Meaning of the Name Gideon
Gideon appears in Hebrew as "Gid'on." Most explanations connect it with the idea of "hewer," "cutter," or a warrior who cuts down, though the exact root analysis is not absolutely certain. So there is a common meaning proposal, with some remaining uncertainty in detail.
Origin
The name Gideon is of Hebrew origin.
Who is Gideon in the Bible?
Gideon is the deliverer in Judges whom God raises up against the Midianites. The victory won with a deliberately reduced force emphasizes that deliverance depends on God's action rather than on human numbers. He is by far the best-known bearer of the name in Scripture.
The story of Gideon in the Bible
Gideon's story opens when Israel was crushed by the Midianites and its harvests plundered. The angel of the LORD appeared to him as he threshed wheat in a winepress to hide it from Midian, calling him a mighty warrior. Gideon hesitated, protesting that his clan was the weakest in Manasseh and he the least in his father's house. Still, he began by tearing down his father's altar of Baal, then sought assurance through the signs of the woolen fleece. Before battle he had thirty-two thousand men, but the LORD said they were too many: the fearful went home, the rest were sifted by how they drank water, and only three hundred remained. With trumpets, empty jars, and torches this small band surrounded the Midianite camp by night; the enemy panicked, turned on itself, and scattered. Offered rule after the victory, Gideon replied that neither he nor his son would govern, for the LORD would rule Israel. Hebrews lists him among the examples of faith, and his story insists that deliverance rests not on numbers but on God's intervention.
Is Gideon mentioned in the Quran?
The name Gideon does not appear in the Quran; in the Bible he appears in the book of Judges as the deliverer who defeated the Midianites with three hundred men.
Verses where Gideon appears
- Judges 6:11 —
Yahweh’s angel came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.
- Judges 7:1 —
Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
- Hebrews 11:32 —
What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets;