Gideon sent men into the wilderness secretly, to search for king Noah and those that went with him. According to Hugh Nibley, the reader should note that the "men of Gideon" (Mosiah 19:22) is definitely a title here. It's referred to three times all of a sudden. We find in verse 24 that Gideon wasn't present with them. they weren't called the men of Gideon because they were his company. He was back home, and they called themselves the men of Gideon. It represented a regular party [of people who had rebelled against the king]. . . . Gideon's followers, as might be expected, had formed a party. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2, p. 124]