Judges · chapter 8 of 21
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Judges 8 tells how Gideon calms Ephraim, pursues the Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunna and punishes Succoth and Penuel, which refused him bread. He refuses to be king because only the Lord should rule, but he makes a gold ephod that becomes a snare. When he dies, Israel returns to worshiping the Baals and forgets his family.
After the night victory of Judges 7, Gideon's story continues with the pursuit of the kings of Midian. This chapter shows the hero at his best and at his worst: humble with Ephraim, severe with those who failed to help him, and vulnerable to a religious error that ruins his legacy.
The men of Ephraim complain to Gideon for not calling them sooner. He answers humbly, saying that what they accomplished, capturing Oreb and Zeeb, is worth more than what he did, and their anger subsides. Gideon crosses the Jordan with his three hundred, exhausted but still pursuing. He asks the people of Succoth and Penuel for bread, but their leaders refuse, since he does not yet have the kings in his hand. Gideon promises to punish them when he returns.
Gideon overtakes Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, who are at Karkor with about fifteen thousand men, and defeats and captures them. On his return he seizes a young man of Succoth who writes down for him the names of seventy-seven officials and elders, and he punishes them with thorns and briers. He tears down the tower of Penuel and kills the men of the city. He questions the kings about the men they killed at Tabor, and discovers they were his brothers. When his oldest son Jether is too afraid to kill them, Gideon himself executes them.
The Israelites ask Gideon to rule over them, he and his son and his grandson. Gideon answers that neither he nor his son will rule, because the Lord will rule over them. But he asks for the gold earrings of the plunder and makes an ephod from them, which he places in Ophrah. All Israel prostitutes itself after it, and it becomes a snare to Gideon and his house. Midian is subdued and the land has rest for forty years. Gideon dies at a good old age, with seventy sons and one son by a concubine in Shechem, Abimelech. As soon as Gideon dies, Israel turns again to the Baals and makes Baal-berith their god, remembering neither the Lord nor showing loyalty to the house of Jerubbaal.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Gideon reminds Ephraim that God gave the princes Oreb and Zeeb into their hands, and that their contribution exceeded his own. The gentle answer calms their anger and avoids a civil war.
Gideon says neither he nor his son will rule over Israel, because the Lord will rule over them. His refusal sounds right, though his later action will show that not everything in his heart was so clear.
Gideon makes an ephod from the gold and places it in Ophrah, and all Israel prostitutes itself after it. A religious symbol that seems well intended becomes an object of worship and ruins his house.
The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from all their enemies on every side. Forgetting God comes before idolatry and is what lets the book's cycle repeat.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: He told them that what they did, capturing Oreb and Zeeb, was greater than what he did. — Judges 8:2-3
Answer: Because Gideon did not yet have Zebah and Zalmunna in his hands. — Judges 8:6
Answer: Zebah and Zalmunna. — Judges 8:12
Answer: That neither he nor his son would rule, because the Lord would rule over them. — Judges 8:23
Answer: He made an ephod and put it in his city, Ophrah. — Judges 8:27
Answer: Abimelech. — Judges 8:31
Judges 8 shows two sides of leadership. With the Ephraimites, Gideon cools a conflict with kind words; a gentle answer remains one of a leader's most powerful tools. In a small group we can think about which conflicts might be put out with humility.
But the chapter also warns that a man who refuses the title of king can end up building his own object of devotion. Those who have received much from God need to watch what they leave their children and their community. Past successes do not protect from present error, and faith must be handed on to the next generation.
Judges 8 ends with Gideon's death and Israel handed over to Baal. His concubine's son, Abimelech, is poised to seize power, and Judges 9 will tell of his violent rise and his fall.
Normally the ephod was a priestly garment, but this was a gold object placed in Ophrah. The text says Israel prostituted itself after it, so it became an object of worship, and Gideon, without intending it, led the people into idolatry.
Yes, he said the Lord should rule over Israel. Yet his family acted somewhat like a dynasty: he named his son Abimelech, a name meaning my father is king, which shows that the temptation of power was still present.
Because they refused to give bread to his weary men while he was chasing the kings of Midian. His harsh punishment shows his character, and the text does not present it as an example to follow but as part of the portrait of a complex leader.