Gideon was a judge and military leader, whose story was recounted in the Biblical Book of Judges. “Judge” (Hebrew, shofet) in this book was not a circuit, court judge, but someone raised up by the God of Israel during a crisis. It is equivalent to a military commander of a region. Gideon was of the tribe of Manasseh (one of the sons of Joseph) but is also given two other names, Jerubbaal, and Jerubbesheth.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/Gideon/.