the Second Week after Easter
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Gideon
People's Dictionary of the Bible
Gideon (gĭd'e-on), he that cuts down. youngest son of Joash, whose family lived at Ophrah, Judges 6:15, in the territory of Manasseh, near Shechem. He was the fifth and greatest recorded judge of Israel. He had sons, Judges 6:11; Judges 8:22; and was called by an angel to be a deliverer of Israel. Judges 6:1-40. Clothed by the Spirit of God, Judges 6:34; comp. 1 Chronicles 12:18, he blew a trumpet and was joined by Zebulun, Naphtali and even the reluctant Asher. Strengthened by a double sign from God, he reduced his army by the usual proclamation. Deuteronomy 20:1; Deuteronomy 20:8. By a second test at "the spring of trembling" he further reduced the number of his followers to 300. Judges 7:5. ff, The midnight attack upon the Midianites, their panic, and the rout and slaughter that followed, are told in Judges 7:1-25. The memory of this splendid deliverance took deep root in the national traditions. 1 Samuel 12:11; Psalms 83:11; Isaiah 9:4; Isaiah 10:26; Hebrews 11:32. After this there was a peace of forty years, Judges 8:29-31. He refused the crown. Judges 8:23.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Gideon'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​rpd/​g/gideon.html. 1893.