Gideon

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Call of, by an angel

• Judges 6:11 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
• Judges 6:14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

His excuses

• Judges 6:15 “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

Promises of the Lord to

• Judges 6:16 “Surely I will be with you,” the LORD replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.”

Angel attests the call to, by miracle

• Judges 6:21–24 Then the angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. When Gideon realized that it was the angel o…

He destroys the altar of Baal, and builds one to the Lord

• Judges 6:25–27 On that very night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold. And with the wood of the Ashera…

His prayer tests

• Judges 6:36–40 Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said, then behold, I will place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”

Leads an army against and defeats the Midianites

• Judges 6:33–35 Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. So the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, who blew the ram’s horn and rallied the Abiezrites behind him. Calling them to arms, Gideon sent messengers…
• Judges 7 Early in the morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glo… (whole chapter)
• Judges 8:4–12 Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit. So Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my troops some bread, for they are exhausted, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” But the leaders of Succoth aske…

Reproaches the Ephraimites for not joining in the campaign against the Midianites

• Judges 8:1–3 Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently. But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the…

Avenges himself upon the people of Succoth

• Judges 8:14–17 There he captured a young man of Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth. And Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and…

Israel desires to make him king; he refuses

• Judges 8:22–23 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us — you and your son and grandson — for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.”

Makes an ephod which becomes a snare to the Israelites

• Judges 8:24–27 Then he added, “Let me make a request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.” (For the enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) “We will give them gladly,” they replied. So they spread out a garment, and each man threw an earring from his plunder onto it.

Had seventy sons

• Judges 8:30 Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.

Death of

• Judges 8:32 Later, Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Faith of

• Hebrews 11:32 And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,