Gideon was a judge from the clan of the Abiezrites in the tribe of Manasseh, named Jerubbaal after tearing down Baal's altar; he defeated the Midianites with a deliberately reduced army, demonstrating that salvation belongs to God alone.
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Gideon's story unfolds during a period when Israel was oppressed by the Midianites. Year after year the Midianites invaded the land, ravaging crops and livestock, so that the people of Israel lived in dens and caves and were forced to thresh wheat in hidden places. Gideon was the son of Joash, from the clan of the Abiezrites within the tribe of Manasseh. At the very moment he was beating out wheat in a winepress at Ophrah to hide it from the Midianites, the angel of the LORD appeared and called him to deliver Israel. Faced with this commission, Gideon hesitated and repeatedly asked for confirmation, receiving signs through the fleece of wool and the fire that consumed his offering. The LORD first instructed Gideon to tear down his father's altar of Baal, cut down the Asherah beside it, and build a proper altar on the rock. Gideon obeyed by night, and from this act he received the name Jerubbaal, meaning "Let Baal contend against him," a name that stood as a perpetual testimony against idolatry. To ensure that glory belonged to God alone, the LORD deliberately reduced Gideon's army from thirty-two thousand down to only three hundred, so that Israel could not boast that her own hand had saved her. Leading this small force, Gideon descended at the beginning of the middle watch with trumpets, empty jars, and torches. At his signal the jars were broken, the torches revealed, and the trumpets blown; the enemy camp was thrown into confusion and turned its swords against itself. The Midianites fled in panic, and Israel was delivered. Gideon's experience led him to declare that the LORD rules in righteousness and would rescue them from the hand of Midian. Though Gideon later faltered, he is remembered among the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11, a testament to how God accomplishes salvation through weak and unlikely vessels.