Gideon Series

The Israelites invited Gideon to become their king and create a dynasty, but he refused, telling them that only God was their ruler (Judges 8:22–23). G. A. Cooke, writing in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, notes the discontinuity between Ephraimite anger towards Gideon shown in Judges 8:1–3 and the proposition of kingship over all Israel, and therefore concludes that "these verses appear to come from a secondary source."

Gideon went on to make an *ephod out of the gold won in battle; according to Ginzberg's The Legends of the Jews: "In the high priest's breastplate, Joseph was represented among the twelve tribes by Ephraim alone, not by Manasseh, too. To wipe out this slight upon his tribe, Gideon made an ephod bearing the name of Manasseh. He consecrated it to God, but homage was paid to it as an idol after his death. In those days, the Israelites were so addicted to the worship of Beelzebub that they constantly carried small images of this God with them in their pockets, and now and then, they were in the habit of bringing the image out and kissing it fervently." According to the Bible, this action eventually caused the whole of Israel to turn away from God yet again and ruin Gideon and his family. Gideon had 70 sons from the many women he took as wives. He also had a Shechemite concubine who bore him a son named Abimelech, which means "my father is king" (Judges 8:31).

*ephod - (in ancient Israel) a sleeveless garment worn by Jewish priests.

There was peace in Israel for 40 years during the life of Gideon. As soon as Gideon died of old age, the Israelites again turned to worship the false God Baal Berith and ignored the family of Gideon (Judges 8:33). Ginzberg's The Legends of the Jews records the following remarks on Abimelech: "The parable of Jotham is said to refer to the prominent judges: Othniel [=Olive tree], Deborah [=fig tree], Gideon [=vine], and Elimelech [=bramble]. He also states that Abimelech reigned for three years. As a reward for his father's modesty, Gideon refused his people's royal crown; see Jud. 8.23.

The wickedness and greed of Abimelech, the King of Getar, were contrasted with the piety and liberality of his father, Gideon. In contrast to his father (Judges 8.27), Abimelech was greedy for riches, and his end came speedily. The ingratitude of the Israelites who permitted Abimelech to murder the children of their benefactor Gideon was counted unto them as though they had forsaken God; ingratitude is as grave a sin as idolatry.

Textual history

In the early twentieth century, the text of Judges 6–8 was regarded by the "critical school" as a composite narrative, combining Jahwist, Elohist, and Deuteronomic sources, with further interpolations of the editorial comments of the Second Temple period. Emil G. Hirsch alleged a historical nucleus in the narrative, reflecting the struggle of the tribe of Manasseh with hostile Bedouins across the Jordan, along with "reminiscences of tribal jealousies on the part of Ephraim" in the early period of Hebrew settlement, later blended with the religious context of connecting Yahweh with the shrine at Ophrah.