Judges 8:22-35 - The LORD Shall Rule Over You!

Judges 8:22-35

Gideon’s Ephod

22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.”

23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you.” 24 Then Gideon said to them, “I would like to make a request of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from his plunder.” For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.

25 So they answered, “We will gladly give them.” And they spread out a garment, and each man threw into it the earrings from his plunder. 26 Now the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were around their camels’ necks. 27 Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house.

28 Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted their heads no more. And the country was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon.

Death of Gideon

29 Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. 30 Gideon had seventy sons who were his own offspring, for he had many wives. 31 And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. 32 Now Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

33 So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god. 34 Thus the children of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; 35 nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with the good he had done for Israel.

After Gideon led the three hundred to victory for Israel, the people begged him to rule over them as their king.  He wisely refused their honorable request by pointing them to the fact that, “the LORD shall rule over you,” and not he nor his son even.  He acknowledged the sovereign authority and rule of God and did not want to usurp that rule as a mere man.  His spiritual priorities were set on God alone.  He instead asked for something for his efforts, namely the golden earrings of the Ishmaelites plundered by the soldiers.  They willingly gave him those and he then received over one thousand seven hundred shekels worth of gold (42.7 pounds or 19.4 kilograms) from them.  Unfortunately, he made an ephod to be his own sort of foretelling priest and ensnared him and his family in idolatrous worship with that wealth.  Note that as of December 8, 2025, 42 pounds of pure gold is worth approximately $2,585,850.  As some have said, “He refused the kingship but wanted the priesthood.”  Wealth seems to have corrupted good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33, James 1:14-15, 16-17, Colossians 3:5, 1 Timothy 6:17) and spiritual common sense.  On the positive side, Israel had peace for forty years in the days of Gideon after the Midian nation was subdued.  Un, the -astern of the downward spiral continued after his death as Israel once more ran after idols and substituted lifeless idols of man’s hands for the worship of the loving God, the LORD Yahweh who is who He is, not made by any mortal hands.  They quickly forgot God and wiped Him from their thoughts as they ran headlong into sin until the LORD delivered them again into defeat from their enemies who surrounded them, not having been dealt with before as they had been commanded to drive them out or suffer them as this thorn in their physical and spiritual side.  Not dealing with sin and worship of any but Him was the recipe for disaster as a people whole had been set apart for Him and to bring deliverance to,the works as promised (Genesis 22:17, 18, 26:4-5, Isaiah 49:10, Hebrews 11:12, Romans 4:18, 22-23, 24) to Abraham through the nation as a channel of redemption in the Messiah, the Christ, to come.  Forgetting God leads to disaster and destruction both in this world and the one to come.  It all begins with idolatrous pride and putting possessions above the Creator of them and all things.  May we learn from this example to put the Lord first in worship as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) to avoid the downward spiral of sin, knowing the Lord shall rule over us and no other, as fulfilled in the ultimate Judge and Redeemer, Jesus the Christ who is our sovereign Lord.