Judges 8 · a question people ask
What was Gideon's ephod, and was he wrong to make it?
Judges 8 says only this: Gideon asked for the gold earrings of the plunder (8:24), "Gideon made an ephod out of it, and put it in Ophrah, his city" (8:27), "all Israel played the prostitute with it there" (8:27), and "it became a snare to Gideon and to his house" (8:27). It doesn't describe the ephod or say what Gideon meant it for. In Exodus the ephod is one of the holy garments for Aaron and his sons, "that he may minister to me in the priest’s office" (Exodus 28:4), made "of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen" (Exodus 28:6). Brown-Driver-Briggs lists this one on its own, as "ephod of gold made by Gideon". Both readings below agree on what 8:27 says it became. Christians read Gideon's part in it in two main ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Made for the LORD, turned to a snare
Those who hold this view note that Gideon had just said, "The LORD shall rule over you" (8:23), that he had built an altar "to the LORD" in Ophrah (6:24), and that later an ephod was brought when David asked the LORD what to do: "Bring the ephod here" (1 Samuel 23:9-11). They read 8:27 as saying that the people turned what he made into an object of worship, "all Israel played the prostitute with it there", and that it became a snare to him as well.
Judges 8:23 · Judges 6:24 · 1 Samuel 23:9-11 · Judges 8:27
Wrong from the start
Those who hold this view note that the ephod belonged to the priests' garments, for "Aaron your brother and his sons" (Exodus 28:4), and that Gideon was of Manasseh (6:15), not a priest, and set it up in his own city (8:27). They note that the verse says it became a snare "to Gideon" himself, with the word the LORD's angel used of the nations' gods, "their gods will be a snare to you" (2:3), and that the next ephod in Judges stands with a carved image and a molten image in Micah's house of gods (17:5, 18:14).
Exodus 28:4 · Judges 6:15 · Judges 8:27 · Judges 2:3 · Judges 17:5 · Judges 18:14
The verses
“These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.”
““They shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful workman.”