IN

PART III.

Gideon.

SECTION I.

THE MIDIANITE SPOILERS.

N studying any account of military operations, nothing is more necessary than a correct knowledge of the country. As this general remark is peculiarly applicable in regard to the exploits of Gideon, we cannot perhaps more fitly commence ́the study of his history than by recalling the features of that portion of Palestine where he lived and fought and conquered :—the plain of Esdraelon, the heights of Manasseh, and the cornfields of Issachar.

Between the elevated lands of Southern Palestine on the one hand, which extend in bare rolling hills of greyish limestone from Hebron to Samaria, and the bolder mountains of Northern Palestine on the other, there is a rent, or a depression of the surface, averaging about twelve miles in width. It cannot be described as a chasm, nor as a defile between two mountain ranges: it is much too wide, and not sufficiently deep, to answer to either of these descriptions. It is a low tract, an uneven plain, lying between more

elevated regions which bound it like a lofty wall of irregular height on either side; and in its length it stretches across the entire width of Palestine proper, from the shore of the Mediterranean on the west to the valley of the Jordan on the east. Towards the coast, or western end, the mountains on either side approach each other more and more closely, till at length the plain narrows into a mere gorge, through which, for two or three miles, flows the river Kishon; the plain then opens out again upon the sea shore. In its central or widest portion it is level without interruption from the southern hills of Samaria to the northern hills of Galilee. Towards the east it rises to a slight elevation, and then slopes irregularly down till it meets the right bank of the Jordan; on the other side of which river there is a free and unobstructed course eastward and southward, away to the deserts of Arabia. In the spring, the aspect of this plain is that of a vast waving cornfield, interspersed with olive-trees; the green and fertile tract, so wide, so long, and so rich, presenting a charming contrast to the huge bare masses of hill-bare at least in their upper regions—which bound it on either side.

At the present day, this plain, and also the lower tracts of the mountain-sides, are dotted with villages. These almost all retain their ancient names, and they are usually situated either on the lower slopes of the mountains which bound the eminences rising out of it. and fruitful land which on

plain, or else on slight

Such was the pleasant more than one occasion

Look

tempted the cupidity of the enemies of Israel. ing down upon it from the lofty heights of Carmel on the west, or from the dome-like summit of Tabor on the east, the prospect is one of such pleasant fertility, that men could scarcely refrain from envying the tribe of Issachar, whose lot it was to possess this productive tract. But the men of Issachar, in other days, as well as in those of Gideon, were under the power of spoilers who invaded their country. Less hardy and less resolute than their brethren of the mountain districts, they had the character of too often preferring a dishonourable peace to an honourable though difficult resistance. Their father Jacob, on his dying bed, had foretold this of them :-"Issachar is a strong ass, crouching down between two burdens: and he saw that rest was good, and the land was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute."*

Such is the plain of Esdraelon, and such was the character of its inhabitants in the days of Gideon's youth. Some fifty years had passed since the victory of Deborah and Barak, and the defeat of Sisera, upon this very plain. But forgetful Israel, after that memorable deliverance, soon turned again from the Lord, and now a more formidable enemy than Jabin or Sisera ravaged the country.

The plains of Palestine are the most defenceless portion of the country. The narrow passes of the

Gen. xlix. 14, 15.

mountain regions afford strong positions of defence against an invader, and the caves and fastnesses afford ready shelter; but over the open plains the wandering tribes of the desert can range more freely. In our own times, every summer, numerous hordes of Bedouin come up from the Arabian desert, cross the Jordan, and pitch their tents all over the plain of Esdraelon, and in the creek-like narrow valleys which run far up between the adjacent hills, plundering whatever they can lay their hands on, and rendering the district all but uninhabitable. But of all the recorded migrations of Bedouin into Palestine, the most gigantic was that with which the Israelitish people were scourged in the days of Gideon. The invaders are described as "the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east." It was a general migration of the combined hordes of the desert; the same phenomenon, a thousand times magnified, as occurs summer after summer at the present day, when the roving Arabs of the Hauran and of Gilead come far up the plain of Esdraelon, plundering all they meet with.

Among these desert tribes the principal aggressors were the "Midianites "-wild, wandering corsairs of the desert the same people who ages before had bought Joseph for a slave, and sold him in Egypt; against whose beguiling arts and wiles Moses cautioned the Israelites. Moses was himself expressly commanded to "vex the Midianites, and smite them;" and again, to "avenge the children of Israel

of the Midianites," before he should be gathered to his fathers; which he did with such effect, that they cried to each other in consternation, "Now shall this company lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.”*

The times were now changed. Israel was no longer triumphant. Now, instead of being a victorious people, whose very name struck terror into the hearts of the nations round about, they were fain to hide in "the dens which are in the mountains, and in caves, and strong holds," because "the hand of Midian prevailed against them." + The number of these wandering robbers was incalculable; "they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number." The ravages which they committed were fully in proportion. "No one in present days," says a recent traveller, "has passed this plain without seeing or hearing of the assaults of the Bedouin Arabs, as they stream in from the adjacent desert. Here and there, by the well-side, or amongst the bushes of the mountains, their tents or their wild figures may always be seen, the terror alike of the peaceful villager and of the defenceless traveller.

What we now see on a small scale constantly, is but a miniature representation of the one great visitation which lived for ages afterwards in the memory of the Jewish people."‡

* Num. xxi. 17; xxxi. 2; xxii. 4.

Stanley, p. 340.

† Jud. vi. 2-5.

K