Gideon
Called "mighty man of valour" while hiding in a winepress.
Old Testament · c. 12th century BC · Judges, Hebrews · Also known as Jerubbaal, Son of Joash
About Gideon
Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites when the angel of the LORD greeted him: "The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour." Gideon protested that his family was the poorest and he was the least. He pulled down his town’s altar to Baal by night, asked God for signs with a fleece, and saw his army cut from 32,000 to 300. With trumpets, empty pitchers and torches, they routed Midian. He refused to be king, saying, "The LORD shall rule over you," but his gold ephod later became a snare to Israel.
The Midianites raided Israel’s crops every harvest for seven years. Threshing normally happened in the open so the wind could blow away the chaff; doing it in a winepress shows how afraid people were.
The story
Hiding in the winepress
Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress, "to hide it from the Midianites." The angel of the LORD appeared and said, "The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour." Gideon answered, "My family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house." "Surely I will be with thee," came the reply.
Judges 6:11-16
Down came Baal’s altar
God told Gideon to pull down his father’s altar to Baal and build an altar to the LORD. He did it with ten servants, but "because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city," he did it by night.
Judges 6:25-32
The fleece
Gideon asked for a sign: dew on a fleece but the ground dry. In the morning he wrung out a bowlful of water. Then he asked again, the other way round: "let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew." "And God did so that night."
Judges 6:36-40
Three hundred
"The people that are with thee are too many," God said, "lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." The fearful went home, then the army was tested at the water. 32,000 became 300.
Judges 7:1-8
The sword of the LORD
At night the 300 surrounded the Midianite camp with trumpets and torches hidden in empty pitchers. They blew the trumpets, smashed the pitchers and cried, "The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon." The camp fled in confusion.
Judges 7:16-22
Key moments
- Called while hiding: "Thou mighty man of valour." (Judges 6:12)
- Pulls down Baal’s altar: By night. (Judges 6:27)
- The fleece: Wet, then dry. (Judges 6:37-40)
- An army of 300: "Lest Israel vaunt themselves." (Judges 7:2-7)
- Refuses to be king: "The LORD shall rule over you." (Judges 8:23)
Questions about Gideon
In meetBible these answers are given in Gideon’s voice. They are written by hand and checked against Scripture.
Why did you ask God for signs?
I said it myself: "If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said." I asked for dew on the fleece and dry ground, then the opposite, and even said, "Let not thine anger be hot against me." Scripture records that "God did so that night." It doesn’t praise or blame me for asking; it shows God’s patience with a frightened man.
Why did God make your army so small?
God told me plainly: "The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." First the fearful went home, then the rest were tested at the water, until three hundred were left.
Connected people
Read it yourself
Start with Judges 6–7.