THE KING’S BUSINESS
38
JANUARY 24, 1915.
LESSON IV
G ideon and the T hree H undred .
Judges 7:1-8, 16-23. (Commit v. 7.) Q olden T e x t : Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts .— Zech. 4 :6. EXPOSITION AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS.
Sam. 14:6), but He commonly chooses to save by few, and that too, by the weak and despised things (1 Cor. 1:27, 28), in order that H flesh should glory in God!s pres ence” (1 Cor. 1:29). v. 3. "Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead." God is on the side of the one who sets his faith and love upon Him (Ps. 91:9, 10, 14) and he will have no one without faith, or who is frightened, to fight His bat tles (Isa. 12:2; Deut. 20:2-4, 8). A man who really has faith is a fearless man and God wishes no other kind to do His work. Mr. Moody loved to say, “God never used a discouraged man.” God’s demanding faith and fearlessness may reduce the army of His professed people from thirty-two thou sand to ten thousand, as in this instance, but God cares far more for quality than for quantity. There were a surprising lot of cowards in Gideon’s army, twenty-two thou sand out of thirty-two thousand, but hu manly speaking there was much ground for fear. And is the proportion of really be lieving and fearless people any larger in the Church today? Though Gideon had less than a third of his army left when the sift ing process was over, the army was really stronger than ever. The Church is not weakened today but strengthened when a sifting process takes place and the unbe lieving crowd goes out. It is quite likely that Gideon felt a sinking of heart when he saw two-thirds of his army marching home, but he ought rather to have congrat ulated himself than to have been discour aged. v. 4. "And the LORD said unto Gideon. The people are yet too many.” It probably never occurred to Gideon that he had too many left. He rather felt that they were too few, but God said “too many.” God
v. 1 . " Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early." Now that God had removed Gideon’s doubts, he was eager for the battle. Though the enemy was present in overwhelming numbers, and though he himself had but a handful of people on his side, he could hardly wait for the fray. At the first tint of dawn he was up and ready for the conflict. The name of the spring by which he pitched is significant: it was the “spring of trembling,” so called, doubtless, from the fright of some of Gid eon’s army (v. 3). Humanly speaking, they had abundant reason to tremble. Their ene mies were an overwhelming host (v. 12), and they were an insignificant company. v. 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.” This must have seemed like an as tounding statement.,To Israel, their danger seemed to lie in the smallness of their army, but Jehovah told them that it was in the largeness of their army. Today, individuals and churches think that their danger lies in their weakness, but it really, lies in their strength. It is only when we,are weak in ourselves, and realize our weakness, that we can expect God’s strength (2 Cor. 12: 9-10; Isa. 40:29). Jehovah would not de liver Israel until they were brought down to a place where they realized their utter helplessness in themselves and their abso lute dependence upon Him. If there is any possibility for man’s taking credit to him self for things he has achieved, he will do it, and God always delivers in a way that leaves men no room to “vaunt themselves against Him, saying, mine own hand hath saved me.” If man can boast, he will boast. He will even boast when his boasting is ut terly absurd (Eph. 2:8, 9; Rom. 2:2). God can save by many as well as by few (1
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