Page 184 - Bible History

THE ISRAELITES IN THE PROMISED LAND 157
water in their hands and drank it from their palms. Only three hundred of them drank in this manner.
With these three hundred men Gedeon descended one night into the Valley of Esdrelon, where the Ma­ dianites and their allies were asleep in their tents. He divided his force into three companies and stationed them at di erent points about the enemy. Every one of Gedeon's soldiers had a trumpet and a pitcher in which he carried a lamp. At midnight Gedeon blew his trumpet as a signal. The three hundred also blew their trumpets, broke their pitchers, sho,ved their lamps and shouted, ''The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon!'' So great was the din that the Madianites thought they were surrounded by a powerful army and ed away, slaying one another in their panic. Gedeon pursued them until the last of them was slain.
At this time, the Israelites began to say among Ge on themselves that it would be better for them if they had : : !0 a king to rule over them. The nations around them all king had kings, and although there was much jealousy among the di erent tribes, they thought that a king would unite them and make it possible for them to conquer their enemies once for all and bring back
peace into the land. They forgot that God was their
King and that, if they were faithful to Him, they would be a united people. They tried to make Gedeon
their king, but he said to them, ''I will not rule over
you, neither shall my son rule over you, but the Lord
shall rule over you.''