10. Gideon’s Ephod (8:22-27)
There follows an episode which many in their
bewilderment would almost be glad not to find written in their Bibles. It says:
“And Gideon made an ephod thereof (that is,of the gold of the plunder),
and put it in his city, even Ophrah. And all Israel went thither a whoring after
it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house.” This word
‘whoring’ is not to be taken in its worst sense, for godly Gideon
would never tolerate foul Canaanite practices of this sort. But other facts tell
a different story. Gideon had begun as a violent enemy of the Canaanite
idolatry. Was not his name Jerubaal? Further, his name stands written for all
time in Hebrews 11, among the Lord’s men of faith. The conclusion that
Gideon turned idolater must be accepted — can only be accepted — if
no other explanation offers itself. Inquiry naturally centres around the word
ephod. The ephod was the characteristic garment of the High Priest. And with it
was associated an outstanding High Priestly function: that of enquiring of the
Lord on behalf of the people, by means of Urim and Thummim.
Here was Gideon, suddenly exalted to the
honorable position of judge among his people. He had ever shown a natural
inclination to seek plain unequibocal divine guidance in the execution of his
duty. Witness for example, his craving a sign from the angel who bade him
destroy the altar of Baal. And the double sign which he sought, as some would
think needlessly, of the dew on the fleece and on the ground. Consider also how
he must needs be given a providential sign from the lips of his enemies before
he could bring himself to go out against the Midianites. Could such a man rule
an entire people in utter reliance on his own powers and his own wisdom, even if
he were disposed so to do? Manifestly, Gideon would have need of constant
recourse to explicit divine direction through the Urim and Thummim of the High
Priest. But this would mean residence in Shiloh where was the tabernacle of the
Lord. Or, at least, it would mean frequent journeys thither.
The problem of Ephraim
Unhappily however, from Gideon’s point of
view, Shiloh lay right in the heart of the territory of Ephraim, the tribe with
which he had already had trouble. As he considered their hectoring, domineering
disposition and their evident lack of respect for him as a God-given leader,
Gideon might well hesitate about committing himself to reliance overmuch on
Shiloh.
Strange, that men of outstanding faith, in some
respects, should be so markedly lacking in faith when faced with problems of a
different kind. Similar inconsistency has bee observed in some of the finest
servants of the Lord. Such is human nature. And such was Gideon. His human
solution of the problem was to make another ephod; to appoint another priest,
and presumably to erect another sanctuary in Ophrah of the Abiezrites, at the
altar Jehovah-Shalom, which was already consecrated there. Thus he avoided the
unhappy difficulty of association with recalcitrant Ephraimites. And from this
day forward, men have followed his example, choosing to separate themselves from
other people of God’s choice rather than muster the moral courage to trust
in God and do what is right.
That Gideon’s motives in this matter were
of the highest, can hardly be questioned. But good motives have never been
adequate excuse for ignoring divine commandment; and years before this the Holy
Spirit had guided Joshua to indicate Shiloh as “the place which the Lord
thy God shall choose”. In extenuation of Gideon’s action, it should
be urged that fair evidence exists to show that both before and after his time
sanctuaries other than Shiloh were in use by the tribes of Israel (see Chapter
26), so that he was only extending an arrangement with which the people were
already familiar.
Nevertheless, as the inspired narrative makes
plain, he was causing them to err. His misguided example brought an evil harvest
in later days, as the later story of Micah the Ephraimite, and his private
priest, demonstrated only too clearly. Besides, in this shirking of difficulty,
Gideon threw away a magnificent opportunity of welding into one coherent
God-fearing nation, the now discrete tribes of Israel. None was better fitted
for the task than he. But he allowed himself to be daunted by Ephraim’s
cold shoulder, and in consequence, many, many more years were to elapse before
there appeared a man after God’s own heart fitted to do that which should
have been done by Gideon.