Gideon. (Judg. vi. II.) The son of Joash the Abiezrite, and the same with Jerubbaal the seventh judge of Israel, a mighty man of valor, and peculiarly favored with the presence of the Lord. He was a very humble man; and when the angel proposed to him to go in the strength of the Lord to save Israel from the hands of the Midianites, he replied, "Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least of my father's house." The Lord was pleased to favor Gideon with most remarkable tokens of his power and grace, which are particularly mentioned in Judg. vi., vii., viii. He is honorably mentioned, Heb. xi. 32.
Abimelech. 2. (Judg. viii. 31.) A son of Gideon, who, after the death of his father, persuaded the men of Shechem to make him king. (Judg. ix. 18.) He afterwards put to death seventy of his brothers who dwelt in his father's house at Ophrah, leaving only Jotham, the youngest, alive. After several defeats he was at last mortally wounded by a piece of millstone thrown upon his head by a woman from the top of a tower in Thebez. That it might not be said a woman slew him, he called to his armor-bearer to stab him. with his sword, and thus he died. (Judg. ix. 54—57.)
Jephthah, the tenth judge of Israel, who, in consequence of an extraordinary vow, sacrificed his daughter. Judg. xi. Some learned men, by altering one of the original words a little, and some considerations connected with the narrative, infer that he only consigned her to celibacy. In his day Troy was burnt by the Greeks, about A. M. 2800.
Samson. (Judg. xiii. 24.) Son of Manoah, and for twenty years a Judge of Israel. The circumstances attending the annunciation of his birth are remarkable, (Judg. xiii. 3—23,) and he was distinguished for his gigantic strength. Contrary to the wishes of his
parents, who were observers of the law, (Ex. xxxiv. 16. Deut. vii. 3,) he married a woman of Timnath, a Philistine city On his way to that city, he slew a lion, (Judg. xiv. 5—9, and he was of the tribe of Daniel. Dr. Clarke has shown from M. DeLevaar, that he is the original of the fabled Hercules of heathen mythology. He died 1117 years B. C, aged 40. Judg. xiii. xvi. Heb. xi. 32, 33.
