Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
giving up seven men of Saul’s descendants to the Gibeonites, who hung them or crucified them
“before Jehovah”—as a kind of sacrifice— in Gibeah, Saul’s own town. ch. (2 Samuel 21:4,6,9)
Giblites, The
[Gebal]
Giddalti
(I have trained up), one of the sons of Heman, the king’s seer. (1 Chronicles 25:4)
Giddel
(very great).
•Children of Giddel were among the Nethinim who returned from the captivity with Zerubbabel.
(Ezra 2:47; Nehemiah 7:49)
•Bene-Giddel were also among the “servants of Solomon” who returned to Judea in the name
caravan. (Ezra 2:56; Nehemiah 7:58) (B.C. 536.)
Gideon
(he that cuts down), youngest son of Joash of the Abiezrites, an undistinguished family who
lived at Ophrah, a town probably on the west of Jordan, (Judges 6:15) in the territory of Manasseh,
near Shechem. He was the fifth recorded judge of Israel, and for many reasons the greatest of them
all. When we first hear of him he was grown up and had sons, (Judges 6:11; 8:20) and from the
apostrophe of the angel, ch. (Judges 6:12) we may conclude that he had already distinguished
himself in war against the roving bands of nomadic robbers who had oppressed Israel for seven
years. When the angel appeared, Gideon was threshing wheat with a flail in the wine-press, to
conceal it from the predatory tyrants. His call to be a deliverer, and his destruction of Baal’s altar,
are related in Judges 6. After this begins the second act of Gideon’s life. Clothed by the Spirit of
God, (Judges 6:34) comp. 1Chr 12:18; Luke 24:49 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 of 32,000 by the usual proclamation. (20:8) comp. 1 Macc. 3:56. By a second test at “the
spring of trembling the further reduced the number of his followers to 300. (Judges 7:5) seq. The
midnight attack upon the Midianites, their panic, and the rout and slaughter that followed are told
in (Judges 7:1) ... The memory of this splendid deliverance took deep root in the national traditions.
(1 Samuel 12:11; Psalms 83:11; Isaiah 9:4; 10:26; Hebrews 11:32) After this there was a peace of
forty years, and we see Gideon in peaceful possession of his well-earned honors, and surrounded
by the dignity of a numerous household. (Judges 8:29-31) It is not improbable that, like Saul, he
owed a part of his popularity to his princely appearance. (Judges 8:18) In this third stage of his life
occur alike his most noble and his most questionable acts viz., the refusal of the monarchy on
theocratic grounds, and the irregular consecration of a jewelled ephod formed out of the rich spoils
of Midian, which proved to the Israelites a temptation to idolatry although it was doubtless intended
for use in the worship of Jehovah.
Gideoni
(a cutting down), a Benjamite, father of Abidan. (Numbers 1:11; 7:60,65; 10:24)
Gidom
(desolation), a place named only in (Judges 20:45) It would appear to have been situated between
Gibeah (Tuliel-el-Ful) and the cliff Rimmon.
Giereagle
an unclean bird mentioned in (Leviticus 11:18) and Deuteronomy 14:17 Identical in reality as
in name with the racham, of the Arabs, viz., the Egyptian vulture.
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William Smith