GIDEON AND THE ANGEL.



GIDEON wished the angel to give him a sign, and begged him to wait until he should bring him a present. "And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

"And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. 

And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

"And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! For because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die."

That same night the Lord told Gideon to throw down the altar of Baal which his father had, and to cut down the grove which was by it; to build an altar to God on the spot where the angel had brought fire out of the rock, and offer on it one of his father's bullocks. All this, Gideon did in the night, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city.

In the morning, when the men of the city saw what was done, they were very angry, and called upon Joash to bring forth Gideon to die. 

''And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? Will ye save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning; if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel."