Old Testament Bible D

Bible Dictionary Project

Abbey Carlson

L26474042

Bible 104 C14 LUO

October 20, 2014

Old Testament Bible Dictionary Project

Gideon

Gideon is introduced as an adult in the Old Testament book of Judges Chapter six. He is the son of Joash the Abiezerit. His home was in Ophrah, in the Valley of Jezreel (Zavada, n.d.). The Israelites had been committing idolatry and other great sins. God allowed them to be raided and attacked by the Midianites for these great sins. Things were so bad that the Israelites hid in the mountain clefts while the armed dessert bandits pillaged the land for seven years (Hindson & Towns, 2013). Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress so he would not be seen. While hiding an angel of the lord appeared to him. The angel called Gideon to defeat the Midianites. Gideon doubted himself, and questioned the angel on the lack of God’s help with the problems the nation was facing. He made excuses that he was too weak and did not have the skills to defeat the Midianites. The angel assured Gideon the Lord would be with him.

Once Gideon agreed the first task the Lord had for Gideon was to tear down the altar of Baal and build an altar for the Lord (Miller, n.d.). Next Gideon gathered an army of 22,000 by blowing a trumpet, but god reduced this number to 300 (dictionary.com). In order to prepare for battle Gideon gave each man a trumpet and a torch. The torch was concealed inside a pottery jar (Zavada, n.d.) Gideon instructed the men on his signal to blow their trumpets and brake the jars to reveal the torches. They also yelled, “The sword of the Lord, and for Gideon.” Judges 7:20, NIV). The Midianites woke in a panic and turned on each other. Midianite men who survived fled to the outer regions of Israel where the soldiers who were3 sent home earlier fought them until they fled. The people of Israel wanted Gideon to become their king, but he refused. He wanted the Lord to be their ruler. Gideon did have one request of the...