The angel went away. Gideon knew not how or where; but he knew who the angel was. Then Gideon cried with fear, "O, Lord God! for I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face."
And a voice answered, "Peace be unto thee; fear not, thou shalt not die;" and Gideon named the place, "Jehovah-shalom," or "The Lord send peace;" and he built an altar there to the Lord.
Again the angel of the Lord God spoke to him. "Take thy father's bullock and throw down the altar of Baal which thy father has. Build there an altar unto the Lord and offer the bullock in sacrifice upon it."
Now, Gideon's family all worshipped this Baal, and they would be very angry if the idol altar was thrown down; it might be they would kill Gideon. But Gideon rose and went at once to destroy Baal's altar, lest the men of the city should try to prevent him if he waited until morning came.
When the people rose next day, they wondered to see Baal's altar thrown down, the new altar to God ready built, and a bullock offered upon it. "Who did all this?" they asked. Gideon was not afraid to confess the truth. He was bold, because he knew God was with him. But the people were angry with Gideon. "Bring out thy son," they said to Joash, "that we may slay him!"
Before Gideon began to fight, he prayed; "Give me now a sign, that I may know that Thou wilt be merciful to the Israelites. I will put a fleece of wool upon the ground to-night; in the morning I will look at it, and if I see the fleece wet with dew, and all the ground dry, then I shall know that Thou dost promise to save us from our enemies."
Gideon put the fleece of wool upon the ground, for God had heard his prayer. In the morning, when Gideon looked at it, it was so wet that he wrung from the fleece a bowlful of water, though there was no dew upon the ground.
GIDEON CHOOSING HIS SOLDIERS.
The next night Gideon again tried the fleece. "To-night let the fleece alone be dry, and all the ground wet, and then I shall know that Thou wilt save Israel," he prayed. The next morning all the ground was wet with dew, and the wool alone was dry. And now Gideon was convinced. He asked no further proof.