Judges 8:22-35 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Judges 8:22-35. Let’s go!
Judges 8:22-27 (NIV)
22 The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us–you, your son and your grandson–because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.”
23 But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”
24 And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)
25 They answered, “We’ll be glad to give them.” So they spread out a garment, and each man threw a ring from his plunder onto it.
26 The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ necks.
27 Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
On verses 22-27: In response to being rescued from the Midianites, the Israelites offer to make Gideon and his descendants their ruler (v22). Gideon refuses the offer, saying that it is the LORD who will rule over them (v23). Notice that in verse 22 the Israelites do not credit God as having anything to do with their rescue. Their focus rather is man-centered. This shows our sinful tendency as people to want to worship and focus on created things over and above the Creator. This tendency to worship created things over the Creator is highlighted even more in the verses that follow: Gideon asks the Israelites for gold, makes an ephod with the gold, and the Israelites worship it. Beware the tendency to direct your focus and worship on created things over the Creator. It’s this very tendency that would keep getting the Israelites in trouble and causing them to be in bondage throughout the book of Judges.
Judges 8:28-35 (NIV)
28 Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years.
29 Jerub-Baal son of Joash went back home to live.
30 He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives.
31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.
32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and
34 did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.
35 They also failed to show kindness to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for them.
On verses 28-35: Despite God using Gideon to rescue the Israelites from the Midianites, the Israelites fail to honour God or Gideon’s family and return to idolatry soon after Gideon dies. Like gravity, the tendency to turn away from God and His commands relentlessly pulls the Israelites down. It is becoming clearer and clearer that the salvation that the people ultimately need is salvation from themselves and their sin, and not just from any external oppressor. It is for this reason that God would send His Son Jesus to do what no other judge or saviour could do. Jesus would come not to rescue us from an external oppressor, which is only a symptom and not the root of the problem. Jesus would come to rescue us from our sin. All the imperfect judges and saviours that we meet in the book of Judges, including Gideon, are ultimately pointing to this perfect Saviour that God would one day send.
Father, You know the tendency in us to want to focus on and worship created things over You the Creator. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus, the perfect judge and saviour, to save us from the root of the problem, our sin. Please fill me today, that my focus and hope would be on You and nothing else. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
