_Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better._ THE CONDUCT OF THE EPHRAIMITES 1. Their unthankfulness was great, and the injury which he sustained thereby, who ought to have been much honoured of them for his industry and labour. We ought not to look for our reward and commendation for wel... [ Continue Reading ]
_Faint, yet pursuing._ GIDEON AND HIS THREE HUNDRED I. The army. Merely three hundred devoted warriors, under command of a trusted leader. But no unreliable material in their midst. Each true as steel. 1. The leader was a man thoroughly equipped for his work. Many good causes have languished or b... [ Continue Reading ]
_The princes of Succoth _. .. _ The men of Penuel._ PATIENCE UNDER PROVOCATION Instead of being supported, as they had good right to expect they would have been, by those who profess to be the Lord’s people, instances are by no means rare of men of Gideon’s stamp being met on their part by scoffs a... [ Continue Reading ]
_The children of a king._ THE ROYAL HOUSE OF JESUS There are family names that stand for wealth, or patriotism, or intelligence. The name of Washington means patriotism, although some of the blood of that race has become very thin in the last generation. The family of the Medici stood as the repre... [ Continue Reading ]
_Rule thou over us _. .. _ for thou hast delivered us._ GIDEON’S AFTER-LIFE Many a man does well in times of difficulty and danger who fails entirely in prosperity. It remains for us to see whether Gideon yielded to this greatest of temptations. Did he now allow selfishness instead of faith and dut... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gideon made an ephod._ GIDEON, THE ECCLESIASTIC A strong but not spiritual religiousness is the chief note of Gideon’s character. It may be objected that such an one, if he seeks ecclesiastical office, does so unworthily; but to say so is an uncharitable error. It is not the devout temper alone th... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house._ GIDEON AT HIS WORST Man is a strange mixture of greatness and of littleness, of goodness, and of badness. The one lies very close to the other. I. Gideon at his worst morally. Biblical saints are not made more than human. Their virt... [ Continue Reading ]