Judges 8:22-28
Gideon’s Ephod
22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” 23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” 24 And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. 26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. 27 And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. 28 So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they [aised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
In Judges 6, Gideon possessed very desirable godly characteristics that we know are important when serving God and his fellow Israelites. Gideon had great humility, obedience to God, and a growing faith. However, even though he was weak in his faith at times, that did not disqualify Gideon as being a judge and leader. God was with Gideon. Not only did God call him, but He also equipped him for service. Gideon had military victories that freed the Israelites from the Midianite’s reign of terror upon them. These same qualities, however, that were once favored, are now lacking and are descriptive of his weaknesses. For example, Gideon was faithful and with his God-given abilities, he strategically utilized the 300 men that the Lord gave him to their full compacity. With 300 men equipped with trumpets, clay jars, and torches, Gideon routed the Midianites into confusion, which led to the Israelites’ victory. The 300 men’s battle cry was, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’ But sadly, Gideon’s qualities of faithfulness, slipped from his grasp as he became controlled with pride and anger, rather than being controlled by the Spirit of God. For example, Gideon was taunted by his fellow Israelites in the cities of Succoth and Penuel. As a result, Gideon did not walk by faith but stewed in anger, Gideon came back to retaliate and avenge himself by killing all the men in the Israelite town of Penuel. He tortured and flayed the skin of the men from Succoth with branches of thorns and briers, just to teach them a lesson.
That episode of taking vengeance upon himself was just the beginning of Gideon’s decline. In today’s passage in Judges 8:22-28, Gideon is tempted in two different respects. First, Gideon is tempted with pride in verse 8:22-23 to rule over all of Israel as king. Fortunately, for Gideon’s sake, he had the correct answer for those who wanted to make him king. He said in verse 8:23, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” And that was God’s plan for Israel. Instead of being ruled by a monarchy like the other surrounding nations, they were to be ruled by God, as a theocracy. But sadly, as we see from our study in this Book of Judges, the people of God continued to do evil in the sight of God over and over again. Judges 21:25 gives us a sad summation of Isreal’s condition, which says, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The prophet Samuel led the Israelites before they came to Samuel and asked for a king. God told Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:7, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” So thankfully Gideon correctly answered the people of Israel’s request. God will reign and be your king!
However, this is where we see Gideon’s decline in both faithfulness and obedience to God, Gideon collects 1,700 shekels of gold from all the gold earrings from the people, so he can make them an ephod (verses 8:25-27). In the context of this story, the word ephod is not describing a priestly garment that the Lord told Moses. For in Exodus 28:6-14, Moses assigned men to make an ephod, an outer apron “woven out of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet threads, was made of fine linen, and was embroidered with skillful work in gold thread.” This ephod was to support the breast piece that had the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed on it. In this way, the people learned that when the high priest was making sacrifices to the Lord, they were being represented by their names being included on the ephod. For the high priest was to always bear the names of the tribes upon his breast. Instead, however, Gideon build an ephod, which was an idol. How blasphemous! How could Gideon stoop so low to disobey God’s law? The Commandments of the Lord strictly forbids the construction of any false god or graven images. In Exodus 32:1-6, Arron gives in to the Israelite’s request and collects gold from them to build an idol, a golden calf. He presented this to the people and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4). Moses, in godly anger, ground up the gold from the calf and put it in water for the people to drink. Gideon knows this lesson. However, unlike Arron, Gideon, without any persuasion, collects gold and makes them the ephod to be set up in Israel. The passage says the ephod became a snare for Gideon and his family, and most likely for all of Israel as well. He was making a false god to be set up before the people. Instead, as a true leader of Israel, Gideon should have instructed the people to worship the Lord.
This act of disobedience reflects the true nature of Gideon’s heart. Yes, he refused to be their king because the Lord was their ruler. But it seems like, in the same breath, he collects gold to build this image for worship, an ephod. First Samuel 15:22 says, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” Gideon proved to be on a spiritual decline.
in application, God’s word is written for our instruction for our faith and practice in daily life. Some things are prescriptive on what we, as children of God in the body of Christ, should do. Additionally, as we see in this story of Gideon, some things were written for us to warn us. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 15:4, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” And in 1 Corinthians 10:6, it says, “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.” First Corinthians 10:11 says, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” Hebrews 4:11-12 says,
“Let us, therefore, strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Therefore, we too, must be careful and take the Word of God as our warning and our instruction. God is Spirit and we are to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Additionally, no one has seen God except the Son and those whom He chooses to reveal. We worship Jesus Christ, who is our Lord God and Savior. In Him we trust. We worship Him because of who He is and what He has done: he took our sins to the cross and paid the penalty in our place. He died so we may have life and the righteousness of Christ in Him. We must never set up any false idols before us. We are to take off whatever binds us and hinders us. We are to keep our eyes on Christ! We are to never have any image or idol set before us.
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My Father God, I worship and praise Jesus Christ, my Lord God and Savior. I thank you for sending Jesus, Your One and only Son, to die so I might live in Him. I pray for Your Spirit, for I need you every day and every hour. I need you, Lord Jesus. I trust You and I worship You. Help me to live for you in love and in service to others. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen!
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Be Thou My Vision, is an 8th-century Irish hymn that was translated by Eleanor Hull in 1912. Today the hymn is sung to the Irish folk tune “Slane”. This song is rooted in medieval Celtic Christianity and has grown in popularity due to many Christian artists covering the hymn on recent albums. It is believed that the original poem may have been written by an Irish saint who experienced blindness later in life.
