Righteous
Righteous Gideon
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Righteous Gideon — an Old Testament judge of Israel from the tribe of Manasseh, who delivered the people from years of Midianite oppression; called by the Angel of the Lord, he tested God's will with the sign of the fleece, defeated the enemy in a night attack with only 300 men, and refused the kingship offered to him.
Righteous Gideon, son of Joash of the tribe of Manasseh, lived in the era of the Judges of Israel, around the 12th century BC, when the people of Israel were oppressed by the Midianites. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him while he was threshing wheat and called him to become the deliverer of his people. Wishing to be certain of the truth of his calling, Gideon twice tested God's will with the sign of a wool fleece (Judges 6:36-40): the first time dew fell only on the fleece, leaving the ground around it dry; the second time, the reverse. At God's command Gideon reduced his army from 32,000 to 300 men, chosen by a special test of how they drank water from the river, so that the victory would be clearly attributed not to human strength but to God. By night, with trumpets, torches hidden in jars, and the battle cry "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!" the small band put the vastly larger Midianite host to flight. After the victory the people offered Gideon hereditary kingship, but he refused, saying, "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you" (Judges 8:23). He judged Israel for forty years.