Gideon
| Gideon | |
|---|---|
Gideon from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
|
|
| Born | 12th century BCE |
| Died | 11th century BCE |
| Predecessor | Deborah |
| Successor | Abimelech |
| Parent(s) |
|
Gideon or Gedeon (Hebrew: גִּדְעוֹן, Modern Gid'on, Tiberian Giḏʻôn), also named Jerubbaal (יְרֻבַּעַל Yĕrubba`al) and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites is recounted in the chapters 6 to 8 of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible.
Gideon was the son of Joash, from the Abiezrite clan in the tribe of Manasseh and lived in Ephra (Ophrah). As a leader of the Israelites, he won a decisive victory over a Midianite army despite a vast numerical disadvantage, leading a troop of 300 'valiant' men.
The nineteenth-century Strong's Concordance derives the name "Jerubbaal" from "Baal will contend", in accordance with the folk etymology given in Judges 6:32. According to biblical scholar Lester Grabbe (2007), "[Judges] 6.32 gives a nonsensical etymology of his name; it means something like 'Let Baal be great.'"
Likewise, where Strong gave the meaning "hewer" to the name Gideon, biblical scholar Simon John DeVries (1975) suggests the etymology "driver."
According to modern scholars, the use of both names "Gideon" and "Jerubbaal" reflects two originally independent sets of stories combined by an editor who wishes them to be seen as a referring to a single character.
As is the pattern throughout the Book of Judges, the Israelites again turned away from Yahweh after 40 years of peace brought by Deborah's victory over Canaan, and Midianites, Amalekites and other Bedouin peoples harry Israel for seven years. God chose Gideon, a young man from the tribe of Manasseh, to free the people of Israel and to condemn their idolatry. The Angel of the Lord, or "the Lord’s angelic messenger" came "in the character ... of a traveller who sat down in the shade [of the terebinth tree] to enjoy a little refreshment and repose" and entered into conversation with Gideon. The narrative has echoes of the meeting between Abraham and the visitors who came to him in the terebinth trees of Mamre and promised Abraham and Sarah, in their old age, that they would have a son.
...
Wikipedia