Devotional Meditations: Judges 8:24-27

Some of my thoughts from my personal devotions in Judges 8.

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.) ²⁵And they answered, "We will willingly give them." And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. ²⁶And 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. ²⁷And 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. (Judg 8:24-27)

Chapters 7 and 8 of the book of Judges tell the story of God’s deliverance of the Midianites into the hands of Israel. Clearly this is a mighty work of God, as only 300 Israelites pursued and destroyed the Midianite army which was 135,000 men strong. The Israelite army initially consisted of 32,000 men, but God narrowed down their number to 300 in order to demonstrate His power, and to eliminate any means of boasting on the part of the Israelite people. Despite this fact, as in the rest of the Old Testament, at the end of Chapter 8 we see Israel forget the God who delivered them, turning to false gods and idolatry.

With good intentions, Gideon fashioned an ephod out of the spoils from Israel’s defeat of the Midianites as an act of worship. While this seems good and proper, there is a serious problem with Gideon’s actions, as implied in the text of Judg 8:27.

An ephod was a priestly garment which was worn during ceremonial sacrifices. It is probable that Gideon wore this ephod while functioning as a priest, even performing sacrifices. This was in direct disobedience to God’s appointment of the Aaronic priesthood in the Mosaic Law, as Gideon was not from Aaron’s line. This act, though be it with good intentions, damaged the theocratic unity of Israel by undermining God’s specific instructions regarding worship. This act would have deterred Gideon and the Israelite people from proper worship, thus deeming it idolatry.

No matter how good our intentions, departing from the instruction of God always ends in idolatry of some form or another. We must guard our hearts and commit ourselves to following God’s truth.

BY HIS GRACE (1 Cor 15:10) – FOR HIS GLORY (1 Tim 1:17)