BELFAST RB BOOKLET 2020 - Flipbook - Page 90
Ci t y of Belf ast Grand Bl ack Chapt er - Dem onst rat i on Bookl et 2020
When Gideon had finished
listening to this interpretation,
he fell to his knees and
worshipped the Lord, before
returning to Israel, and once
there he addressed his soldiers
saying .. 'arise for the Lord
hath delivered into your hand
the host of Midian.'
Dividing his three hundred
chosen men into three
individual companies, Gideon
handed each of them a
trumpet/bugle along with an
earthen water pitcher, in which to hide the
glow from a burning torch, placed inside.
He then instructed them with these words ..
'look on me and do likewise: and behold,
when I come to the outside of the camp, it
shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When
I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with
me, then shall blow ye the trumpets also on
every side of all the camp, and say; the
sword of the Lord and of Gideon.'
Gideon and his men marched quietly
throughout the night before arriving at the
Midian encampment around midnight, just as
change of guard duties was taking place with
the majority of the enemy by now, fast asleep
in their tents.
When his army had
surrounded the perimeter of
the camp, Gideon gave the
command to attack, whereby
his men blew hard on their
shofars (trumpets) whilst at
the same time smashing the
pitchers, to expose the
lighted torches which they
then held high; and at the
same time every man cried
out loudly … 'the sword of
the Lord and of Gideon.'
The ensuing thunderous
noise immediately awoke the unexpecting
enemy soldiers who were by now, so
disorientated by the noise and sleep
disturbance that they fled their camp, even to
the extent, aided by the proverbial hand of
God on the hilt, they began turning their
swords on each other in the commotion,
whereby many of them were slain as they ran
in retreat towards Bethshittah, Abelmeholah
and Tabbath in the valley of the River Jordan.
THEREFORE, WITH GOD BEING THEIR HELPER,
DID A MERE THREE HUNDRED CHOSEN
ISRAELITES, WHO HAD LAPPED BUT DID NOT
KNEEL, DEFEAT ALMOST ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY
THOUSAND M IDIANITES, WITH THE MIGHTY
HEAVENLY POWER OF THE GREAT JEHOVAH
BEING THEIR GUIDE.
NOTE: Much like the three hundred strong Spartan army at Thermopylae, and others, so
named .. Gideon has become symbolic of military success through the use of a small elite
force against overwhelming, numerical odds. During the Protestant Reformation, the
Gideon narrative was employed in polemics to refute Catholic clergy opinion.
Gideon's International, founded in 1899, is an American organisation dedicated to
Christian evangelism, involved in the distribution of free Bibles with its logo representing a
two-handled pitcher and torch, symbolising the implements used by Gideon to put the fear
into the Midianites.
During WWII, a small British and African special forces' team, named the Gideon Force
(also known as Wingate's Chindits) acted as a Corps d'Elite whose leader and creator was
Colonel Orde Wingate. One member of those brave Chindits, acting well behind the enemy
lines, was the late Worshipful Sir Knight Johnny McQuade the former Member of
Parliament for North Belfast and a long serving 1st Standard Bearer with No 6 Royal Black
District Chapter encamped on the Shankill Road.
IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN - 88 - AND THE FUTURE OF THE LIVING