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39. Let me prove. The first sign that Gideon asked was granted. The fleece gathered water, and the ground around it was dry. After thinking it over, Gideon felt that this was, after all, what one would expect, since wool naturally draws water. Hence it might not be a sign at all. He may thus have felt as uncertain as before.

Gideon’s experience is frequently reproduced today. There are some who are continually deciding great issues, not on the basis of the teaching of the Bible or of what is logical and reasonable, but on the basis of signs that they themselves set up. Often the sign asked for may be explainable as a coincidence, rather than as an undeniable miracle. Then men begin to doubt. This was the case with Gideon. He feared that this might be so in his case, so he asked that the sign might be reversed. Recognizing Gideon’s limited faith, the Lord condescended to work a miracle to give him the sign for which he asked. How much better it would have been if Gideon had confidently done what God had asked him to do without hesitation.

1. Well of Harod. This abundant spring, under another name, still issues from a cave at the foot of a hill along the edge of Mt. Gilboa. A small stream flows from it toward the east. The same fountain is probably alluded to in 1 Sam. 29:1 Harod means “trembling,” and the well may have received its name from the panic and trembling that seized the Midianites when Gideon attacked.

Hill of Moreh. On the opposite side of the valley approximately 4 mi. away. On the north side of this hill was the cave of Endor, where Saul visited the witch. The line of battle was, therefore, the same a at the time Saul and the Hebrews faced the Philistines before that eventful battle of Gilboa many years later (1 Sam. 31).