Text -- Judges 8:24-35 (NET)

8:24 Gideon continued, “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” (The Midianites had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 8:25 They said, “We are happy to give you earrings.” So they spread out a garment, and each one threw an earring from his plunder onto it. 8:26 The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to seventeen hundred gold shekels. This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels. 8:27 Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Gideon’s Story Ends

8:28 The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken. The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time. 8:29 Then Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and settled down. 8:30 Gideon fathered seventy sons through his many wives. 8:31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech. 8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Israel Returns to Baal-Worship

8:33 After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god. 8:34 The Israelites did not remain true to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them. 8:35 They did not treat the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jdg 8:24

¹ tn Heb “said to them.”

² tn Heb “Give to me, each one, an earring from his plunder.”

³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Midianites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Jdg 8:25

¹ tn Heb “We will indeed give.”

² tc In the LXX the subject of this verb is singular, referring to Gideon rather than to the Israelites.

NET Notes: Jdg 8:26

¹ sn Seventeen hundred gold shekels would be about 42.7 pounds (19.4 kilograms) of gold.

² tn Or “pendants.”

³ tn Heb “the ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.”

NET Notes: Jdg 8:27

¹ tn Heb “made it into.”

² sn In Exod 28:4-6 and several other texts an ephod is described as a priestly or cultic garment. In some cases an ephod is used to obtain a divine oracle (1 Sam 23:9; 30:7). Here the ephod is made of gold and is described as being quite heavy (70-75 lbs?). Some identify it as an idol, but it was more likely a cultic object fashioned in the form of a garment which was used for oracular purposes. For discussion of the ephod in the OT, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 236-43, and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 349-52.

³ tn Heb “Israel” (a collective singular).

⁴ tn The words “by worshiping it” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Jdg 8:28

¹ tn Heb “Midian was humbled before the Israelites, and they no longer lifted their heads.”

² tn Heb “in the days of Gideon.”

NET Notes: Jdg 8:29

¹ tn Heb “went and lived in his house.”

NET Notes: Jdg 8:30

¹ tn Heb “Gideon had seventy sons who went out from his thigh, for he had many wives.” The Hebrew word יָרֵךְ (yarekh, “thigh”) is a euphemism here for the penis.

NET Notes: Jdg 8:31

¹ sn A concubine was a slave woman in ancient Near Eastern societies who was the legal property of her master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with her master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. After the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (2 Sam 21:10-14; 1 Kgs 11:3).

² sn The name Abimelech means “my father is king.”

NET Notes: Jdg 8:32

¹ tn Heb “good.”

NET Notes: Jdg 8:33

¹ sn Baal-Berith was a local manifestation of the Canaanite storm god. The name means, ironically, “Baal of the covenant.” Israel’s covenant allegiance had indeed shifted.

NET Notes: Jdg 8:34

¹ tn Heb “remember.”

NET Notes: Jdg 8:35

¹ tn Heb “did not do loyalty with,” or “did not act faithfully toward.”