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 of them 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. (NIV)

A lady told me something about a dentist she worked for over many years. She said, ‘He was ahead of his time. In any clinical decision he made, he was thinking solely about the patient, and was taking into account what the result of his action might be twenty years down the line.’

Such forethought is an important element of good leadership, but it is often sadly lacking.

Another area where I think we may see Gideon’s decline is found in today’s short passage. No doubt Gideon’s intentions in making the ”ephod” were good, but there were unintended consequences for Gideon and his family, and for the entire nation.

‘I would gladly put the best construction that can be upon the actions of good men, and such a one we are sure Gideon was.’ Matthew Henry

This seems to be the common consensus among commentators I have read. Gideon meant well. But as Henry goes on to say: ‘Many are led into false ways by one false step of a good man.’ May God help us. How much we need His wisdom in our decision making (James 1:

Tom Hale explains: ‘The original ephod was a garment worn by the high priest (Exodus 28:6-14); to this ephod a breastpiece was attached (Exodus 28:15-28), in which were kept the Urim and the Thummim (Exodus 28:29-30), small objects by which God’s will could be determined. Since Gideon had acknowledged God’s rule over Israel (verse 23), perhaps he thought that by making this gold ephod he could provide Israel with an additional means of discerning God’s will.

Though Gideon’s original intention may have been good, the ephod he made soon came to be regarded as an idol. Far from helping Israel discern God’s will, it became a snare leading the people into idolatry.’