JU8-18: The Not So Admirable Aspects Of Gideon’s Character

“Gid‘on replied, ‘Neither I nor my son will rule over you; Adonai will rule over you.”’ Then he added, ‘But I have this request to make of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from the booty you have taken.’ For the enemy soldiers had worn gold earrings, like all the other tribes descended from Yishma‘el.”-Judges 8:23-24

Up until now I’ve been lavish in my praise of Gideon and how he was such an admirable example of a man who demonstrated incredible perseverance in obeying God’s commands to completely exterminate the Midianite threat.

In fact, some dude a couple of days ago accused me Gideon worship saying I was admiring him to an excessive and really unhealthy degree.

Well, my accusatory friend, be happy.

Because today any notions that my perspective of Gideon was one-sided and only focused on the positive are about to be dispelled for all time and forever.

Because today we’re gonna take a good look at some of the not so admirable aspects of Gideon’s character.

And again, that’s why I have great respect for the Scriptures.

Because even the faults and tragic failures of the most venerated characters in the Bible such as Moses and King David are plainly revealed for the whole world to see.

Alrighty, let’s begin our discussion of the foibles of Gideon.

In verse 24 we’re told that Gideon humbly refused the offer to be a king over the people.

However, immediately after that he tells the people he would appreciate it if they would give him all the gold earrings they had taken from the defeated Midianites.

In other words, Gideon was demanding he be paid a tribute for his military services.

And the people complied.

Not only did they hand over all their gold earrings to Gideon, they also gave him some of the valuable pendants, moon crescent jewelry and some very expensive purple cloth that was only worn by royalty.

So while on the surface Gideon had declined the kingship, his behavior and attitude betrayed different motives.

He would end up living like a king even though he hadn’t officially adopted that title.

But it gets worse.

Gideon also attempted to make himself equivalent to the High Priest.

Check out verse 27.

^“Out of these things Gid‘on made a ritual vest, which he located in his city, ‘Ofrah. But all Isra’el turned it into an idol there, and it thus became a snare to Gid‘on and his family.”

Holy golden cow man!

We’re told that Gideon took about 50 pounds of gold and created his own version of the ephod which was the ritual vest the high priest wore.

And we’re told Gideon wore it in his hometown of Ofrah.

Gideon’s behavior speaks volumes in terms of the sad state of Israel’s priesthood at this time.

Because one of the chief reasons Israel constantly fell into idolatry and then had to suffer through one cycle of apostasy, oppression, and deliverance after another was because Israel’s priesthood was not functioning as it should have been.

This happened because the people simply didn’t respect the priesthood anymore.

In other words, Israel had in a sense become “secular”.

They had allowed themselves to become more influenced by their pagan Canaanite neighbors and the world around them rather than being influenced by God and His Torah.

Plus the priests didn’t possess any civil authority over the 12 tribes of Israel. 

This resulted in the people no longer paying their tithes and offerings…

A situation that forced the priests to do common work for a living which ironically caused the people to lose even more respect for their holy station.

It was a messed up situation.

Another thing to keep in mind is that at this time in Israel’s history, the Tabernacle was located in Shiloh.

So for Gideon to go ahead and create a High Priest ritual vest for himself and then use it in Ophrah demonstrated just how far removed Israel was from any true Torah teaching.

But hey couldn’t the same thing be said of the pork-eating, Easter-celebrating gentile church today?

This institution is obviously a far cry from the true Messianic faith the early disciples (all Jewish by the way) practiced.

Next take a look at the latter half of verse 27.

“Out of these things Gid‘on made a ritual vest, which he located in his city, ‘Ofrah. But all Israel turned it into an idol there, and it thus became a snare to Gid‘on and his family.”

We’re told the people ended up worshipping Gideon’s ephod as an idol.

In fact, the actual Hebrew is helluva lot more graphic.

It says they went “whoring” after it!

Either way, the point is Gideon’s ephod was a fake because the Lord had ordained only ONE High Priest.

And not only that, even if Gideon’s ephod was legit (which it wasn’t!), it was only an object, something to be used as a tool to serve God and not be turned into an object of worship.

So as I just mentioned, Gideon may have declined the civil role of king.

But he went ahead and lived like one.

And on top of that, he even positioned himself as a spiritual replacement to the High Priest.

This behavior would be repeated many years in the future when the Hebrews living in Samaria decided to break away from the priesthood based in Jerusalem and go off and do their own thing.

These Samaritan Jews established their own separate priesthood and even constructed their own temple that was in operation during Yeshua’s time.

Nevertheless, despite Gideon’s flaws and falling for his own delusions of greatness, the Midian threat was eliminated and Gideon ruled peacefully over the the northern tribes of Israel for a good 40 years.

Alrighty, let me finish this up with the key takeaway here.

Understand the only reason Gideon was able to build his illegitimate Ephod and keep it in Ofrah was because Israel’s priesthood had become defunct at this time.

In other words, there was no accepted central ruling authority to keep things in check.

And that is exactly the state of the believing world today.

I’ve been blogging through the Bible for close to 7 years now and during that time I’ve interacted with hundreds of believers from all around the world.

And one thing I find amazing is just how fragmented the Judaeo-Christian world is today…in spite of everyone holding fidelity to ONE Holy Book, ONE God and His ONE son.

Again, the reason for this situation is the LACK of a central and God-ordained ruling authority.

Which means the situation won’t be completely resolved until Messiah returns and he establishes his Kingdom in Jerusalem.

And then rules the whole world according to God’s Torah at that time.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

“Yes indeed!
I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away,
not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah
— not until everything that must happen has happened.”
-Matthew 5:18