Gideon’s Fall at the Height of His Glory

Gideon captured Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian, and brought the war to a complete end. Yet the first thing he did after his victory was to take the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels. He then asked the people to gather their spoils for him, and from that gold he made an ephod and set it up in his own town of Ophrah.

It is human nature to cling to God in the midst of hardship, and then, once the hardship has passed, to be gripped by the conviction that one’s own judgment is right, and so to fall. The place where Gideon put his ephod was Ophrah, the very town where he had once torn down the altar of Baal and nearly lost his life for it. He wanted to show the people who had tried to kill him just how great he had become; it was a choice made not for God but for his own glory and for revenge.

Gideon went on to rule in peace for forty years, yet that silence was no blessing. God was no longer speaking to him. To hear the Word and be cut to the heart is the greatest miracle a person can receive. To stand at the height of glory without falling, a person must never forget who gave them that place, and must remain thankful always.