Gideon

4 definitions found

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
  

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 U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000) [gaz-place]:

  Gideon, MO -- U.S. city in Missouri
     Population (2000):    1113
     Housing Units (2000): 465
     Land area (2000):     1.799243 sq. miles (4.660018 sq. km)
     Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
     Total area (2000):    1.799243 sq. miles (4.660018 sq. km)
     FIPS code:            26974
     Located within:       Missouri (MO), FIPS 29
     Location:             36.454799 N, 89.918691 W
     ZIP Codes (1990):     63848
     Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
     Headwords:
      Gideon, MO
      Gideon