. The heroes of early Israel. s a shrine tothe Baal, the god of the locality, near by, and thatsame night Gideon called his servants and broke itdown. On Its ruins he built an altar to Jehovah andsacrificed an offering. The people were angry at hisdefiance of Baal, but his father defended him. Now Gideon was ready for the next step. Thegreat camps of the Arabs lay stretched acrossEsdraelon, near Jezreel, where the broad valley be-gins to slope down toward the Jordan. They feltsecure in their numbers. As Gideon looked downfrom his native hills on the immense stretch of blacktents he knew the da
. The heroes of early Israel. s a shrine tothe Baal, the god of the locality, near by, and thatsame night Gideon called his servants and broke itdown. On Its ruins he built an altar to Jehovah andsacrificed an offering. The people were angry at hisdefiance of Baal, but his father defended him. Now Gideon was ready for the next step. Thegreat camps of the Arabs lay stretched acrossEsdraelon, near Jezreel, where the broad valley be-gins to slope down toward the Jordan. They feltsecure in their numbers. As Gideon looked downfrom his native hills on the immense stretch of blacktents he knew the danger of any attempt againstthem. Unless they could be suddenly and completelyrouted it would be better to do nothing. On theirswift camels, hundreds of which were tethered aboutthe widespread camp, they could carry a rapid cam-paign of frightfulness into all the country he decided to take the risks. He called his ownclan of Abiezer. Then, the later form of the storysaid, he called the warriors of Manasseh, Zebulun,. \he Plain of Esdraelon, Overlooking; the Battlefieltl of CJicleonfrom the Village on the Site of Jezreel. The Mud Houses AreTvpical of Palestine \illages and CJrainticlds Can Be Seen in thePlain. I .1 GIDEON 189 Asher and Naphtali, the tribes about the plain ofEsdraelon. They gathered on the slopes of the hillswhich lay south of the plain; thirty-two thousand ofthem, so the story said. One form of the tale brings in at this point acurious oracle. Gideon would test Gods will yetfurther, and does it by means of a fleece of wool,which remained dry when all around was wet withdew, and became wet when all around was the army was gathered — a miscellaneous,untrained mass. When Gideon gave permission forall who wished to go home there was a great scurry-ing away. Twenty-two thousand are said to havegone. Ten thousand were left, a formidable volun-teer force. But still Gideon was not satisfied. This, he said, is Gods battle, and it needs qual-ity n
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbible, bookyear1920
