3. =The Early Philistine Oppression= (Judges 3:31) was perhaps no more than a raid of these people upon the mountain region of Judah. It was repelled by Shamgar, the third judge, whose army of farmers, hastily gathered, had no other weapons than their formidable ox-goads. The precise place of the victory is unknown, but it was on the frontier between Judah and Philistia. 4. =The Canaanite Oppression= (Judges 4, 5) was an uprising of the native people against the Israelite conquerors. They changed the relations of the two races, by becoming the dominant people in all the region north of the Carmel range of mountains. Their capital was at Hazor, and their chief military post at Harosheth, near the Plain of Esdraelon. A woman, Deborah, living between Ramah and Bethel, was then recognized as the fourth judge. She called upon Barak, of Naphtali, who aided her in gathering a little army, chiefly from the tribes of Issachar, Zebulon and Naphtali. They met at Mount Tabor, from which they poured down upon the Canaanites, who were encamped upon the plain. In the rout that followed, the Israelites were aided by a sudden storm, and a rise in the torrent Kishon, which swept away many of their enemies. The power of the Canaanites was broken, and thenceforward the race made no attempt to regain its independence. 5. =The Midianite Oppression= (Judges 6-8) was the most severe, thus far, in the history of the judges. The Midianites, a migratory tribe on the east of Palestine, joined with the Amalekite Bedouins in an invasion which overran all the central portion of the land, plundering the inhabitants, and destroying the fruits of the field. So low were the Israelites reduced, that they were compelled to hide their crops, and themselves also, in the caves of the mountains. The deliverer of Israel at this period was Gideon, the fifth judge. At God's call he summoned his countrymen, and gathered an army on Mount Gilboa, while their enemies were encamped at the foot of the Hill Moreh (Little Hermon), an innumerable host. With three hundred chosen men Gideon made a night attack upon the Midianite host. They were defeated, and fled down the ravine to the Jordan Valley, past Beth-shean, Abel-meholah and Tabbath. Beth-barah, where they were intercepted by the men of Ephraim, was not the same with the Bethabara of the New Testament, but probably in the Jordan Valley, north of the Jabbok. At Succoth, near the junction of the Jabbok and the Jordan, and at Penuel, in the valley of the Jabbok, the pursuing Israelites under Gideon were inhospitably treated by the inhabitants, but avenged themselves on their return. The remains of the routed Midianite army were found by Gideon at Karkor, a place not precisely known. He made a circuit, attacked them on the east, and utterly destroyed them. After this victory Gideon bore rule over Israel from his home in Ophrah, until his death.