Gideon in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

gid'-e-un (gidh`on, "cutter down," "feller" or "hewer"): 1. His Family and Home: Also named Jerubbaal (Jdg 6:32) and Jerubbesheth (2 Sam 11:21), youngest son of Joash, of the clan of Abiezer in the tribe of Manasseh. His home was at Ophrah, and his family an obscure one. He became the chief leader of Manasseh and the fifth recorded judge of Israel. The record of his life is found in Jdg 6 through 8. Joash was an idolater, and sacrifices to Baal were common among the entire clan. Gideon seems to have held this worship in contempt, and to have pondered deeply the causes of Israel's reverses and the injuries wrought upon his own family by the hand of the Midianites. 2. The Midianite Oppression: The Midianites under Zebah and Zalmunna, their two greatest chiefs, accompanied by other wild tribes of the eastern desert, had gradually encroached on the territory of Israel in Central Israel. They came first as marauders and pillagers at the time of the harvests, but later they forcibly took possession of lands, and thus inflicted permanent injury and loss, especially upon Manasseh and Ephraim. The conflicts became so numerous, the appropriation of land so flagrant, that the matter of sustenance became a serious problem (Jdg 6:4). The multitude of these desert hordes and the cruelty of their depredation rendered defense difficult, and, lacking in the split of national unity, the Israelites were driven to dens, caves and rocky strongholds for safety (Jdg 6:2). After seven years of such invasion and suffering Gideon comes upon the scene...