(destroyer), surnamed Jerubbaal or Jerubbesieth, fifth judge in Israel, and the first whose history is circumstantially narrated. He was the son of Joash, of the tribe of Manasseh, and resided at Ophrah in Gilead beyond the Jordan.

The Midianites, in conjunction with the Amalekites and other nomadic tribes, invaded the country every year, at the season of produce, in great numbers, with their flocks and herds. They plundered and trampled down the fields, the vineyards, and the gardens; they seized the cattle, and plundered man and house, rioting in the country, after the manner which the Bedouin Arabs practise at this day. After Israel had been humbled by seven years of this treatment, the Lord raised up a deliverer in the person of Gideon.

Gideon having delivered Israel from the most afflictive tyranny to which they had been subject since they quitted Egypt, the grateful people, and particularly the northern tribes, made him an offer of the crown for himself and his sons. But the hero was too well acquainted with his true position, and with the principles of the theocratical government, to accept this unguarded offer.

The remainder of Gideon's life was peaceable. He had seventy sons by many wives, and died at an advanced age, after he had "ruled Israel" (principally the northern tribes and those beyond the river) for forty years—1249 to 1209 B.C. He is mentioned in the discourse of Samuel (1 Sam. xii. 11), and his name occurs in Heb. xi. 32, among those of the heroes of the faith.