Judges 8:22-28: The Men Of Israel Try To Make Gideon Their King

After God gives Israel the victory over the Midianites there are several summary paragraphs that begin with the word ‘Then’. For example,

• In 8:13-17 we read, “Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.”

• In Judges 8:18-21 we read, “Then he (Gideon) said to Zeba and Zalmunna, ‘Where are the men who you killed at Tabor?’”

Now we come to the third section in Judges 8:22-28, “Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon.”

This passage has four sections but we will only discuss the first one today.

• The men of Israel ask Gideon to be their king. (22-23)

• Gideon requests something from the people. (24-26)

• Gideon makes an ephod with the gold. (27)

• God has delivered His people from Midian and they enjoyed rest for 40 years. (28)

The last verse in the Book of Judges summarizes the main theme of this book, saying, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (21:25)

• The fact that there was no king was NOT because Israel did not want a king to rule over them.

• The fact that there was no king was NOT because they had not tried to have a king in Israel.

After the LORD gave Israel this miraculous victory over the Midianites Israel attempted to make Gideon their king who would rule over them. We read this in verse 22, “Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.’” (Observation: The phrase ‘men of Israel’ is first used in this story about Gideon. {7:23,8:22,9:55} It will appear 17x in Judges 20 & 21 and it usually does not reflect well upon what the ‘men of Israel’ are doing.)

Imagine what it must have been like for Gideon to have been asked this question. Do you think he would have been surprised that the men of Israel said this to him? This was not something that had ever happened in Israel before. Israel has had great leaders in Moses and Joshua but no one tried to make them kings over Israel. In this book God has raised up 4 other judges, but none of them were asked to be Israel’s king.

I bet Gideon was shocked by this request. Gideon, like George Washington, would have been the first leader in Israel’s history to receive this offer. Even if this desire for a king had been in everyone’s heart, this is the first time that it was spoken out loud before God and before everyone else to hear. In our culture we seem to be in a race to be the first in any category to achieve something.

When Gideon was asked this he may have wanted to say, “Who would be crazy enough to be Israel’s king? We were experiencing great success and even then there was those who grumbled, complained, and failed to support what God was doing.” (7:24-8:3, 8:4-9)

Better yet, maybe Gideon would refuse this offer because he knew the Word of God. If this were the case, it would be a wonderful testimony that his first thoughts were about what the LORD had said in Deuteronomy 17:14-15a, “When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me;’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you.”

Gideon, of all people, knew what would happen if the LORD were to call someone to be king over Israel. The LORD would speak clearly about this. After all, God had come to him and made him Israel’s judge and He made three things clear. (6:14)

• Gideon was to be Israel’s judge.

• The LORD was not making him Israel’s first king.

• It was clear that Israel would be prone to take credit for the victory. (7:2-4)

Therefore, to prevent this from happening the LORD downsized Israel’s army. Yet, despite doing this, Israel look to themselves and not to the LORD their One True Living King. (Jeremiah 10:10) Instead of glorifying the LORD for this victory, as they had previously done in Judges 5, they immediately want to make Gideon their king, saying, “for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

This must have been a strong temptation for Gideon. There are many people who will quickly accept an offer like this. Illustration: In Matthew 20:20-28 we see how even Jesus’ disciples struggled with this desire to hold positions of power. (21) The mother of James and John wants her sons to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand in His Kingdom. When she makes this request we do not read that her two sons tried to stop her and object to what she has said. No, quite the opposite. Jesus turns to her sons and asks them if they can drink from the same cup that Jesus was going to drink? They reply, “We are able.” (22) We are told that when the other 10 disciples heard this they became indignant at the two brothers. (24) Why did they become indignant? They wanted to sit in that place of honor, power, and glory! (1 Peter 5:11)

Then Jesus says to His disciples, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to give his life as a ransom for many.” (25-28; Luke 22:24-30)

If Gideon did remember the scriptures then this is an example of how we fight temptation, even the strongest temptations, with the greatest temporal rewards, by knowing and obeying the Word of the LORD quickly. We live by faith and not by our passions and desires! And yet, we see in our text that although Gideon avoids this temptation, he will fall to another temptation.

Notice that the ‘men of Israel’ are making this temptation as enticing as they can. They not only offer Gideon the opportunity to “Rule over them”, but they are offering him a permanent kingship, saying, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also…”. The LORD has just saved His people when they had asked Him for help; and yet, they immediately turn to honor Gideon to exalt him and not the LORD.

We often say, “If the LORD would do this miracle everyone would surly believe in Him!” Is this really true? God has just done an amazing miracle for Israel but they do not have the faith to see it. Instead of acknowledging God and giving thanks to Him they turn their attention to Gideon and ask him to be their king. (Psalm 2) This is such a pivotal moment that it seems as though from this point on in the Book of Judges the spiritual and moral decline of Israel will only intensify and speed up.

Gideon’s initial response is commendable when he says, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” If only this were the end of this story. Gideon knows the right thing to say in this moment, but we will soon see that he will fall to a different temptation.

After Gideon makes this statement he would be best served by doing one or two things. First, he could end the conversation right there and send the people away with these words on their conscience, ‘the Lord will rule over you’. Second, Gideon could build upon the teaching regarding what he has just said, but he fails to do so.

Let me give you an example of how Paul did this in 2 Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 we learn just how much the LORD had to do to make sure that Paul was relying upon Him, which is what Israel is supposed to do. We read, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt as though we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” (8-9)

Paul could have stopped with verse 9 but he doesn’t. He continues to teach the Corinthians, saying, “He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again.” (10) What if in this moment Gideon would have said something to Israel like Paul does, saying, “We felt as though we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again.”

If Gideon had said this Israel may have turned away from this sin and turned to the LORD God as their KING. This is what makes Gideon’s next words all the more unfortunate when he says, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (24)

This is quite an anticlimactic moment after having said something so profound in verse 23. There was an opportunity to instruct the people in faith and trust in God, which is what Israel’s judge is supposed to do, but this opportunity was missed. Instead, Gideon asked for plunder and gold in excess of his needs. Gideon saw the danger of the temptation to be made a king, but he did not recognize the temptation in the request that he just asked of the people.

Gideon should have said, “Who was I that the LORD would call me and make me a judge in Israel? I don’t need, require, or am I entitled to anything from you. The same God who just defeated our enemies will provide for me.” In this moment Gideon lacks the wisdom of Solomon who did not ask for wealth from the LORD. (2 Chronicles 1:11) And in this moment the ‘men of Israel’ all to easily agree, saying, ““We will willingly give them.”. Both will be ensnared by what is done .

This morning as we celebrate communion I would like to read Psalm 22 as part of our time of time of reflection before taking the LORD’s supper. Please turn in your bibles to that psalm and read along with me. This is a Messianic Psalm which speaks of the suffering of our Savior and near the end we read these words in verse 28, “For kingship belongs to the LORD, and He rules over the nations.” It is not we who choose the King, but it is the LORD who says, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (Psalm 2:6) The King that He has chosen, His Son, has saved us from all of our enemies. He starts this work in us will be faithful to bring it to a finish. To Him be the glory! Amen.