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Context No. 3727 of 4322 · Judges

Context · Reflection

Judges 8:23-28: in context

23Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. The LORD shall rule over you.” 24Gideon said to them, “I do have a request: that you would each give me the earrings of his plunder.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25They answered, “We will willingly give them.” They spread a garment, and every man threw the earrings of his plunder into it. 26The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, in addition to the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple clothing that was on the kings of Midian, and in addition to the chains that were about their camels’ necks. 27Gideon made an ephod out of it, and put it in Ophrah, his city. Then all Israel played the prostitute with it there; and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house. 28So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. The land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

Gideon does something admirable and something tragic. When Israel offers to make him king, he refuses with a fine confession: I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you. He rightly declines the throne, pointing the people to God as their true king.

But then he asks for the gold from the plunder and makes an ephod, some kind of religious object, and it becomes a snare. All Israel went astray after it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his household. The tragedy is that the same man who refused kingship out of devotion to God unwittingly created an object that led the people into idolatry. There is a sobering lesson here: even our good intentions and religious enthusiasm can go wrong and lead others astray if they are not guided by God's clear direction. Gideon meant well, but his ephod became a snare. Well-meant religious innovation, not commanded by God, can quietly slide into idolatry.

Do I take care that even my religious zeal and good intentions are guided by God's clear direction, lest well-meant things become a snare that leads me or others astray?

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