Gideon
גִּדְעוֹן · gid.on · H1439Γεδεών · Gedeōn · G10662 other spellings“he that bruises or breaks; a destroyer” Hitchcock's 186950 mentions in 4 books, most in Judges (47)
Who he was
Gideon, also known as Jerubbaal or Jerubbesheth, was a judge of Israel during the period of the judges, as recorded in the book of Judges, chapters 6-8. He is also mentioned in Hebrews 11:32 as an example of faith. Gideon was the son of Joash, from the clan of Abiezer in the tribe of Manasseh (Jdg.6.11, 15). During a time when Israel was oppressed by the Midianites, God called Gideon to deliver His people (Judges 6:14). Gideon initially doubted his ability to save Israel, but God reassured him through various signs, including a fleece wet with dew (Judges 6:36–40). Gideon destroyed the altar of Baal and the Asherah pole, earning him the name Jerubbaal, which means "let Baal contend against him" (Judges 6:25–32).
With a reduced army of 300 men, chosen by God, Gideon defeated the Midianites through a surprise attack, using trumpets, empty jars, and torches (Judges 7:1–25). He pursued the Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, and captured them (Judges 8:4–21). After the victory, the Israelites asked Gideon to rule over them, but he refused, stating that only God should rule over Israel (Judges 8:22–23). However, Gideon made an ephod from the gold taken from the Midianites, which became a snare to him and his family (Judges 8:24–27).
Gideon had seventy sons and many wives, including a concubine from Shechem who bore him a son named Abimelech (Judges 8:29–31). After Gideon's death, Abimelech killed his seventy brothers and became king of Shechem, but his rule was short-lived and ended in his death (Judges 9). Gideon is remembered as a deliverer of Israel, and his story is referenced in 1 Samuel 12:11 and 2 Samuel 11:21. The name Jerubbesheth (2 Samuel 11:21) is a variation of Jerubbaal, with "besheth" (meaning "shame") replacing "baal" to avoid using the name of the pagan god.
Article: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Family
Family relations: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Every mention
50 references, counted from STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · verse text: World English Bible (public domain)
Judges47 mentions
Judges 6:11Yahweh’s angel came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.Judges 6:13Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t Yahweh bring us…Judges 6:19Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and…Judges 6:22Gideon saw that he was Yahweh’s angel; and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! Because I have seen Yahweh’s angel face to face!”Judges 6:24Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it “Yahweh is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.Judges 6:27Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Yahweh had spoken to him. Because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, he could not do it by day, but he did it by…Judges 6:29They said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” When they inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”Judges 6:32Therefore on that day he named him Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar.”Judges 6:34But Yahweh’s Spirit came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together to follow him.Judges 6:36Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,Judges 6:39Gideon said to God, “Don’t let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once. Please let me make a trial just this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the…Judges 7:1Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. Midian’s camp was on the north side of them, by the hill of…Judges 7:2Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel brag against me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’Judges 7:4Yahweh said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. It shall be, that those whom I tell you, ‘This shall go with…Judges 7:5So he brought down the people to the water; and Yahweh said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, like a dog laps, you shall set him by himself; likewise everyone who…Judges 7:7Yahweh said to Gideon, “I will save you by the three hundred men who lapped, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, each to his own place.”Judges 7:13When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his fellow. He said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream; and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, came…Judges 7:14His fellow answered, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian into his hand, with all the army.”Judges 7:15It was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. Then he returned into the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for Yahweh has delivered the…Judges 7:18When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and shout, ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon!’”Judges 7:19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch. Then they blew the…Judges 7:20The three companies blew the trumpets, broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they shouted, “The sword…Judges 7:24Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and take the waters before them as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan!” So all the men…Judges 7:25They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at Oreb’s rock, and Zeeb they killed at Zeeb’s wine press, as they pursued Midian. Then they brought the heads of Oreb…Judges 8:4Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing.Judges 8:7Gideon said, “Therefore when Yahweh has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.”Judges 8:11Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck the army; for the army felt secure.Judges 8:13Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres.Judges 8:21Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You rise and fall on us; for as the man is, so is his strength.” Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their…Judges 8:22Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you, your son, and your son’s son also; for you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.”Judges 8:23Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. Yahweh shall rule over you.”Judges 8:24Gideon said to them, “I do have a request: that you would each give me the earrings of his plunder.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)Judges 8:27Gideon made an ephod out of it, and put it in Ophrah, his city. Then all Israel played the prostitute with it there; and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.Judges 8:28So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. The land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.Judges 8:29Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.Judges 8:30Gideon had seventy sons conceived from his body, for he had many wives.Judges 8:32Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.Judges 8:33As soon as Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned again and played the prostitute following the Baals, and made Baal Berith their god.Judges 8:35neither did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown to Israel.Judges 9:1Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying,Judges 9:2“Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also…Judges 9:5He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone; but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid…Judges 9:16“Now therefore, if you have dealt truly and righteously, in that you have made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to…Judges 9:19if you then have dealt truly and righteously with Jerubbaal and with his house today, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you;Judges 9:24that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother who killed them, and on the men of Shechem who…Judges 9:28Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal? Isn’t Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of…Judges 9:57and God repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads; and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came on them.
What the dictionary says
Called also Jerubbaal (Judg. 6:29, 32), was the first of the judges whose history is circumstantially narrated (Judg. 6-8).
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Read the article →Sources
- STEPBible TIPNR · Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References · CC BY 4.0 · github.com/STEPBible/STEPBible-Data
- Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869) · Public domain