Gideon (gĭd'e-on), he that cuts down. youngest son of Joash, whose family lived at Ophrah, Judges 6:15, in the territory of Manasseh, near Shechem. He was the fifth and greatest recorded judge of Israel. He had sons, Judges 6:11, Judges 8:22; and was called by an angel to be a deliverer of Israel. Judges 1:6-40. Clothed by the Spirit of God, Judges 6:34; comp. 1 Chronicles 12:18, he blew a trumpet and was joined by Zebulun, Naphtali and even the reluctant Asher. Strengthened by a double sign from God, he reduced his army by the usual proclamation. Deuteronomy 20:1, Deuteronomy 20:8. by a second test at "the spring of trembling" he further reduced the number of his followers to 300. Judges 7:5. ff, The midnight attack upon the Midianites, their panic, and the rout and slaughter that followed, are told in Judges 1:7-25. The memory of this splendid deliverance took deep root in the national traditions. 1 Samuel 12:11, Psalms 83:11, Isaiah 9:4, Isaiah 10:26, Hebrews 11:32. After this there was a peace of forty years, Judges 1:8-31. He refused the crown. Judges 8:23.