Lesson 2 · October 11, 1890

Gideon Chosen as Deliverer

1.For how long a time was Israel ruled by judges? .
2.For what reason were judges raised up for them? .
3.When the judge who delivered them from their enemies was dead, what would they do? .
4.Then what would be repeated? . See note 1.
5.How did it fare with the Israelites, when, because of their apostasy, they were delivered into the power of the Midianites? .
6.Whom did the Lord then choose as the deliverer of Israel? .
7.When Gideon mentioned his poverty and his humble position, what assurance did the Lord give him? .
8.What proof did Gideon receive that it was indeed a heavenly being that was talking with him? .
9.How did this knowledge affect Gideon? .
10.What assurance did he receive, and how did he recognize it? .
11.How was Gideon directed to begin his work of throwing off the Midianitish yoke? . See note 2.
12.How did he carry out this direction? .
13.In what way did the men of the city display their degeneracy? .
14.What sensible defense did Gideon's father make? .
15.Relate the prophet's graphic description of the folly of idol-making and idol-worship. .
16.What took place when the Midianites came up to fight against Israel? .
17.By what double test did God convince Gideon that he was the one chosen to deliver Israel? .
18.In this, what kind of spirit did Gideon show that he possessed? .

Notes

1. In , we have an outline of the course of the Jews after the death of the judges that outlived Joshua. They dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, etc., and intermarried with them, and served their gods, until the Lord in his anger sold them into the hand of the king of Mesopotamia. After they had served him eight years, the Lord raised up a deliverer in the person of Othniel, who, after delivering Israel, judged them forty years, during which time there was peace. But when Othniel died the children of Israel did evil again, and the Lord allowed them to be conquered by Eglon, king of Moab, who oppressed them eighteen years. Then when they cried to the Lord, he raised up Ehud to deliver them, and they had peace for eighty years. But as soon as Ehud died, the Israelites again went into idolatry, and again the Lord sold them into the hands of their enemies; this time they were conquered by Jabin, king of Canaan, by whom they were mightily oppressed for twenty years, when they were delivered by Deborah and Barak; and thus matters went on for four hundred years.

2. The "grove" that Gideon was directed to cut down was not a cluster of trees, but an image. The Century Dictionary contains the following note upon the word:—

"In the authorized version of the Bible grove is used erroneously—(a) As a translation (following the Septuagint and Vulgate) of the Hebrew word Asherah (pl. Asherim). The Revised Version retains Asherah, inserting 'or obelisk' in the margin. It is now commonly understood as meaning a divinity or an image of a divinity worshiped by lewd rites, and as a variation in form of the name Astarte or Ashtaroth."

The language of would of itself indicate that the "grove" was not a cluster of trees. Gideon was directed to throw down the altar of Baal, "and cut down the grove that is by it." If it had been a real grove, the altar would have been by it, instead of its being by the altar. In we read that the children of Israel set up groves "in every high hill and under every green tree;" and in we read that Josiah "brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people."

Bible texts in this lesson

Acts 13:19 · Acts 13:20 · Judges 2:16 · Judges 2:19 · Judges 3:5-9 · Judges 3:11 · Judges 3:12-15 · Judges 3:30 · Judges 4:1-3 · Judges 4:22-24 · Judges 6:1-6 · Judges 6:11-14 · Judges 6:15 · Judges 6:16 · Judges 6:17-21 · Judges 6:22 · Judges 6:23 · Judges 6:24 · Judges 6:25 · Judges 6:26 · Judges 6:27 · Judges 6:28 · Judges 6:28-30 · Judges 6:31 · Judges 6:32 · Isaiah 44:9-20 · Judges 6:33-35 · Judges 6:36-40 · Romans 12:3 · 2 Kings 17:10 · 2 Kings 23:6

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