Yet Gideon said to them, "I would request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his spoil." (For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) They said, "We will surely give them." So they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil. The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the neck bands that were on their camels' necks.
3. (Judges 8:27) Gideon, using the riches he received, assumes an inappropriate role as religious leader and leads Israel into idolatry
Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
Gideon made it into an ephod: Gideon takes yet another step which is very troubling. He may have refuse to be Israel's official king, but he obviously attempted to create a new alternative to the existing priesthood by making himself equivalent to the High Priest. He took much of the roughly 50 pounds of gold and made an ephod. An ephod was a ritualistic vest worn by the High Priest. Gideon used it in his hometown of Ophrah.
The Torah's description of the High Priest's ephod in Exodus 26:6-7 is tantalizingly insufficient. It is written as if it presumes the readers know what it is.
They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen, worked into designs. It shall have two shoulder-pieces attached; they shall be attacked at its two ends. (Exodus 26:6-7)
This only indicates the materials used for the ephod and the fact that is has shoulder pieces. The next verses show that an ephod has a heshev (decorated band, Exodus 28:8), rings (Exodus 28:8) and a jacket (Exodus 28:31). There is also another mysterious item the hoshen mishpat (breastplate of judgment, Exodus 28:15) which should be attached to the ephod.
The ephod is described in the Bible using the verb "to gird". This implies that the ephod is perhaps a belt or sash. To most commentators, a belt and shoulder straps suggest an apron-like garment...but aprons come in many shapes. Despite the enormous amount of detail provided (mainly in Exodus 28 and Exodus 39), a clear picture of what the ephod looked like is difficult to obtain.
In earlier studies, I mentioned that one of the reasons Israel was constantly flirting with idolatry and then going through these cycles of apostasy, punishment by God, oppression (as part of the punishment), deliverance and then restoration and a long period of peace is the priesthood was not functioning properly. It was probably due to a combination of the people playing little attention to them, (the priest had no actual civil authority over the 12 tribes) and the people not giving the priesthood their tithes and offerings. The priests had little choice but to work for a living. The priesthood was losing their hold and authority over Israel.
The Tabernacle during this time was located in Shiloh. So, for Gideon to make himself a High Priest ritual vest and keep it in Ophrah demonstrates how far from any Scriptural teaching Israel was operating.
All of Israel played the harlot with it there: Verse 27 says the people looked up to Gideon's ephod as an idol. More accurately, it says they went whoring after it. Israel accepted the ephod and its wearer as the real thing. It became not a tool of God but an object to be worshiped. It became an idol.
God had ordained only one High Priest. Now Gideon, who had refused the civil role as a king, turned right around and created the spiritual/religious role of High Priest for himself. This same thing would be copied many years in the future when the Israelites of Samaria broke away from the Jerusalem based priesthood and created their own separate and independent priest. They even built their own temple which was still in operation during Jesus' day.
5. (Judges 8:28-35) Gideon hopes for a hereditary rule
So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon. Then Jerubaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. Now Gideon had seventy sons who were his direct descendants, for he had many wives. His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god. Thus the sons of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered from the hands of all their enemies on every side; nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubaal (that is Gideon) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.
So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel: Despite all of Gideon's foibles and delusions of grandeur, Midian was defeated. The northern tribes of Israel were delivered, and Gideon had settles in as the Judge over that area of Canaan. His office would last for forty years. There would be peace and rest for God's people (at least in the north of Canaan) during that time.
Now Gideon had seventy sons who were his direct descendants: Verse 30 explains Gideon's rather inflated view of himself. He had seventy sons by many wives. Having seventy sons requires a lot of wealth. Do you recall from chapter six in which Gideon explained to God that he could not possibly be the Savior of Israel because his clan was the poorest of the tribe of Manasseh? Having many wives was something looked down upon by God and was only deemed acceptable in Hebrew society if royalty produced such a harem.
His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech: Verse 31 sets up the next chapter for us. We are introduced to a man named Abimelech, which translated into English means, my father is the king. This was Gideon's son by means of a concubine from the city of Shechem. This does NOT mean Abimelech was illegitimate. But it does mean that he automatically carried a lower status than his brothers.
Abimelech is a regal title. Abimelech is NOT a name. In other words, this is not the formal name this son of a concubine was given shortly after birth. Rather, it was a title given to him later on in life by Gideon. He was probably given the name in adolescence. Thus, we see Gideon's prosperity to serve out his time as judge was done in a very kingly manner. Such a title was give to a son because the father has high aspirations for him. We are going to see in Judges chapter nine that Abimelech fully embraced those aspirations.
And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe old age: The chapter ends with Gideon's death. It says he lived until a ripe old age meaning he received God's blessing of a full life span. But as soon as he died, Israel immediately started chasing the Canaanite gods again! They went so far as to actually name Baal Berith (Baal of the covenant) as their god.
Good leadership is essential in God's plan. Any human leader is subject to failures. Gideon was no different. What he could not have known, though, is what his example would do to his family after his death.
It is absolutely astounding how fast a person, family or nation can forget God's blessings that made them who and what they are. They turn away to idolatry. Israel could not resist the pull towards Baal because the people who lived among Israel were Canaanites who worshiped Baal. This pagan Mystery Babylon religion was very attractive to most Hebrews, and they could not wait to get back to it the minute a godly leader was not there to insist allegiance to God.
Yet in all of this one should not overlook the power of Satan to bring delusion. He had deluded the Israelite people in the first place to follow this false way. Now he was able rather easily to do the same all over again despite the awesome and unmistakable lessons God taught Israel. One must never underestimate the power of the great and continuing enemy of God and God's program of redemption.
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