How did Gideon respond to God's call?

Answer 1

After asking for a sign to make sure God would aid him, he obeyed God, destroying an idolatrous altar and gathering an army to fight the Midianites (Judges ch.6-7). He was called Yerubaal, alluding to his having destroyed the idolatrous altar of baal (Judges 6:31-32). See also:

Monotheism in Judaism

Answer 2

One of the biblical judges is Jerubbaal, which indicates that his father named him in honour of the god Baal, known to have been worshipped in Israel, but Jerubbaal was also known in the Book of Judges as Gideon (see, for example, Judges 7:1). As Gideon, he was the hero whom God had chosen to drive out the Midianite menace. The author of Judges would not write the story the defeat of the Midianites, when his name was associated with Baal, thus the temporary change of name. In Judges 6:11-14, the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said that he was chosen to save Israel from the Midianites. In Judges 6:17, Gideon responded by asking the angel of God for a sign. When called upon to destroy the temple of Baal and hew down the groves of Asherah (Judges 6:25), he did so, earning him the name Gideon ('He hews'). A later passage (Judges 6:31-32) claims the opposite: that he was named Jerubbal because he destroyed the altar of Baal, but Joshua Darby describes this as an extreme form of midrash (a re-interpretation of legend).

A later text, 2 Samuel 11:21, reflects a negative view of the name of Jerubbaal by referring to him as Jerubbeshet ('possessed of shame', because his real name meant 'possessed of Baal').

Answer 3

Gideon responded to God's call with doubt and fear, asking for multiple signs to confirm that it was really God speaking to him. Despite his initial hesitations, Gideon eventually obeyed God and led the Israelites to victory against their enemies.

Answer 4

he was resistant

Answer 5

old enough