conduct in this respect, but he received strength from God to act aright, and so shall we, if we ask it earnestly. The three hundred men, with their leader, had passed over the Jordan, and though exhausted by fatigue and want of food, were still pursuing the remainder of Midian's host. In the tribe of Gad is a place called Succoth, there the hungry Israelites asked for food, telling what work they were engaged in. The men of Succoth scornfully refused bread to their brethren, mocking the idea of three hundred worn out men conquering the kings of Midian. For this conduct Gideon said that when he returned successful, he would tear their flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and with briars. From thence he went to Penuel, to the men of which he made the same

request, and received the same reply. "When I come again in peace," he said to the men of Penuel, “I will break down this tower." When Gideon overtook the kings of Midian, he and his band fell upon them and put all of them to the sword, except Zebah and Zalmunna the two kings, whom he made prisoners. The victorious son of Joash then went to Succoth, and scourged the chief men of the place with thorns and briars; so he convinced them of their folly. Then he punished the men of Penuel. He was more severe to them; he broke the strong fortress of which they thought so much, and slew their chief men.

George. They deserved it, I am sure.

Johnnie. Yes, it was very cruel to refuse bread to Gideon and his men when they were so hungry.

George. Especially when they had been fighting for their good. What did Gideon do to Zebah and Zalmunna, grandfather?

Grandfather. He called them before him, and questioned them as to the appearance of some men whom they had slain at mount Tabor, when a former inroad of the Midianites had driven the people of Israel to dens and caves. To Gideon's question the kings replied, “As thou art, so were they, each one resembled the children of a king." They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother," the conqueror of the Midianites exclaimHis was the office of avenger of blood, being next

He desired his

death; but he,

so Gideon with

ed. of kin to the persons that were slain. eldest son to put the royal murderers to being very young, shrunk from the task; his own hand slew Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian. The Israelites then asked Gideon to be their king, "Rule thou over us," they said, "both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian." Now the children of Israel were under the peculiar government of God; He provided rulers for them, and directed them what to do in every instance. It seemed to Gideon as if they were weary of submission to the divine authority, when they were so desirous of having him for a king. "I will not rule over you," he said, "neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you."

George. But Gideon had taken upon himself to command the people before that?

Grandfather. He had taken the power that was given him by God; he refused it when offered to him by the people. He sets us in this an example of piety and humility he worked for the glory of God and the good of the people, and sought no reward for himself.

Marianne. What an excellent man Gideon was, grandfather. I think surely he had no faults at all.

Grandfather. He certainly was a good man, a true servant of God, yet in one thing he erred. He collected all the gold ornaments that had been worn by the enemies of the Israelites, and the fine garments that he had taken from the kings; of these he made an ephod or sacred garment, and put it in the city of Ophrah. The people did homage to it as if it had been divine, and even Gideon's own family were led astray by it. This is the only faulty thing related of Gideon.

George. But I do not see that that was his fault; he was not to know that the people would worship the ornaments.

Grandfather. Many of those ornaments were gods of the Midianites, which the Israelites had been in the habit of worshipping before Gideon came to deliver them. Among the things particularly mentioned as used in the making of the ephod, were the ornaments that were on their camels' necks; they were round plates of gold like the moon, images of the goddess Ashtaroth, who represented the moon, as Baal did the sun. When Gideon knew this he ought not to have preserved these things, as the Israelites were so apt to wander from the true

K

God; he ought to have guarded against the slightest approach to idolatry. This teaches us that it is not enough that our own intentions be pure; we ought to avoid all appearance of evil.

George. Was there any more war in Gideon's time? Grandfather. No, there was peace while he lived, which was forty years after he had subdued the Midianites. He left seventy-one sons. One of them, named Abimelech, resolved to attain to the sovereignty which his father had rejected. That he might gain this end, nothing was too wicked for him to do. He, cold-blooded murderer as he was, killed all his brethren on one stone, all except the youngest, who escaped by hiding himself.

Marianne. Surely the people would not make him king after he had done that.

Grandfather. They did, for the Israelites were sadly degenerated by the worship of false gods. His principal supporters were the men of Shechem, a city in the tribe of Ephraim. The chief men of it seem to have much resembled himself. They did not long continue to respect the king they had made in three years they began to deal treacherously with him. The men of Shechem even sent out liers in wait to watch on the country roads for Abimelech, that they might take him prisoner, and they set up over themselves another ruler, Gaal, the son of Ebed. Gaal does not seem to have possessed one good quality; he had a bold tongue and a cowardly heart. When Abimelech heard of the revolt of the Shechemites he marched against them. Gaal made an attempt to go

out to meet him, but soon was glad to betake himself to flight. The next day Abimelech attacked the city, which he took and utterly destroyed, with all the people in it, except those who took refuge in a strong tower near the town, which was an idol temple, the house of the god Beerith. Abimelech then went to a wood, followed by his men; with an axe he cut down a bough from a tree, telling his followers to do the same. They obeyed, and all carried their branches and set them round the tower in which the people had taken refuge. Fire was applied, soon the idol temple was in flames, and all the people whom it contained perished miserably. were the Shechemites punished.

So

Marianne. But how was Abimelech punished? They did not deserve it more than he did, I am sure.

Grandfather. Abimelech was first used as an instrument to cut off the wicked men of Shechem, then he was himself cut off. After having taken Shechem, he marched against Thebez, a small city not far from the one he had destroyed. He soon got possession of the town, but all the people secured themselves in a strong tower which was within the place. Abimelech was working

when, looking up, he saw

about it, trying to set it on fire, a woman aim a stone at him. He saw it, but he could not avoid the death that was appointed him to die. The stone fell on his head and broke his skull. When he knew that this world and all that it contained were fast departing from him, one might have expected that serious thoughts would have occupied his mind. But no,