Again we have more than one name for the same person due to the merging of two different traditions. Gideon and Jerubbaal are the same person. Midianites and Ishmaelites are the same people, Israel's new enemy. Gideon, the reluctant warrior, responded to the divine sign "there sprang up fire from the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes". First, he took down all the altars to Baal and then asked for another divine sign. And so it was "dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew". God selected all those who "laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps" for battle. Gideon's pre-battle speech was a rousing interpretation of a dream after which three hundred men approached the enemy with trumpets, empty jars, and torches. Now the men of Ephraim showed irritation of not being fully informed about the fight with Midian. Gideon appeased them with flattering talk. Gideon declined the offer to be king. Yahweh was king. Gideon dies and "the people of Israel truned again and played the harlot after the Baals".
Again we have more than one name for the same person due to the merging of two different traditions. Gideon and Jerubbaal are the same person. Midianites and Ishmaelites are the same people, Israel's new enemy. Gideon, the reluctant warrior, responded to the divine sign "there sprang up fire from the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes". First, he took down all the altars to Baal and then asked for another divine sign. And so it was "dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew". God selected all those who "laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps" for battle. Gideon's pre-battle speech was a rousing interpretation of a dream after which three hundred men approached the enemy with trumpets, empty jars, and torches. Now the men of Ephraim showed irritation of not being fully informed about the fight with Midian. Gideon appeased them with flattering talk. Gideon declined the offer to be king. Yahweh was king. Gideon dies and "the people of Israel truned again and played the harlot after the Baals".
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