Gideon was a Nephite military captain in the city of Nephi during the reigns of Noah and Limhi. He first appears as a strong man and an enemy of King Noah: he drew his sword and swore to slay the king, fought him, and pursued him to a tower near the temple. As Gideon was about to kill him, Noah saw a Lamanite army entering the land and begged to be spared so he could warn the people; Gideon spared his life (Mosiah 19:4-11).
Under Limhi, Noah’s successor, Gideon served as the king’s captain. When the Lamanites accused Limhi’s people of stealing their daughters, Gideon told the king the culprits were the priests of Noah, who were hiding in the wilderness, and advised him to pacify the Lamanite king to prevent war (Mosiah 20:17-22). He later proposed the plan that freed Limhi’s people from Lamanite bondage: send the last tribute of wine to make the Lamanite guards drunk, then drive the people, their flocks, and their herds out through a back pass into the wilderness (Mosiah 22:3-9).
In his old age, after Alma served as chief judge over the Nephites, Gideon was a teacher in the church of God. When Nehor contended with him to lead away the church, Gideon withstood him with the words of God (Alma 1:7-8). Enraged, Nehor drew his sword and struck him; being stricken with years, Gideon could not defend himself and was slain (Alma 1:9). The Nephites later named a valley and a city after him (Alma 2:20; 6:7), and a surrounding land of Gideon (Alma 8:1). So defining was this martyrdom that the text uses it as the label for Nehor’s faction: Amlici and his followers are described as being “after the order of the man that slew Gideon” (Alma 2:1), and the same identification echoes through the Alma narrative when Nehorite figures appear (Alma 14:16). Alma later preached to the church in the valley of Gideon “according to the holy order by which he was called,” and urged the congregation to “walk after the holy order of God, after which ye have been received” (Alma 6:8; 7:22).