God's People: Gideon

Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also; for you have delivered us out of the hand of Midian.” Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” Then Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you; each of you give me an earring he has taken as booty.” (For the enemy had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) “We will willingly give them,” they answered. So they spread a garment, and each threw into it an earring he had taken as booty. The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold (apart from the crescents and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and the collars that were on the necks of their camels). Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his town, in Ophrah; and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they lifted up their heads no more. So the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
Jerubbaal son of Joash went to live in his own house. Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. Then Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites relapsed and prostituted themselves with the Baals, making Baal-berith their god. The Israelites did not remember the Lordtheir God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side; and they did not exhibit loyalty to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel. ~ Judges 8:22-35
Words versus actions of the heart.

There are lots of places in Hebrew scripture where God chastises the Israelites for promising to obey with they lips and yet not following God with their heart.

Here, Gideon says the right thing. "I will not rule over you. The LORD will rule over you." The Israelites were not to have a king because God was their king. Gideon had led the Israelites to defeat the Midianites. Only it wasn't really Gideon who did it. It was God, and in turning down the crown it seems like Gideon gets it. 

But does he? Immediately he takes a kind of tax out of the booty, and while there is nothing intrinsically wrong with victors taking booty, who takes taxes? 

Kings do.

And Gideon makes a golden ephod out of it. An ephod was worn by a priest and is meant for worship. Gideon makes one and the ephod becomes the object of worship. Rather like a golden idol.

And we know what God thinks about those.

Gideon gets caught up in his own press and forgets about who is worshiped. The ephod becomes a "snare" to him and to his family.

Idols still tend to snare us and can trip us up, making promises turn to "idol" words.

Success can be one of the trickiest idols. It's certainly something that 21st century America looks up to.

And it can snare us just like Gideon got snared. Gideon forget where his success came from. 

His actions didn't match the words of praise he gave to his Lord.

Words and actions: do they match? Do we keep our promises? Do our hearts praise as much as our lips? Do we get caught up in our own press like Gideon did and forget who success truly belongs to?

God did not abandon Gideon, but he and his family got caught in a snare that they had set.  

What snares do we set for ourselves?


Prayer: God of redemption, free me from the snares I have set for myself and help me to worship you with my whole being. Amen.








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