Gideon

Gideon (?????????, Standard Hebrew Gid?on, Tiberian Hebrew Gi??ôn) is a character who appears in the Bible's Book of Judges. His story is treated in the chapters 6-8. He is named in the Epistle to the Hebrews as an example of a man of faith.

GIDEON Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon

what do I think it all means... I think it's a stab at the churchthat religion dosen't appeal to people anymore that it becomes somthing you have to do instead of somthing you want to do. that sin is so blatent in society "what have you become?" the refrain confuses me "you animal come on what dose this remind you of?"

"Truly, truly we have become Hated and feared for something that we don't want Listen, listen. Most of us believe that this is wrong"

this can be seen for many different things the church dose or on the other hand seen as the many awful things society claims is right, but we all know is wrong...I need some help understanding this song so help!

I think the religious implication you’ve discussed is spot on. What I have to add below is an account of Gideon’s insurrection against an occupying force and how this positive religious story needs to be remembered by Christians today.

When I was a kid in Sunday school, the teacher would tell bible stories. They were pretty exciting, believe it or not. This one in particular. I'll get to that later.

SS teachers (somewhat fitting) would illustrate their stories using felt bible figures on a felt board. They'd stick to the board and could be moved around. --"Make a sound, come down off the wall"--

The story of Gideon is pretty sweet, especially to kids (Religion should appeal to the hearts of the young). It's about oppression, faith and just being balls out. In the story, Gideon questions God, destroys the neighborhoods altar to Baal pissing everyone off and leads an insurrection against an occupying force. -- "What does this remind you of" --

So Gideon gathers up volunteers. To demonstrate that the victory to come could only be attributed to God, God instructs Gideon to put the men through a series of tests. This reduced the force size from 32,000 to 300. With 300 men he went up against an army of 135,000. He equiped every man with a trumpet, a torch and a clay pitcher. they stuck the torches in the clay pitcher so they could sneak up on the enemy (this was around 3am). Gideon gave a signal and they all broke their clay pitchers (revealing the light), blew their trumpets and shouted "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon."

This is when all the sunday school kids shout "The sword of the lord...."

The Midianites look up, see a bunch of torches and hear trumpets blazing and people shouting, get scared and run away.

"Do you all have different books in the Bible than I do? Are you all Gideons? Who are the fucking Gideons? Ever met one, no! Ever seen one, no! But they're all over the fucking world, putting Bibles in hotel rooms! Every one of them: 'This Bible was placed here by a Gideon.' When? I've been here all day and I ain't seen shit! I saw the housekeeper come and go, I saw the minibar guy come and go, I've never laid eyes on a fucking Gideon! What are they, ninjas? Where are they? Where are they from? Gidea? Who the fuck are these people?!

"I'm gonna capture a Gideon. Yeah, I'm gonna make that my hobby. I'll call up the front desk one day and say, 'Uh, I don't seem to have a Bible in my room.'"

-Bill Hicks

Gideon, what have you told us at all?

-- The Israelites pleaded with Gideon to be their King, but he responded "only God is your ruler".

Make a sound, come down off the wall.

-- He's speaking about religion being cold and stale, that it's just a picture on the wall. I think of it as a crucifix, he's asking it to "come down off the wall", to stop being lifeless, irrelevant and unimportant.

This song is absolutely MEZMORIZING.

I think it's about religion.

When we were young, we thought of religion as something very simple: God is good, and he created us all.

Now that we're older, we understand some flaws in the Biblical stories and become more liable to doubt them.

Basically, religion is spreading farther and farther apart as time goes by. Why? Not because of science.

But because of the Church's ways of giving us that religion.

No gay marriage. No pre-marital sex.

The concept of hell, I believe, was made up. Yes, made up. It was made to MAKE us want to do good. It's a way of scaring us into living by the guidelines.

Think about it this way: If you do something really bad, two things are going on in your head. One, it's a human emotion to feel bad for the person or persons you affected, balanced by two, the fear of sinning. When many people sin, they realize what they did is a strike against them. But, however, you go on with your everyday lives. This may be procrastination.

Take, for example, myself. When I sin, I think: "Ehhh...I'll go to Reconciliation later and cleanse my soul". I haven't gone to Reconciliation in YEARS.

Now, just to say it, I am not anti-religious. I have my beliefs, and I keep them.

I agree that this song is definitely a jab at religion. The lyrics literally say "Who are you? What have you become? Animal." The lyrics are begging "Gideon" to come down off the wall and give us a sign. As someone mentioned before religion has become a lifeless entity.

Overall, if you evaluate religion today and through history it's evident that it has caused so much conflict and stratification. Religion should not cause war and violence it should promote peace, equality, and tolerance. Humanity is taking a turn for the worse and we need faith although it's becoming harder and harder to stay faithful in something that is commonly associated with these problems.

“Gideon, what have you told us at all? Make a sound, come down off the wall. Religion- should appeal to the hearts of the young. Who are you? What have you become?” -I think this is not comparing Bush or any other person to Gideon, but instead asking what the story of Gideon tells us, that a similar situation is going down today and we need to take “that story down off the wall” and learn from history. The rest suggests that even though the young are indoctrinated to learn and believe these tales it doesn’t appeal to them because they don’t understand it in a modern context.

“Truly, truly we have become hated and feared for something that we don't want Listen listen, most of us believe that this is wrong.” -In reference to the Iraq war, Americans would be the Midianites (occupying Iraq). The psychological warfare in this day and age is terrorism, and as a result of this whole clusterfuck Americans (and the world at large) are now turning on one another in debate over (misdirected) retaliation and occupation.

The only lingering question I have is about the animal, is it the leader(s) of the U.S., ignorant Americans, lackluster Christians or the military?

"Gideon, what have you told us at all? Make a sound, come down off the wall. Religion- should appeal to the hearts of the young Who are you? What have you become?"

Gideon was sent by God to free the people Isreal and to condemn their idols. In this instance, George W. Bush is Gideon (since Bush is devout christian) and it's insinuated that he's told nothing but lies to the American people about his real reasons for invading Iraq. "Make a sound, come down off the wall" is telling the American people to quit being Wallflowers and speak up.

"You animal. Come on What does this remind you of?

Truly, truly we have become Hated and feared for something that we don't want Listen, listen. Most of us believe that this is wrong

You animal. Come on What does this remind you of? What does this remind you of? Animal. Come on. What does this remind you of? Animal. Come on."

This last part has to do with the Iraq invasion and "What does this remind you of?" probably has to do with the bullshit invasion his father pulled in the 90's.

I'm not completely clear what the Gideon reference is about, but I do think this is partly about the Iraq War and the Christian Right in America.

Listening to this song, I know the lyrics are religion references, but what's hidden is who Gideon is. He could be, as you say, Gideon from the Torah. I say Gideon is God.