Gideon also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth was an Israelite shopeṭ, military leader, and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites is described in Judges 6–8 in the Hebrew Bible.
Gideon and the Fleece (1550) by Maarten van Heemskerck
Gideon thanking God for the Miracle of the Dew, painting by Maarten van Heemskerck (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg)
Gideon's fleece, as symbol of Mary, in a "Hunt of the Unicorn Annunciation" (c. 1500) from a Netherlandish book of hours. For the complicated iconography, see Hortus Conclusus.
Abimelech or Abimelek was the king of Shechem and the tribal territory of Manasseh, and a son of biblical judge Gideon. His name can best be interpreted as "my father is king", claiming the inherited
Gideon
…God had done for them. Gideon had 70 sons from the many women he took as wives. He also had a Shechemite concubine who bore him a son whom he named Abimelech, which means "my father is king". There was peace in Israel for 40 years during the life of Gideon. As soon as Gideon died of old age, the Israelites…
Gustave Doré, The Death of Abimelech