staff lying beside him. He was, however, no
traveller, but that wondrous Being who in the Old Testament is so often
called the _Angel of the Lord_; and He had come to the help of Israel.

"The Lord be with thee, thou mighty man of valour," he said, addressing
Gideon. But Gideon's sad heart gave no responsive throb. Tall and
powerful as he was, and strong as was his arm, he felt as he thought of
the fierce Arab sheiks but like a puny dwarf, who must sit down
helplessly and suffer.

"Thou shalt go in this thy might that I have sent thee," the heavenly
visitant continued; "and thou shalt save Israel from the Midianites."

"But, my lord," remonstrated Gideon, in conscious weakness and deep
humility, "how shall I ever be able to save Israel? I but belong to the
tribe of Manasseh, that has never taken the lead amongst the Twelve, and
even of my father's family I am not an important member."

Gideon thought that to overcome the terrible invader God must needs
raise up some tall giant, big as Og, the King of Bashan. But he was soon
to learn that the weak things of this world are used to confound the
mighty.

"_I_ will be with thee," the Angel of the Lord said, "and thou shalt
smite the hosts of Midian as one man."

The wondrous Being, in His great condescension, gave Gideon a sign that
He would fulfil His word, and by his hands save Israel from the dreaded
foe. He touched with his staff the rock on which Gideon had placed his
offering; and fire came out and consumed both the flesh and the sweet
cakes, and then He disappeared.

Then Gideon blew his trumpet, and the Israelites came out of their
holes, and rallied round him in great numbers. But still his heart
failed; for he could not recall his truant thoughts from the wolf-like
Arab chiefs, nor help contrasting his half-starved men who had suffered
so long from cruel oppression and famine with their strong sons of the
desert.

In his self-distrust he asked for two signs more, and God gave them to
him. First, a fleece of wool was saturated in the night with dew while
the ground all around was dry; and the next night the fleece was dry
while the ground was wet.

Thus re-assured, Gideon assembled his followers for the battle; but by
God's directions their number was reduced to only three hundred.

"By these three hundred men," God said, "will I save Israel, and deliver
the Midianites into thine hands."

Gideon encamped, with his three hundred men, by the spring of Je