1. Judges 6:11 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What does Gideon’s name mean?

Judges 6:11 (ESV)

11 Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

Gideon means “the one who hacks or cuts down,” which is a fitting name for the man whose first task will be to destroy the altar of Baal on his father’s property (Judges 6:25–27).