Gideon

Gideon, a play by Paddy Chayefsky, is a seriocomic treatment of the story of Gideon, a judge in the Old Testament. The play had a successful Broadway run in 1961 and was broadcast on NBC in 1971 as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. The story Chayefsky drew from three chapters in the Book of Judges in writing this play, which explores the relationship of an ordinary man to God. "The Angel of the Lord" appears before Gideon and drafts him to perform one of God's miracles. Gideon is to save his people from idolatry by winning an impossible battle in which 300 Israelites will defeat 120,000 Midianites.