To The Word – Day 66

₁Once again the people of Israel sinned against the LORD, so he let the people of Midian rule them for seven years. ₂The Midianites were stronger than Israel, and the people of Israel hid from them in caves and other safe places in the hills. ₃Whenever the Israelites sowed any seed, the Midianites would come with the Amalekites and the desert tribes and attack them. ₄They would camp on the land and destroy the crops as far south as the area round Gaza. They would take all the sheep, cattle, and donkeys, and leave nothing for the Israelites to live on. ₅They would come with their livestock and tents, as thick as locusts. They and their camels were too many to count. They came and devastated the land, ₆and Israel was helpless against them.

₇Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help against the Midianites, ₈and he sent them a prophet who brought them this message from the LORD, the God of Israel: “I brought you out of slavery in Egypt. ₉I rescued you from the Egyptians and from the people who fought against you here in this land. I drove them out as you advanced, and I gave you their land. ₁₀I told you that I am the LORD your God and that you should not worship the gods of the Amorites, whose land you are now living in. But you did not listen to me.”

₁₁Then the LORD's angel came to the village of Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a winepress, so that the Midianites would not see him. ₁₂The LORD's angel appeared to him there and said, “The LORD is with you, brave and mighty man!”

₁₃Gideon said to him, “If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the LORD is with us? What about all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the LORD used to do — how he brought them out of Egypt? The LORD has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites.”

₁₄Then the LORD ordered him, “Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you.”

₁₅Gideon replied, “But LORD, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family.”

₁₆The LORD answered, “You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man.”

₁₇Gideon replied, “If you are pleased with me, give me some proof that you are really the LORD. ₁₈Please do not leave until I bring you an offering of food.”

He said, “I will stay until you come back.”

₁₉So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young goat and used ten kilogrammes of flour to make bread without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them to the LORD's angel under the oak tree, and gave them to him. ₂₀The angel ordered him, “Put the meat and the bread on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” Gideon did so. ₂₁Then the LORD's angel reached out and touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire came out of the rock and burnt up the meat and the bread. Then the angel disappeared.

₂₂Gideon then realized that it was the LORD's angel he had seen, and he said in terror, “Sovereign LORD! I have seen your angel face to face!”

₂₃But the LORD said to him, “Peace. Don't be afraid. You will not die.” ₂₄Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and named it “The LORD is Peace”. (It is still standing at Ophrah, which belongs to the clan of Abiezer.)

₂₅That night the LORD told Gideon, “Take your father's bull and another bull seven years old, tear down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the symbol of the goddess Asherah, which is beside it. ₂₆Build a well-constructed altar to the LORD your God on top of this mound. Then take the second bull and burn it whole as an offering, using for firewood the symbol of Asherah you have cut down.” ₂₇So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the LORD had told him. He was too afraid of his family and the people of the town to do it by day, so he did it at night.

₂₈When the people of the town got up early the next morning, they found that the altar to Baal and the symbol of Asherah had been cut down, and that the second bull had been burnt on the altar that had been built there. ₂₉They asked each other, “Who did this?” They investigated and found out that Gideon son of Joash had done it. ₃₀Then they said to Joash, “Bring your son out here, so that we can kill him! He tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the symbol of Asherah beside it.”

₃₁But Joash said to all those who confronted him, “Are you standing up for Baal? Are you defending him? Anyone who stands up for him will be killed before morning. If Baal is a god, let him defend himself. It is his altar that was torn down.” ₃₂From then on Gideon was known as Jerubbaal, because Joash said, “Let Baal defend himself; it is his altar that was torn down.”

₃₃Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the desert tribes assembled, crossed the River Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. ₃₄The Spirit of the LORD took control of Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the men of the clan of Abiezer to follow him. ₃₅He sent messengers throughout the territory of both parts of Manasseh to call them to follow him. He sent messengers to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they also came to join him.

₃₆Then Gideon said to God, “You say that you have decided to use me to rescue Israel. ₃₇Well, I am putting some wool on the ground where we thresh the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on the wool but not on the ground, then I will know that you are going to use me to rescue Israel.” ₃₈That is exactly what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the wool and wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with water. ₃₉Then Gideon said to God, “Don't be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Please let me make one more test with the wool. This time let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet.” ₄₀That night God did that very thing. The next morning the wool was dry, but the ground was wet with dew.

₁One day Gideon and all his men got up early and camped beside the Spring of Harod. The Midianite camp was in the valley to the north of them by Moreh Hill.

₂The LORD said to Gideon, “The men you have are too many for me to give them victory over the Midianites. They might think that they had won by themselves, and so give me no credit. ₃Announce to the people, ‘Anyone who is afraid should go back home, and we will stay here at Mount Gilead.’ ” So 22,000 went back, but 10,000 stayed.

₄Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You still have too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will separate them for you there. If I tell you a man should go with you, he will go. If I tell you a man should not go with you, he will not go.” ₅Gideon took the men down to the water, and the LORD said to him, “Separate everyone who laps up the water with his tongue like a dog, from everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” ₆There were 300 men who scooped up water in their hands and lapped it; all the others got down on their knees to drink. ₇The LORD said to Gideon, “I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites with the 300 men who lapped the water. Tell everyone else to go home.” ₈So Gideon sent all the Israelites home, except the 300, who kept all the supplies and trumpets. The Midianite camp was below them in the valley.

₉That night the LORD commanded Gideon, “Get up and attack the camp; I am giving you victory over it. ₁₀But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah. ₁₁You will hear what they are saying, and then you will have the courage to attack.” So Gideon and his servant Purah went down to the edge of the enemy camp. ₁₂The Midianites, the Amalekites, and the desert tribesmen were spread out in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and they had as many camels as there were grains of sand on the seashore.

₁₃When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling a friend about a dream. He was saying, “I dreamt that a loaf of barley bread rolled into our camp and hit a tent. The tent collapsed and lay flat on the ground.”

₁₄His friend replied, “It's the sword of the Israelite, Gideon son of Joash! It can't mean anything else! God has given him victory over Midian and our whole army!”

₁₅When Gideon heard about the man's dream and what it meant, he fell to his knees and worshipped the LORD. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up! The LORD is giving you victory over the Midianite army!” ₁₆He divided his 300 men into three groups and gave each man a trumpet and a jar with a torch inside it. ₁₇He told them, “When I get to the edge of the camp, watch me, and do what I do. ₁₈When my group and I blow our trumpets, then you blow yours all round the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’ ”

₁₉Gideon and his hundred men came to the edge of the camp a short while before midnight, just after the guard had been changed. Then they blew the trumpets and broke the jars they were holding, ₂₀and the other two groups did the same. They all held the torches in their left hands, the trumpets in their right, and shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” ₂₁Every man stood in his place round the camp, and the whole enemy army ran away yelling. ₂₂While Gideon's men were blowing their trumpets, the LORD made the enemy troops attack each other with their swords. They ran towards Zarethan as far as Beth Shittah, as far as the town of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

₂₃Then men from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, and both parts of Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. ₂₄Gideon sent messengers through all the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down and fight the Midianites. Hold the River Jordan and the streams as far as Bethbarah, to keep the Midianites from crossing them.” The men of Ephraim were called together, and they held the River Jordan and the streams as far as Bethbarah. ₂₅They captured the two Midianite chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at Oreb Rock, and Zeeb at the Winepress of Zeeb. They continued to pursue the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now east of the Jordan.

₁Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why didn't you call us when you went to fight the Midianites? Why did you treat us like this?” They complained bitterly about it.

₂But he said, “What I was able to do is nothing compared with what you have done. Even the little that you men of Ephraim did is worth more than what my whole clan has done. ₃After all, through the power of God you killed the two Midianite chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I done to compare with that?” When he said this, they were no longer so angry.

₄By this time Gideon and his 300 men had come to the River Jordan and had crossed it. They were exhausted, but were still pursuing the enemy. ₅When they arrived at Sukkoth, he said to the men of the town, “Please give my men some loaves of bread. They are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings.”

₆But the leaders of Sukkoth said, “Why should we give your army any food? You haven't captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet.”

₇So Gideon said, “All right! When the LORD has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will beat you with thorns and briars from the desert!” ₈Gideon went on to Penuel and made the same request of the people there, but the men of Penuel gave the same answer as the men of Sukkoth. ₉So he said to them, “I am going to come back safe and sound, and when I do, I will tear your tower down!”

₁₀Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with their army. Of the whole army of desert tribesmen, only about 15,000 were left; 120,000 soldiers had been killed. ₁₁Gideon went along the road by the edge of the desert, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army by surprise. ₁₂The two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, ran away, but he pursued them and captured them, and caused their whole army to panic.

₁₃When Gideon was returning from the battle by way of Heres Pass, ₁₄he captured a young man from Sukkoth and questioned him. The young man wrote down for Gideon the names of the 77 leading men of Sukkoth. ₁₅Then Gideon went to the men of Sukkoth and said, “Remember when you refused to help me? You said that you couldn't give any food to my exhausted army because I hadn't captured Zebah and Zalmunna yet. Well, here they are!” ₁₆He then took thorns and briars from the desert and used them to punish the leaders of Sukkoth. ₁₇He also tore down the tower at Penuel and killed the men of that city.

₁₈Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about the men you killed at Tabor?”

They answered, “They looked like you — every one of them like the son of a king.”

₁₉Gideon said, “They were my brothers, my own mother's sons. I solemnly swear that if you had not killed them, I would not kill you.” ₂₀Then he said to Jether, his eldest son, “Go ahead, kill them!” But the boy did not draw his sword. He hesitated, because he was still only a boy.

₂₁Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on, kill us yourself. It takes a man to do a man's job.” So Gideon killed them and took the ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

₂₂After that, the Israelites said to Gideon, “Be our ruler — you and your descendants after you. You have saved us from the Midianites.”

₂₃Gideon answered, “I will not be your ruler, nor will my son. The LORD will be your ruler.” ₂₄But he went on to say, “Let me ask one thing of you. Every one of you give me the earrings you took.” (The Midianites, like other desert people, wore gold earrings.)

₂₅The people answered, “We'll be glad to give them to you.” They spread out a cloth, and everyone put on it the earrings that he had taken. ₂₆The gold earrings that Gideon received weighed nearly twenty kilogrammes, and this did not include the ornaments, necklaces, and purple clothes that the kings of Midian wore, nor the collars that were round the necks of their camels. ₂₇Gideon made an idol from the gold and put it in his home town, Ophrah. All the Israelites abandoned God and went there to worship the idol. It was a trap for Gideon and his family.

₂₈So Midian was defeated by the Israelites and was no longer a threat. The land was at peace for forty years, until Gideon died.

₂₉Gideon went back to his own home and lived there. ₃₀He had seventy sons, because he had many wives. ₃₁He also had a concubine in Shechem; she bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. ₃₂Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, at Ophrah, the town of the clan of Abiezer.

₃₃After Gideon's death the people of Israel were again unfaithful to God and worshipped the Baals. They made Baal-of-the-Covenant their god, ₃₄and no longer served the LORD their God, who had saved them from all their enemies round them. ₃₅They were not grateful to the family of Gideon for all the good that he had done for Israel.

₁Gideon's son Abimelech went to the town of Shechem, where all his mother's relatives lived, and told them ₂to ask the men of Shechem, “Which would you prefer? To be governed by all seventy of Gideon's sons or by just one man? Remember that Abimelech is your own flesh and blood.” ₃His mother's relatives talked to the men of Shechem about this for him, and the men of Shechem decided to follow Abimelech because he was their relative. ₄They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-of-the-Covenant, and with this money he hired a bunch of worthless scoundrels to join him. ₅He went to his father's house at Ophrah, and there on the top of a single stone he killed his seventy brothers, Gideon's sons. But Jotham, Gideon's youngest son, hid and was not killed. ₆Then all the men of Shechem and Bethmillo got together and went to the sacred oak tree at Shechem, where they made Abimelech king.

₇When Jotham heard about this, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and shouted out to them, “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, and God may listen to you! ₈Once upon a time the trees got together to choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’ ₉The olive tree answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my oil, which is used to honour gods and human beings.’ ₁₀Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king.’ ₁₁But the fig tree answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my good sweet fruit.’ ₁₂So the trees then said to the grapevine, ‘You come and be our king.’ ₁₃But the vine answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my wine, that makes gods and human beings happy.’ ₁₄So then all the trees said to the thorn bush, ‘You come and be our king.’ ₁₅The thorn bush answered, ‘If you really want to make me your king, then come and take shelter in my shade. If you don't, fire will blaze out of my thorny branches and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.’

₁₆“Now then,” Jotham continued, “were you really honest and sincere when you made Abimelech king? Did you respect Gideon's memory and treat his family properly, as his actions deserved? ₁₇Remember that my father fought for you. He risked his life to save you from the Midianites. ₁₈But today you turned against my father's family. You killed his sons — seventy men on a single stone — and just because Abimelech, his son by his servant woman, is your relative, you have made him king of Shechem. ₁₉Now then, if what you did today to Gideon and his family was sincere and honest, then be happy with Abimelech and let him be happy with you. ₂₀But if not, may fire blaze out from Abimelech and burn up the men of Shechem and Bethmillo. May fire blaze out from the men of Shechem and Bethmillo and burn Abimelech up.” ₂₁Then because he was afraid of his brother Abimelech, Jotham ran away and went to live at Beer.

₂₂Abimelech ruled Israel for three years. ₂₃Then God made Abimelech and the men of Shechem hostile to each other, and they rebelled against him. ₂₄This happened so that Abimelech and the men of Shechem, who encouraged him to murder Gideon's seventy sons, would pay for their crime. ₂₅The men of Shechem put men in ambush against Abimelech on the mountain tops, and they robbed everyone who passed their way. Abimelech was told about this.

₂₆Then Gaal son of Ebed came to Shechem with his brothers, and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. ₂₇They all went out into their vineyards and picked the grapes, made wine from them, and held a festival. They went into the temple of their god, where they ate and drank and spoke scornfully of Abimelech. ₂₈Gaal said, “What kind of men are we in Shechem? Why are we serving Abimelech? Who is he, anyway? The son of Gideon! And Zebul takes orders from him, but why should we serve him? Be loyal to your ancestor Hamor, who founded your clan! ₂₉I wish I were leading this people! I would get rid of Abimelech! I would say to him, ‘Reinforce your army, come on out and fight!’ ”

₃₀Zebul, the ruler of the city, became angry when he heard what Gaal had said. ₃₁He sent messengers to Abimelech at Arumah to say, “Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem, and they are not going to let you into the city. ₃₂Now then, you and your men should move by night and hide in the fields. ₃₃Get up tomorrow morning at sunrise and make a sudden attack on the city. Then when Gaal and his men come out against you, hit them as hard as you can!”

₃₄So Abimelech and all his men made their move at night and hid outside Shechem in four groups. ₃₅When Abimelech and his men saw Gaal come out and stand at the city gate, they got up from their hiding places. ₃₆Gaal saw them and said to Zebul, “Look! There are men coming down from the mountain tops!”

“Those are not men,” Zebul answered. “They are just shadows on the mountains.”

₃₇Gaal said again, “Look! There are men coming down the crest of the mountain and one group is coming along the road from the oak tree of the fortune tellers!”

₃₈Then Zebul said to him, “Where is all your big talk now? You were the one who asked why we should serve this man Abimelech. These are the men you were treating so scornfully. Go on out now and fight them.” ₃₉Gaal led the men of Shechem out and fought Abimelech. ₄₀Gaal fled, and Abimelech pursued him. Many were wounded, even at the city gate. ₄₁Abimelech lived in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem, so that they could no longer live there.

₄₂The next day Abimelech found out that the people of Shechem were planning to go out into the fields, ₄₃so he took his men, divided them into three groups, and hid in the fields, waiting. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he came out of hiding to kill them. ₄₄While Abimelech and his group hurried forward to guard the city gate, the other two companies attacked the people in the fields and killed them all. ₄₅The fighting continued all day long. Abimelech captured the city, killed its people, tore it down, and covered the ground with salt.

₄₆When all the leading men in the fort at Shechem heard about this, they sought safety in the stronghold of the temple of Baal-of-the-Covenant. ₄₇Abimelech was told that they had gathered there, ₄₈so he went up to Mount Zalmon with his men. There he took an axe, cut a branch off a tree, and put it on his shoulder. He told his men to be quick and do the same thing. ₄₉So every man cut off a branch of a tree; then they followed Abimelech and piled the wood up against the stronghold. They set it on fire, with the people inside, and all the people of the fort died — about a thousand men and women.

₅₀Then Abimelech went to Thebez, surrounded that city, and captured it. ₅₁There was a strong tower there, and every man and woman in the city, including the leaders, ran to it. They locked themselves in and went up to the roof. ₅₂When Abimelech came to attack the tower, he went up to the door to set the tower on fire. ₅₃But a woman threw a millstone down on his head and fractured his skull. ₅₄Then he quickly called the young man who was carrying his weapons and ordered, “Draw your sword and kill me. I don't want it said that a woman killed me.” So the young man ran him through, and he died. ₅₅When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home.

₅₆In this way God paid Abimelech back for the crime that he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. ₅₇God also made the men of Shechem suffer for their wickedness, just as Jotham, Gideon's son, said they would when he cursed them.

₁After Abimelech's death Tola, the son of Puah and grandson of Dodo, came to free Israel. He was from the tribe of Issachar and lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ₂He was Israel's leader for 23 years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.

₃After Tola came Jair from Gilead. He led Israel for 22 years. ₄He had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys. They had thirty cities in the land of Gilead, which are still called the villages of Jair. ₅Jair died and was buried at Kamon.

₆Once again the Israelites sinned against the LORD by worshipping the Baals and the Astartes, as well as the gods of Syria, of Sidon, of Moab, of Ammon, and of Philistia. They abandoned the LORD and stopped worshipping him. ₇So the LORD became angry with the Israelites, and let the Philistines and the Ammonites conquer them. ₈For eighteen years they oppressed and persecuted all the Israelites who lived in Amorite country east of the River Jordan in Gilead. ₉The Ammonites even crossed the Jordan to fight the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel was in great distress.

₁₀Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD and said, “We have sinned against you, for we left you, our God, and worshipped the Baals.”

₁₁The LORD gave them this answer: “The Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, ₁₂the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you in the past, and you cried out to me. Did I not save you from them? ₁₃But you still left me and worshipped other gods, so I am not going to rescue you again. ₁₄Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them rescue you when you get into trouble.”

₁₅But the people of Israel said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do whatever you like, but please, save us today.” ₁₆So they got rid of their foreign gods and worshipped the LORD; and he became troubled over Israel's distress.

₁₇Then the Ammonite army prepared for battle and made camp in Gilead. The people of Israel came together and camped at Mizpah in Gilead. ₁₈There the people and the leaders of the Israelite tribes asked one another, “Who will lead the fight against the Ammonites? Whoever does will be the leader of everyone in Gilead.”