Judges 8:23-35

8:23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” 8:24 Gideon continued, ¹  “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” ²  (The Midianites ³  had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 8:25 They said, “We are happy to give you earrings.” ⁴  So they ⁵  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. ⁶  This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, ⁷  purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels. ⁸  8:27 Gideon used all this to make ⁹  an ephod, ¹⁰  which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites ¹¹  prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it ¹²  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. ¹³  The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time. ¹⁴  8:29 Then Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and settled down. ¹⁵  8:30 Gideon fathered seventy sons through his many wives. ¹⁶  8:31 His concubine, ¹⁷  who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech. ¹⁸  8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very ¹⁹  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 ²⁰  their god. 8:34 The Israelites did not remain true ²¹  to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them. 8:35 They did not treat ²²  the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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

² tn Heb “in the days of Gideon.”

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

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.

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.”

¹ tn Heb “good.”

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.

¹ tn Heb “remember.”

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