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.
With more than 1,500 subjects and proper names defined and analyzed, this dictionary, authored by Dr. Edwin Rice, will provide unique insites into the Bible as it has since its introduction in 1893Wikipedia
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