CHAPTER XII.
LECTURE IV.—FAITH IN TRIAL.
A very remarkable trial was now to test the faith of Gideon. We left him in the proud position of the leader of an army of thirty-two thousand men; and we can imagine how the heart of the patriot would swell with thankfulness and joy, as the prospect of delivering his country by their means brightened before him,—how he would welcome the arrival of each brave band, and count up the increasing number of his forces.
Further encouragement was given to Gideon by miraculous signs vouchsafed to him by God in answer to prayer. “If Thou wilt save Israel by my hand as Thou hast said, behold,” cried Gideon, “I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said.”
Early on the morrow the chieftain arose, and sought the fleece where he had laid it. He found it heavy with moisture, though the ground lay dry around it; and Gideon wrung out from the dripping wool a bowlful of water.
Yet Gideon ventured to beseech God to grant a reversal of this miraculous sign, in further confirmation of his faith: “Let not Thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray Thee, but this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.”
Even as Gideon had prayed, so was the sign vouchsafed; the soft dew lay on the earth around, while the fleece remained dry.