Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 8:27
And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, [even] in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
27. made an ephod thereof ] i.e. out of a large amount of precious metal the gold of the earrings 26a, not of the ornaments in 26b. Gideon dedicated his spoil to Jehovah, cf. 2Sa 8:11, Mic 4:13, Moabite St. ll. 12 f., 17 f. (Mesha‘ dedicates his spoil from Israel to Kmsh).
The ephod we find associated with terphim in Jdg 17:5, Jdg 18:14 ff., Hos 3:4, and in connexion with the Urim and Thummim or sacred lots, 1Sa 14:18 cf. 1Sa 14:41 LXX; it was carried, not ‘worn,’ by the priest, 1Sa 2:28 ; 1Sa 14:3; 1Sa 14:18 LXX (see RVm., but render carried), 1Sa 22:18 (omit linen with LXX. cod. B, and render carry), 1Sa 23:6, 1Sa 30:7; we gather, therefore, that it was used in consulting Jehovah to obtain an oracle. But what the ephod was itself is not so clear. It may have been a rich vestment or embroidered loin-cloth, such as we see in Egyptian paintings, which the priest put on when he consulted Jehovah; this may explain the amount of gold which Gideon devoted to its making. In the sanctuary at Nob the ephod stood or hung near the wall, but free from it; and here Gideon set or placed his ephod in the sanctuary at Ophrah. The root apparently means ‘to sheathe,’ and a derivative is used in Isa 30:22 for ‘ the plating of thy molten images of gold’; hence many suppose that it must have been an image, but it is very doubtful whether the plating of the image could come to mean the image itself. Different in some way from the oracular ephod was the ephod of linen with which Samuel and David were girt when performing religious functions: a closely fitting garment is what the meaning of the root implies. A richer development of this was the ephod of the High-Priest described in Exo 28:6-12 P, shaped like a kind of waistcoat, over which he wore the jewelled pouch or breastplate containing the Urim and Thummim; in its latest development the ephod thus maintained its association with the divine oracle. See esp. Sellin, Orient. Studien Theodor Nldeke gewidmet 1906, ii. 701 f. and Benzinger, Hebr. Arch. 2 , 347 f., 359; Driver, Exodus, p. 312.
went a whoring after it ] Cf. Jdg 8:33 and Jdg 2:17 n. In Gideon’s day there was no wide-spread objection to an image in Jehovah’s sanctuary; the prohibition in Exo 20:4, though it may have been laid down by Moses, was not observed by the people generally. A later age, however, trained in more spiritual conceptions, took offence at Gideon’s action and saw in it the cause of the disaster which befell his family.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The ephod was that particular part of the high priests dress which was necessary to be worst when he inquired of God by Urim and Thummim. It seems that Gideon being now the civil ruler, desired to have an ephod of his own, kept in his own city, to he worn by the priest whenever Gideon might summon him to inquire of the Lord for him. His relations with the tribe of Ephraim probably made him unwilling to resort to Shiloh. Compare the act of Jeroboam 1Ki 12:28.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. Gideon made an ephod thereof] That is, he made an ephod out of this mass of gold; but he could not employ it all in making this one garment, for it is not likely that any man could wear a coat of nearly one hundred pounds weight. It is likely that he made a whole tabernacle service in miniature out of this gold.
All Israel went thither a whoring after it] This form of speech often occurs, and has been often explained. The whole Jewish nation is represented as being united to God as a wife is to her husband. Any act of idolatry is considered as a breach of their covenant with God, as an act of whoredom is the breach of the marriage agreement between man and wife. God calls himself the husband of the Jewish nation, and their idolatries acts of whoredom, adultery, and fornication. All Israel paid idolatrous worship to the ephod or sacerdotal establishment made by Gideon at Ophrah, and this is called going a whoring after it; see on Jdg 8:33. For a description of the ephod, see Ex 25:7; and for the other garments of the priests, see Ex 28:4, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Made an ephod thereof; not of all of it, for then it would have been too heavy for use; but of part of it, the rest being probably employed about other things agreeable and appertaining to it; which elsewhere are comprehended under the name of the ephod, as Jdg 17:5; 18:14,18; Ho 3:4.
Put it in his city; not as a monument of the victory, for such monuments were neither proper nor usual; but for religious use, for which alone the ephod was appointed. The case seems to be this, Gideon having by Gods command erected an altar in his own city, Ophrah, Jdg 6:26, for an extraordinary time and occasion, thought it might be continued for ordinary use; and therefore as he intended to procure priests, so he designed to make priestly garments, and especially an ephod, which was the chief and most costly; which besides its use in sacred ministrations, was also the instrument by which the mind of God was inquired and discovered, 1Sa 23:6,9; 30:7, which might seem necessary for the judge to have at hand, that he might consult with God upon all occasions.
All Israel went thither a whoring after it; committing superstition or idolatry with it; or going thither to inquire the will of God; whereby they were drawn from the true ephod, instituted by God for this end, which was to be worn by the high priest only.
A snare; an occasion of sin and ruin to him and his, as the next chapter showeth. Though Gideon was a good man, and did this with an honest mind, and a desire to set up religion in his own city and family; yet here seems to be many sins in it.
1. Superstition and willworship, worshipping God by a device of his own, which was frequently and expressly forbidden.
2. Presumption, in wearing, or causing other priests to wear, this kind of ephod, which was peculiar to the high priest.
3. Transgression of a plain command, of worshipping God ordinarily but at one place, and one altar, Deu 12:5,11,14, and withdrawing people from that place to his.
4. Making a fearful schism or division among the people.
5. Laying a stumbling-block, or an occasion of superstition or idolatry, before that people, whom he knew to be too prone to it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. Gideon made an ephod thereof,and put it in his city, . . . OphrahThat no idolatrous use wasin view, nor any divisive course from Shiloh contemplated, ismanifest from Jud 8:33. Gideonproposed, with the gold he received, to make an ephod for his useonly as a civil magistrate or ruler, as David did (1Ch15:27), and a magnificent pectoral or breastplate also. It wouldseem, from the history, that he was not blamable in making thisephod, as a civil robe or ornament merely, but that it afterwardbecame an object to which religious ideas were attached; whereby itproved a snare, and consequently an evil, by perversion, toGideon and his house [TAYLOR,Fragments].
Jud8:28. MIDIAN SUBDUED.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Gideon made an ephod thereof,…. That is, of some of this gold; for such a quantity could never have been expanded on an ephod only, even taking it not for a linen ephod, but such an one as the high priest wore, made of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with curious work, together with a curious girdle of the same work; unless we suppose such a breastplate with it, of twelve precious stones, as Aaron had; and with little images of teraphim or cherubim in it, as Dr. Spencer thinks i. The Jewish commentators generally understand this ephod to be made as a memorial of the great salvation God had wrought by his hands for Israel, and of the wonderful things done by him; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Gersom; but such a garment, whether worn by him, or hung up in some certain place, seems not so proper and pertinent to perpetuate the memory of his victories, as a monument or pillar would have been; it looks therefore more likely to be done with a religious view, which afterwards was perverted to superstitious uses; and whereas Gideon had built an altar already by the command of God, and had sacrificed upon it, he might think himself authorized as a priest, and therefore provided this ephod for himself; or however for a priest he might think of taking into his family, and so use it as an oracle to consult upon special occasions, without going to Shiloh, the Ephraimites having displeased him in their rough expostulations with him; and so R. Isaiah interprets it of a kind of divination or oracle which gave answers:
and put it in his city, even in Ophrah; hung it up in some proper place as a monument of his victories, as is generally thought; or in a structure built on purpose for it, to which he might resort as to an oracle:
and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: made an idol of it and worshipped it, and so committed spiritual fornication, which is idolatry. Some render it, “after him” k; not after the ephod, but after Gideon; that is, after his death, so Jarchi; no ill use was made of it in Gideon’s time, though he cannot be altogether excused from sin and weakness in making it; but after his death it was soon made an ill use of:
which thing proved a snare to Gideon and to his house; it was a snare to him if he consulted it as an oracle, which could not be without sin, since the only Urim and Thummim to be consulted were in the breastplate of the high priest at the tabernacle; and it was what led his family into idolatry, and was the ruin of it, as well as it reflected great discredit and disgrace upon so good and brave a man: some read the words l: “to Gideon, that is, to his house”; or family; he being so good a man himself, it is not thought that he could be ensnared into idolatry itself; though it is apparent that men as wise and as good have fallen into it, as particularly Solomon.
i De leg. Heb. l. 3. c. 3. Dissert. 7. sect. 5. k “post ipsum”, Vatablus. l So Junius & Tremellius, Noldius, p. 280. No. 1205.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ And Gideon made it into an ephod,” i.e., used the gold of the rings obtained from the booty for making an ephod. There is no necessity, however, to understand this as signifying that 1700 shekels or 50 lbs. of gold had been used for the ephod itself, but simply that the making of the ephod was accomplished with this gold. The word ephod does not signify an image of Jehovah, or an idol, as Gesenius and others maintain, but the shoulder-dress of the high priest, no doubt including the choshen belonging to it, with the Urim and Thummim, as in 1Sa 14:3; 1Sa 21:10; 1Sa 23:6, 1Sa 23:9, etc. The material for this was worked throughout with gold threads; and in addition to that there were precious stones set in gold braid upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod and upon the choshen, and chains made of gold twist for fastening the choshen upon the ephod (see Ex 28:6-30). Now, if 50 lbs. of gold could not be used for these things, there were also fourteen precious stones to be procured, and the work itself to be paid for, so that 50 lbs. of gold might easily be devoted to the preparation of this state dress. The large quantity of gold, therefore, does not warrant us in introducing arbitrarily into the text the establishment of a formal sanctuary, and the preparation of a golden image of Jehovah in the form of a bull, as Bertheau has done, since there is no reference to or , as in Judg 17-18; and even the other words of the text do not point to the founding of a sanctuary and the setting up of an image of Jehovah.
(Note: Oehler has correctly observed in Herzog’s Cyclopaedia, that Bertheau acts very arbitrarily when he represents Gideon as setting up the image of a bull, as Jeroboam did afterwards, since there is nothing to sustain it in the account itself. Why cannot Gideon have worshipped without any image of Jehovah, with the help of the altar mentioned in Jdg 6:24, which was a symbol of Jehovah’s presence, and remained standing till the historian’s own time?)
The expression which follows, , does not affirm that “he set it up , ” but may also mean, “ he kept it in his city of Ophrah.” is never used to denote the setting up of an image or statue, and signifies not only to put up, but also to lay down (e.g., Jdg 6:37), and to let a thing stand, or leave behind (Gen 33:15). The further remark of the historian, “ and all Israel went thither a whoring after it, and it became a snare to Gideon and his house, ” does not presuppose the founding of a sanctuary or temple in Ophrah, and the setting up of a golden calf there. In what the whoring of Israel after the ephod, i.e., the idolatry of the Israelites with Gideon’s ephod which was kept in Ophrah, consisted, cannot be gathered or determined from the use of the ephod in the worship of Jehovah under the Mosaic law. “The breastplate upon the coat, and the holy lot, were no doubt used in connection with idolatry” ( Oehler), and Gideon had an ephod made in his town of Ophrah, that he might thereby obtain revelations from the Lord. We certainly are not for a moment to think of an exposure of the holy coat for the people to worship. It is far more probable that Gideon put on the ephod and wore it as a priest, when he wished to inquire and learn the will of the Lord. It is possible that he also sacrificed to the Lord upon the altar that was built at Ophrah (Jdg 6:24). The motive by which he was led to do this was certainly not merely ambition, as Bertheau supposes, impelling the man who, along with his followers, and maintained an independent attitude towards the tribe of Ephraim in the war itself (Jdg 8:1.), to act independently of the common sanctuary of the congregation which was within the territory of Ephraim, and also of the office of the high priest in the time of peace as well. For there is not the slightest trace to be found of such ambition as this in anything that he did during the conflict with the Midianites. The germs of Gideon’s error, which became a snare to him and to his house, lie unquestionably deeper than this, namely, in the fact that the high-priesthood had probably lost its worth in the eyes of the people on account of the worthlessness of its representatives, so that they no longer regarded the high priest as the sole or principal medium of divine revelation; and therefore Gideon, to whom the Lord had manifested himself directly, as He had not to any judge or leader of the people since the time of Joshua, might suppose that he was not acting in violation of the law, when he had an ephod made, and thus provided himself with a substratum or vehicle for inquiring the will of the Lord. His sin therefore consisted chiefly in his invading the prerogative of the Aaronic priesthood, drawing away the people from the one legitimate sanctuary, and thereby not only undermining the theocratic unity of Israel, but also giving an impetus to the relapse of the nation into the worship of Baal after his death. This sin became a snare to him and to his house.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(27) Made an ephod.The high priests ephod is described in Exo. 28:6-14. It was a sleeveless coat of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, with two ouches of onyx on the shoulders, bound by a rich girdle. Over this was worn the splendid jewelled breastplate, the choshen, with the Urim and Thummim. This ephod, with its oracular gems, was by far the most splendid and sacred adjunct of worship which the Israelites possessed, and hence was regarded with extreme reverence (1Sa. 21:9; 1Sa. 23:9; 1Sa. 30:7), and it seems clear that Gideons object was to provide a counter-attraction to it in an ephod of equally precious materials. It is a mistake to suppose (as Gesenius and others do, following the Peshito and Arabic versions) that ephod here means an idol or some unauthorised symbol of Jehovah, like the later calves. Ewald, too (Alterthmer, p. 232), assumes that the ephod was really a gilded household idol. But we may hope that Gideon, though guilty of a great sin, had not sunk quite so low as Jeroboam did. On the other hand, we cannot believe, with the Rabbis, that his ephod was only intended as a memorial of his victory.
Thereof.This does not necessarily imply that he devoted the whole of his mass of gold to this object. In Hos. 2:13, decking herself with earrings is one of the signs of the days of Baalim. Hence, perhaps, an earring is called in Chaldee kaddisha.
Put it in his city, even in Ophrah.This gives us a clue to Gideons motive. Shiloh, the national sanctuary, was in the precincts of the fierce tribe of Ephraim, and Gideon may have been as anxious as Jeroboam afterwards was to keep some direct hold on the nations worship, as one of the secrets of political power. It was the endeavour to secure and perpetuate by unworthy political expedients a power which he had received by Divine appointment.
Went thither a whoring after it.The phrase and the metaphor are sufficiently explained in Jdg. 8:33, Jdg. 2:12; Lev. 17:7, Lev. 20:5; Hos. 1:2; Psa. 106:39, &c. As to the nature of the schismatic service we are told nothing further. The strange narrative of Judges 18 shows us the decadence and disintegration of the national worship at this period, and it is far from improbable that Gideon may have associated his worship with an unauthorised priesthood and modes of diviuation, if not with teraphim, &c. (Jdg. 17:5; Hos. 3:4). (See on Jdg. 17:3.) His already existing altar (Jdg. 6:24) would promote his object. It does not seem likely that the high priest at Shiloh would abandon the use of his own proper breastplate of judgment; but his acquiescence during this epoch of oppression would go far to invalidate his authority. If Hierombalos be meant for Jerubbaal (see Jdg. 6:32), he is represented as having been a priest.
A snare.The word used is mokesh, which implies not only a stumbling-block (LXX., skandalon), but also a cause of ruin (in ruinam., Vulg., Exo. 10:7; Exo. 23:33).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Made an ephod thereof The ephod was a sacred garment to be worn by the High Priest. Its form is described in Exo 28:6-12, where see notes, and also note and cut at Mat 26:3. There is no sufficient reason to suppose that ephod may here mean an image or statue of an idol, (as Gesenius,) nor that Gideon established a new sanctuary at Ophrah, and made, besides the ephod, a graven image and teraphim, as did Micah, Jdg 17:4-5. Gideon made out of the Midianite spoils a splendid ephod, every way, probably, resembling the high priest’s ephod as described in Exo 28:6-12. It was probably worked or woven throughout with golden threads, and adorned with precious stones, and perhaps had also a breastplate attached to it with chains and rings, as had the high priest’s ephod. See Exo 28:15-29. It is not necessary to suppose that the whole of the gold was used in making the ephod; for, besides the amount necessary for the garment itself, a sum sufficient for the payment of the labour and the purchase of the precious stones had also to be provided.
But what was Gideon’s object in making this costly ephod? First of all, we think, he wished to distinguish his native city with the possession of this splendid garment, which would naturally be a wonder to the people, and draw admiring crowds to see it. He would thus, also, ostensibly consecrate the spoils of his great national victory to a religious object. Next to the ark of the covenant, the chief vestment of the high priest was ranked among the most sacred things connected with the worship of Israel. But we are not to suppose that Gideon meant to introduce idolatry into Israel, or set up this ephod as an object of worship. Keil’s supposition has much to support it, “that Gideon himself put on the ephod, and wore it as a priest, when he wished to inquire and learn the will of the Lord. It is also possible that he sacrificed to the Lord upon the altar that was built at Ophrah.
Jdg 6:24. The germ of his error lay in the fact that the high-priesthood had probably lost its worth in the eyes of the people on account of the worthlessness of its representatives, so that they no longer regarded the high priest as the sole or principal medium of divine revelation; and therefore Gideon, to whom the Lord had manifested himself directly, as he had not to any judge or leader of the people since the time of Joshua, might suppose that he was not acting in violation of the law when he had an ephod made as a means for inquiring the will of the Lord. His sin, therefore, consisted chiefly in his invading the prerogatives of the Aaronic priesthood, drawing away the people from the one legitimate sanctuary, and thereby not only undermining the theocratic unity of Israel, but also giving an impetus to the relapse of the nation into the worship of Baal after his death.” So, again, at a later period, the calf-worship established by Jeroboam was not designed to introduce idolatry, but for all that proved a snare to Israel. Note, 1Ki 12:26.
Put it in his city Kept it there as a trophy of his victory, and as a medium through which he vainly imagined he might inquire of the Lord.
All Israel went thither They were seduced by the evil example of the great deliverer. He who had grace and modesty to decline a crown and a throne corrupts a people by his foul private example. He will not rule the nation, but he invades the sacred prerogative of the priesthood.
A whoring A metaphor referring to the vile conduct of a faithless wife, who, having plighted her love and devotion to her husband, forgets or breaks her vows, and holds unlawful intercourse with other men. By this figure the sacred writers often depict the idolatries of Israel.
Became a snare A trap to take them unawares. They did not intend evil, but by wilful and open neglect of the law they fell into idolatry, as into a snare.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jdg 8:27 a
‘And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah.’
We do not know for certain what an ephod (a metallic sacral robe) in this context was for. In Exo 28:6-35 it was a garment worn by the priests, which contained the precious stones which represented the tribes of Israel. It may thus be that this was such a garment, made of the purple robes of the kings, ornamented heavily with the gold, to be kept as a memorial of Yahweh’s glorious victory over their enemy. There is no evidence for suggesting that it was an image, although it may have been placed over a stone pillar. Nor are there any grounds for thinking that Gideon initially encouraged its veneration. (If it was an image why did the writer not call it that?)
Jdg 8:27 b
‘And all Israel went a-whoring after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his house.’
This probably indicates that the people saw it in terms of the priestly ephod and began to consult it like an oracle. The priestly ephod was connected with the breastplate which contained within it the Urim and the Thummim for the purpose of consulting Yahweh. It may then be that the household of Gideon encouraged this. It would bring them great prestige. This might have led on to veneration and worship of it by some of the people. Thus what was in the first place intended to be a memorial to the glory of Yahweh would become a snare to him and his house, and a stumblingblock to the people.
If it happened while Gideon himself was still alive it may well have been seen as a way of discovering Yahweh’s will. They did not go a-whoring after Baal until Gideon was dead (Jdg 8:33). But this did not make it right, for it turned them away from the central sanctuary which was where Yahweh’s will could truly be found. Only the priest at the central sanctuary could consult Urim and Thummim before Yahweh. We can compare how the brazen serpent, later called Nechushtan, made by Moses at God’s command for a good purpose (Num 21:8-9) also became a snare to Israel (2Ki 18:4). Any religious object is open to this danger which is why they are best avoided however ‘nice and helpful’ they seem at first.
But some suggest that we should translate ‘to Gideon, even to his house’ (see Jdg 8:34), that is ‘Gideon’ as signifying his house (as ‘Israel’ signifies the children of Israel), suggesting that its main harm occurred after Gideon was dead. Then this could be seen as connected with Jdg 8:33 and be referred to Baal worship. Note that there is no specific condemnation of Gideon for what he did, only indirect disapproval of the result. It is a warning to all how easy it is to lead others astray with what at first appears to be innocent.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 8:27. Gideon made an ephod As the people in the height of their gratitude had offered Gideon the kingdom, he justly concluded that they could not refuse him an inferior petition; he asked therefore, and they readily gave him, such of their spoils as were necessary to the making of an ephod. By referring to Exo 28:6 we shall find an account of the ephod appropriated by God to the use of the high-priest. This of Gideon, most likely, was made according to the pattern of that in Shiloh; and as the presents here given are evidently too numerous for the construction of an ephod only, it may be thought that the word ephod is here used for all the appendages of the ephod, the whole sacerdotal dress and service, which Gideon improperly instituted at Ophrah, and which drew all Israel a whoring thither after it; i.e. abandoning the worship of God in Shiloh, and unfaithfully attending this false and unallowed service. Some, however, think, that this ephod was formed by Gideon with the best design, merely as a triumphant emblem of the victory granted to him by God. See Spencer de Leg. Heb. lib. 3: cap. 3 sect. 5.
REFLECTIONS.Though Gideon met with so ill a reception from the men of Penuel and Succoth, he met with a more honourable one from the rest of Israel.
1. They offer him the government, and to make it hereditary in his family. So affected were they by the greatness of their deliverance, that they thought no returns adequate to the deserts of their captain. Note; They, who have seen the Lord Jesus appearing for their salvation, cannot but with hearty choice say unto him, Come and reign over us.
2. Gideon modestly and piously declines the proposal; though he would serve them as a judge, he will not rule over them as a king: this would be to change the established government, which was a theocracy; and therefore neither his sons, any more than himself, may assume such authority. Note; The ambition of exalting a family is a great snare; but a true patriot, who means not himself but the public, will decline rather than seek honours, satisfied with the consciousness of his own integrity, and desiring not to rule, but to serve his country.
3. Though he declined their offer, he has a request to make to them. He asked the golden ear-rings of their spoil, to which he added what fell to his own share of jewels and fine garments; and with these he made an ephod, either designed for a memorial of his victory to be preserved in Ophrah, or conceiving that, as God had ordered him to build an altar, and had accepted his sacrifices, he might continue it to minister before him, and ask advice and direction from God, though not of the order of Aaron; and perhaps, as Shiloh lay in the tribe of Ephraim, who had disobliged him, he the rather fell on this method to prevent his going up to the altar of the Lord there. But, however honestly it was meant, it proved a dangerous snare, leading Gideon, and his own house, into a breach of God’s commands, and proving a temptation to Israel, always too prone to idolatry. Note; (1.) In God’s worship we must carefully adhere to his word, avoiding all superstition. (2.) What may be indifferent or innocent to one man, may, to a weaker brother, be a dangerous snare. (3.) From small beginnings arose all the present horrid idolatry of the church of Rome.
4. After Gideon’s victory the land had again rest for forty years, during which time he judged them, and kept them, it is to be hoped, in the ways and service of God. Note; It is a great mercy to any people to have the lives of faithful ministers long spared among them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jdg 8:27 And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, [even] in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
Ver. 27. And Gideon made an ephod thereof. ] Of a good intention likely; but without a good warrant from God. A good aim doth not make a good action: but men nmst “come to the light, that their deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.” Joh 3:21
And all Israel went thither a whoring after it,
Which thing became a snare.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ephod. Probably the priests were lax in restoring the worship of the true God. So that Gideon would have meant well and desired to judge well. Compare Jdg 17:5, where Micah made another. The reason given being that “there was no king, and every man did what was right in his own eyes”, Jdg 17:6; and Jdg 18:5, where it was used to “ask counsel”; and for the same reason, Jdg 18:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
an ephod: Jdg 17:5, Jdg 18:14, Jdg 18:17, Exo 28:6-12, 1Sa 23:9, 1Sa 23:10, Isa 8:20
Ophrah: Jdg 8:32, Jdg 6:11, Jdg 6:24, Deu 12:5
a whoring: Exo 23:33, Psa 73:27, Psa 106:39, Hos 2:2, Hos 4:12-14
a snare: Jdg 8:33, Deu 7:16
Reciprocal: Exo 34:12 – lest 1Ch 5:25 – a whoring Dan 3:1 – made Hos 3:4 – ephod
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 8:27. Gideon made an ephod thereof Not of all of it; for then it would have been too heavy for use; but of part of it, the rest being probably employed about other things appertaining to it; which elsewhere are comprehended under the name of the ephod, as Jdg 17:5. Put it in his city Not as a monument of the victory, for such monuments were neither proper nor usual; but for religious use, for which alone the ephod was appointed. The case seems to be this: Gideon having by Gods command erected an altar in his own city, Ophrah, (Jdg 6:24,) for an extraordinary time and occasion, thought it might be continued for ordinary use; and therefore as he intended to procure priests, so he designed to make priestly garments, and especially an ephod, which was the chief and most costly; which, besides its use in sacred ministrations, was also the instrument by which the mind of God was inquired and discovered, 1Sa 26:6-9; and it might seem necessary for the judge to have this at hand, that he might consult with God upon all occasions. Israel went a whoring Committed idolatry with it; or went thither to inquire the will of God, whereby they were drawn from the true ephod, instituted by God for this end, which was to be worn by the high-priest only. Which thing became a snare An occasion of sin and ruin to him and his as the next chapter shows. Though Gideon was a good man, and did this with an honest mind, and a desire to set up religion in his own city and family, yet here seem to be many sins in it: 1st, Superstition and will- worship, worshipping God by a device of his own, which was expressly forbidden: 2d, Presumption, in wearing, or causing other priests to wear this kind of ephod, which was peculiar to the high-priest: 3d, Transgression of a plain command, of worshipping God ordinarily but at one place and one altar, Deu 12:5; Deu 12:11-14 : 4th, Making a division among the people: 5th, Laying a stumbling-block, or an occasion of idolatry, before that people, whom he knew to be too prone to it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
8:27 And Gideon made an {o} ephod thereof, and put it in his city, [even] in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
(o) That is, such things as pertained to the use of the tabernacle. See ephod, Exo 28:4; Exo 28:6 Jud 17:5 1Sa 2:18, 2Sa 6:14,.