and of Gideon."-As the Midianites could not imagine that every man had a trumpet and a light, the noise of so many trumpets, the blaze of so many lights, with the crash of the broken pitchers from different quarters, must have conveyed the most exaggerated ideas to their minds of the numbers of the assailants, by whom they seemed to be beset. Gideon's army would have been great indeed, if, as the Midianites must have supposed, the number of the fighting men had been in proportion to that of the trumpeters. This measure offers altogether one of the most