I. In ringing terms there is the proclamation of a want. Wanted! is the note that rings out clear and distinct. There is a demand, a pressing need, a crying necessity. Wanted! Wanted! Wanted! We have all heard that cry before. It is not a new one. It is one with which we are all familiar. Along the street we often see the sign in the windows of stores or on the outside, “Boy wanted.” “Man wanted.” Every paper we take up, every magazine we read is full of advertisements of one kind or another, all of which are expressions of a want of some kind. They are put in and paid for by people who have goods that they want to sell, houses that they want to rent, property that they want to dispose of, money that they want to put out at interest, or, they want to find employment of some kind.

 II. Another thought that grows naturally out of the topic is, Wanted by whom? The context leaves us in no doubt as to the answer. Wanted by the Lord God of hosts, by Jehovah. The great power that is working here is God:—he it is who is directing everything; he it is with whom Gideon is in communication and who is planning the whole campaign that is to be projected. It is Jehovah who is expressing the need, and who is making the appeal. While primarily the reference is to God, in another sense, the need expressed here was felt by the whole Jewish community—the state, the church, the family, society at large. These were all in need, and in great and pressing need. No one can read the narrative without feeling the burden of this need pressing upon him.

III. Another thought that springs naturally into our minds as we think of the subject is, What is it that is wanted? And the answer is Men for Gideon’s Band. Men are what is wanted; men to be welded together in one compact body for a definite and specific purpose. This band, which God is seeking to organize here, is called Gideon’s Band. Who was Gideon? He was the son of Joash, of the tribe of Manasseh. He lived in the midst of distressing circumstances. His people were greatly oppressed. There were powerful enemies that harassed them; that made life miserable for them. The writer of this book of Judges gives us this insight into their sad condition: “And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. And because of Midian the children of Israel made them dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them; and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till they came unto Gaza, and left no substance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For 

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