Again the Israelites offend the LORD, who then delivers them into the power of Midian holding them subject for seven years. For fear of Midian the Israelites establish the fire signals on the mountains, the caves for refuge, and the strongholds.

After the Israelites complete their sowing, as they’ve done before, Midian, Amalek and the Kedemites encamp opposite them. They are intent on destroying the produce of the land as far as the outskirts of Gaza, leaving no sustenance in Israel. There so many of them that when they come into the land they lay it waste.

Being reduced to misery by Midian the Israelites cry out to the LORD, who then sends a prophet who says to the Israelites that these are happening because the LORD has told the Israelites repeatedly not to venerate the gods of the Amorites in whose land they are dwelling but they would not listen.

Gideon, now afraid for having seen the angel of the LORD face to face, is assured by the LORD that he shall not die. Gideon builds there an altar to the LORD and calls it Yahweh-shalom.

That same night the LORD tells Gideon to destroy his father's altar to Baal and cut down the sacred pole that is by it. The LORD tells Gideon to build on top of the stronghold an altar to the LORD, instead. Then he is told to take the seven-year-old spare bullock and offer it as a holocaust on the wood from the sacred pole he has cut down. And Gideon does as the LORD commanded.

Early the next morning the townspeople find that the altar of Baal had been destroyed. Later they find that Gideon, son of Joash, had done it.

So the townspeople say to Joash to bring out his son that he may die. But Joash replies to all who were standing around him, that if he whose altar has been destroyed is a god, let him act for himself! So on that day Gideon is called Jerubbaal, meaning, "Let Baal take action against him, since he destroyed his altar."

Now, all of Midian, Amalek and the Kedemites gather and cross over into the valley of Jezreel, where they encamp.

The spirit of the LORD envelops Gideon. He blows the horn that summons Abiezer to follow him.  He also sends messengers throughout Manasseh, through Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali and these tribes advance to meet the others.

Choosing Gideon's Army

Gideon also sends messengers throughout the mountain region of Ephraim to seize the water courses against them as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan as well.

They capture the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, killing Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb. Then they pursue Midian and carry the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

But the Ephraimites quarreled bitterly with Gideon for not calling them when he attacked Midian. But Gideon tells the Ephraimites that the LORD has delivered the princes of Midian to them. He also tells them that what he has done is nothing compared to what they have accomplished. Thus their anger against him subsides.

about fifteen thousand men. Gideon goes up and attacks the camp. Zebah and Zalmunna flee with Gideon in pursuit. He takes them captive throwing the entire army into panic.

Then Gideon returns from battle by the pass of Heres where he captures a young man of Succoth. Upon being questioned the young man lists for him the seventy-seven princes and elders of Succoth.

Then he goes back to Succoth and captures their princes and elders. He gathers thorns and briers of the desert, and grinds the captive men of Succoth into them. He also demolishes the tower of Penuel and slays the men of the city.

The Israelites then asks Gideon to rule over them for he has rescued them from the power of Midian. But Gideon answers them that neither he nor his sons but the LORD must rule over them.

Gideon goes on to say for each of them to give him a ring from his booty. And they spread out a cloak into which everyone throws a ring from his booty. Gideon receives gold rings weighing seventeen hundred gold shekels, in addition to the crescents and pendants, the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and the trappings that were on the necks of their camels.

Gideon makes an ephod out of the gold and places it in his city Ophrah. However, all Israel pays idolatrous homage to it there, and causes the ruin of Gideon and his family.

Thus Midian becomes the subject of the Israelites and the land is peaceful for forty years, during the lifetime of Gideon.  Then Jerubbaal, son of Joash, goes back home to stay. Now Gideon has seventy sons, his direct descendants, for he had many wives. His concubine who lived in Shechem also bears him a son, whom he names Abimelech.

At a good old age Gideon, son of Joash, dies and is buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. But after Gideon dies, the Israelites again abandon themselves to the Baals, making Baal of Berith their god and forgetting the LORD, their God, who had delivered them from the power of their enemies all around them. Nor were they grateful to the family of Jerubbaal (Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.

availability of atypical art works. Entries are generally based on the 1926-38 edition of Butler's Lives of the Saints, with the length of each entry varying from one-half page to several pages. Short entries giving written insight into the lives of pious individuals are combined with depictions rendered by artists such as Raphael and El Greco. An inexpensive tribute to art and faith more appropriate for gift-giving than for libraries.

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