The Spoils

Judges 8:27

 “Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.”

Madam Blueberry in is the main character in one of the many Veggietales’ lessons. In this one she loves stuff, all kinds of stuff. She goes to Stuffmart and buys all kinds of things. Some stuff she needs and others she convinces herself that she needs. If you had kids who watched Veggietales you watched Madam Blueberry and sung the Stuffmart song. You also watched her change her tune about all of her stuff. She was too focused on the stuff to realize all the stuff had become her idol that separated her focus from the Lord.

We pick up the story of Gideon after he captures the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. The Israelites want to make him king and let him rule over them because he had led the liberation from the Midianites. In verse 23 he refuses to be their king and states that the Lord would rule over them. Gideon gets a gold star for that, but what he does next is not necessarily evil, but it caused the people of his own town, Ophrah, to fall away from the Lord. He asks for a share of the gold from the spoils of the war with the Midianites. This is not bad at all, you can say that Gideon earned the spoils which, in the end, weighed about 43 pounds of gold. This is not counting all the rest of the ornaments, pendants, and purple garments worn by the kings of Midian. What a day right? Gideon takes all this stuff, gold and all, back to his own town and makes an ephod of gold, which is a very carefully crafted item for worship, and places it in the middle of his town. The Bible tells us that this became a snare to Gideon and Israel and they prostituted themselves by worshiping it. The end of chapter had Gideon passing away and the Bible says that no sooner had Gideon passed away that the Israelite went back to worshiping the Baals.

We all have had times where we are in the land of plenty and take home some of the spoils. We purchase the new stuff we have been waiting for like those boots or jeans or maybe that new car. All that is not bad and not a sin in any way. I can tell you that I have purchased something in these times of plenty and the Holy Spirit nudges me and says to take it back because it was not a wise purchase. My wife and daughters have had this happen. TJ Maxx has taken lot of money under these conditions.

We all have to be careful that we don’t let our stuff be an idol that we worship. What does this look like? It looks like the constant shopper; aka the person always having to purchase something to feel good. Or maybe you can’t sit still until you have played the shopping game for hours and won (even though your bank account lost.) Idols are the very thing that turns our attention away from the Lord. Here, it was that ephod of gold Gideon fashioned from all the spoils of Midianite victory. For us, it could be stuff, like Madam Blueberry.

Today, let us put the Lord first in EVERYTHING we do, not just during Bible time or church time but EVERYTHING. Paul tells to be continually in prayer and that Holy Spirit is with us all the time. So it makes sense that we should be listening for direction in the small aspects of life like shopping. If you don’t think the Holy Spirit guides us in these small ways, then you might want to redirect your ears. Gideon caused his whole town to prostitute themselves to a gold idol and it ultimately would produce a line of division that would carry on to his own son. What is that idol in your life you need to lay down? Tear it down, give it away, sell it, and put the Lord in first place. Let Him fill your day, not all the stuff.