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gideon


gideon

 

  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  U.S.  Gazetteer  (1990)  [gazetteer]: 
 
  Gideon,  MO  (city,  FIPS  26974) 
  Location:  36.45082  N,  89.91064  W 
  Population  (1990):  1104  (454  housing  units) 
  Area:  4.7  sq  km  (land),  0.0  sq  km  (water) 
  Zip  code(s):  63848 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Gideon 
  called  also  Jerubbaal  (Judg.  6:29,  32),  was  the  first  of  the 
  judges  whose  history  is  circumstantially  narrated  (Judg.  6-8). 
  His  calling  is  the  commencement  of  the  second  period  in  the 
  history  of  the  judges.  After  the  victory  gained  by  Deborah  and 
  Barak  over  Jabin,  Israel  once  more  sank  into  idolatry,  and  the 
  Midianites  (q.v.)  and  Amalekites  with  other  "children  of  the 
  east,"  crossed  the  Jordan  each  year  for  seven  successive  years 
  for  the  purpose  of  plundering  and  desolating  the  land.  Gideon 
  received  a  direct  call  from  God  to  undertake  the  task  of 
  delivering  the  land  from  these  warlike  invaders.  He  was  of  the 
  family  of  Abiezer  (Josh.  17:2;  1  Chr.  7:18),  and  of  the  little 
  township  of  Ophrah  (Judg.  6:11).  First  with  ten  of  his 
  servants,  he  overthrew  the  altars  of  Baal  and  cut  down  the 
  asherah  which  was  upon  it  and  then  blew  the  trumpet  of  alarm, 
  and  the  people  flocked  to  his  standard  on  the  crest  of  Mount 
  Gilboa  to  the  number  of  twenty-two  thousand  men.  These  were 
  however,  reduced  to  only  three  hundred.  These  strangely  armed 
  with  torches  and  pitchers  and  trumpets,  rushed  in  from  three 
  different  points  on  the  camp  of  Midian  at  midnight,  in  the 
  valley  to  the  north  of  Moreh,  with  the  terrible  war-cry,  "For 
  the  Lord  and  for  Gideon"  (Judg.  7:18,  R.V.).  Terror-stricken, 
  the  Midianites  were  put  into  dire  confusion,  and  in  the  darkness 
  slew  one  another,  so  that  only  fifteen  thousand  out  of  the  great 
  army  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  escaped  alive.  The 
  memory  of  this  great  deliverance  impressed  itself  deeply  on  the 
  mind  of  the  nation  (1  Sam.  12:11;  Ps  83:11;  Isa.  9:4;  10:26; 
  Heb.  11:32).  The  land  had  now  rest  for  forty  years.  Gideon  died 
  in  a  good  old  age,  and  was  buried  in  the  sepulchre  of  his 
  fathers.  Soon  after  his  death  a  change  came  over  the  people. 
  They  again  forgot  Jehovah,  and  turned  to  the  worship  of  Baalim, 
  "neither  shewed  they  kindness  to  the  house  of  Jerubbaal"  (Judg. 
  8:35).  Gideon  left  behind  him  seventy  sons,  a  feeble,  sadly 
  degenerated  race,  with  one  exception,  that  of  Abimelech,  who 
  seems  to  have  had  much  of  the  courage  and  energy  of  his  father, 
  yet  of  restless  and  unscrupulous  ambition.  He  gathered  around 
  him  a  band  who  slaughtered  all  Gideon's  sons,  except  Jotham, 
  upon  one  stone.  (See  {OPHRAH}.) 
 
 
  From  Hitchcock's  Bible  Names  Dictionary  (late  1800's)  [hitchcock]: 
 
  Gideon,  he  that  bruises  or  breaks;  a  destroyer