Person Old Testament
Joash
Joash, the father of Gideon, supported his son's actions in tearing down the altar of Baal. Mentioned in 8 verses across 1 book, first at Judges 6:11.
Why it matters. The father of Gideon, a judge of Israel
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Joash
Joash, an Abiezrite from the tribe of Manasseh, was the father of Gideon, one of the judges of Israel. He first appears in Jdg.6.11, where the Angel of the Lord visits Gideon while he is threshing wheat in Joash's winepress to hide from the Midianites.
When Gideon tears down the altar of Baal and the Asherah pole beside it, the men of the city demand that Joash surrender his son to be put to death (Jdg.6.29-30). However, Joash defends Gideon, saying that if Baal is truly a god, he can defend himself (Jdg.6.31). This event earns Gideon the name Jerubbaal, meaning "Let Baal contend against him."
Joash is mentioned again in Jdg.7.14, where the Midianites interpret a dream as a sign that God has given them into the hand of Gideon, the son of Joash. After Gideon's victory over the Midianites, he returns to his father's house in Ophrah (Jdg.8.13,29). Joash dies at a good old age and is buried in the tomb of his father in Ophrah (Jdg.8.32).
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Children
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Appears in Scripture
Named in 8 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.