GIDEON gĭd’ ĭ ən (גִּדְעֹ֑ון, LXX Γεδεών, G1146, a cutting down or a hewer). The son of Joash, the Abiezrite, from the tribe of Manasseh, and the fifth recorded judge of Israel (Judg 6-8). Also called JERUBBAAL (let Baal strive, contend; Judg 6:32; 7:1, et al.) and JERUBBESHETH (let shame strive, contend; 2 Sam 11:21).
1. Background. During the period of the Judges there was no predetermined or planned leadership such as under a monarchy where the son of the king would rule after the death of the king. God raised up individuals to meet special circumstances, who acted as rulers, judging Israel. The Israelites were unorganized and the tribes disunited. This left them open to oppression by neighboring tribes. “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg 21:25). The Israelites repeatedly fell into sin and idolatry; after which God gave them over to their enemies. At the time of Gideon, the oppressors were the Midianites and the Amalekites who periodically plundered the land, destroying what they could not carry away. With their crops destroyed at each planting, the starving Israelites cried to the Lord. God sent a prophet to rebuke them for their disobedience. After seven years of suffering God delivered the Israelites by the hand of Gideon.
2. Call of Gideon. The angel of the Lord (Judg 6:11ff., simply the Lord) appeared to Gideon at his home in Ophra (not positively identified) while Gideon was threshing wheat covertly to hide it from the Midianites. When the stranger informed Gideon that he was to deliver Israel, he asked for proof to validate the message. At the angel’s request, Gideon prepared food and presented it to the angel who caused the food to go up in flames, and the angel promptly vanished. It should be noted that the dynamic leadership of Gideon that followed was not the result of public demand, personal desires for leadership, or a high opinion of his own abilities, but only as a result of the knowledge that God had called him and was leading him. For this reason Gideon asked for and received proof of God’s call both at this time and later. That night, following the Lord’s instructions, Gideon and his servants pulled down the altar of Baal, erected an altar to the Lord, and offered a bull, using the wood of the Asherah that was by the altar of Baal. When the townspeople learned of this the following morning they wanted to put Gideon to death. But Gideon’s father, Joash, refused to deliver Gideon to them, saying that if Baal was a god he could contend for himself and did not need their help. Thus, Gideon was given the name Jerubbaal, “let Baal contend.”
3. The battle against Midian. The Midianites and the Amalekites came in from the E, crossed over the Jordan, and set up camp in the Valley of Jezreel by the hill of Moreh. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; he gathered the Abiezrites and sent messengers to the rest of the Manassites and also to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, asking them to join him in fighting the Midianites. Although Gideon had already acted on faith he again asked for a sign—an additional miracle to help him in the difficult job ahead and to give faith to others who might have witnessed the event. On one night he left a fleece of wool on the threshing floor, asking for dew on the fleece, but not on the ground. On the following morning he wrung a bowl of water from the fleece although the ground was dry. The next night he asked for the reverse, so he found the fleece dry and the ground wet with dew. Then Gideon and his army of 32,000 men set up camp beside the spring of Harod on Mount Gilboa.
The Lord made it clear that the coming victory was His and not of superior Israelite might. He thus requested Gideon to send the “fearful and trembling” back home. This conformed with the laws for military exemption (Deut 20:1-8). The majority, 22,000, returned home, leaving 10,000. Still too many, the Lord set up another test based on the method of drinking water. The text as it stands does not seem clear. According to some commentators, the majority got down on their knees, put their faces down to the water, and drank it directly; whereas 300, upright, used their hands to put the water to their mouths. The phrase “laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps” (Judg 7:5) is made somehow equal with “lapped, putting their hands to their mouths” (7:6), both of these being opposed to those who kneel down. The comparison made between the dog and the “300” is the standing position. This may have indicated that the 300 were more alert and cautious, as their physical position left them ready for action.
An alternate view is that the 300 fell prostrate and put their mouth to the water, lapping as a dog laps whereas the rest knelt “putting their hands to their mouths.” The last phrase would have to be put at the end of the v. as a textual emendation. The virtue of the 300 in this instance would be their willingness to suffer the discomfort of lying in the dirt, if it was the most efficient way of accomplishing a goal. The important part, however, is that only 300 remained. Gideon kept the 300 and sent the rest home.
Having left Gideon with a fighting force of only 300 men, the Lord saw fit to encourage him again. Leading him to the camp of Midian, the Lord caused Gideon to overhear a man relating his dream to a friend. His friend understood the dream to foretell the defeat of Midian at the hand of Gideon. This may have been an indication of insecurity among the Midianite forces. In any case, it gave Gideon the confidence to proceed with his plans.
That same night Gideon divided his men into three companies and gave them instructions for the attack. They surrounded the camp of Midian with torches hidden inside overturned jars in one hand, and trumpets in the other hand. At the beginning of the middle watch (about midnight) following the lead of Gideon, they blew the trumpets, smashed the jars, and shouted. The sudden light and noise frightened the Midianites and the Lord caused them to fight among themselves and to flee while Gideon and his men stood in their places around the camp. The places to which the Midianites fled (Judg 7:22) are not positively identified but seem to indicate that they went E, crossing the Jordan (and possibly S into the tribe of Ephraim). For an evaluation of the battle from a military standpoint, cf. Bibliography, the last three entries.
4. Clearing out of Midianite troops. God used just 300 men to defeat the Midianites, but the work of destroying the defeated enemy, now spread across the countryside, remained to be done. For this Gideon sent again to Manasseh, Asher, and Naphtali, and also to Ephraim for assistance to seal off the fords of the Jordan blocking their escape. The Ephraimites caught and killed the two princes of Midian—Oreb and Zeeb—and brought their heads to Gideon.
The men from Ephraim complained that they had not been asked to help with the initial battle. Gideon answered with tact and wisdom that Ephraim had slain the princes of Midian and that Gideon himself had done nothing as great as this. The soft answer turned away their wrath. This is in contrast to a similar situation faced by Jephthah, a later judge. The men of Ephraim asked Jephthah why he had fought the Ammonites without asking Ephraim for assistance (Judg 12:1-6). Jephthah answered them correctly and logically, but although the answer was a good one it did not prevent the conflict between the Ephraimites and Jephthah, whereas Gideon’s diplomatic answer made peace with Ephraim and averted a civil war.
Gideon pursued Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian, eastward across the Jordan. On the way he asked for provisions for his 300 men from the towns of Succoth and Penuel. Both towns refused him, so after threatening them, he proceeded. Gideon caught Zebah and Zalmunna with their army off guard. (Only 15,000 men were left as 120,000 had already fallen.) The surprise attack again routed the Midianites. Zebah and Zalmunna tried to flee but were caught.
Returning to Succoth, Gideon took thorns and briers from the wilderness and used them to whip the men of Succoth. He also broke down the tower of Penuel and killed men there. When he learned that Zebah and Zalmunna had killed his brothers, Gideon killed them also.
5. Aftermath. From the golden earrings taken in the spoil, Gideon made an ephod (q.v.), which he put in his city, Ophra. Although Gideon was so devoted to the Lord that he refused to rule Israel, saying that the Lord should rule over them, the ephod became a “snare to Gideon and to his family,” and all Israel as it became an object of worship. The land, however, had rest for forty years as a result of his leadership. Gideon had many wives, who bore him seventy sons. He died “in a good old age,” and it was not until after his death that the Israelites again departed from God.
Gideon also had a son by a concubine, Abimelech (q.v.). After Gideon died, Abimelech slew his seventy brothers (except Jotham, the youngest) and set himself up as ruler (Judg 9).
6. Character and influence of Gideon. The writer of Hebrews includes Gideon as one of the heroes of the faith. He certainly learned to trust God for the impossible. He gave evidence of wisdom in the art of warfare and, also, wisdom along with patience and humility in dealing with the Ephraimites. In contrast, he took revenge against Succoth and Penuel. His error in making and worshiping the ephod may be attributed, at least in part, to the ignorance and low moral standards of that time.
Israel later remembered her deliverance by Gideon as one of national importance (Ps 83:11; Isa 9:4; 10:26). The name of Gideon has become popular in Christian circles and has been used to name groups such as Gideons International, a Bible distributing organization.
Bibliography J. M. Lang, Gideon and the Judges (1890); S. Tolkowsky, “Gideon’s 300”, JPOS, V (1925), 69-74; A. Malamat, “The War of Gideon and Midian: A Military Approach,” PEQ (1953), 61-65; Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands (1963), 256-260.