We get a glimpse into the character of Gideon when he admits that he is afraid. (chapter 7, verses 10, 11). Another glimpse of his character is when he makes the statement right before the Midianites flee, "For the Lord and for Gideon." Was pride beginning to surface here?

The Israelites wanted to make Gideon their ruler after he killed the two kings of Midian (incidentally Moses father-in-law was a priest of Midian). Gideon tells them that he will not be their ruler, that the Lord will rule over them. Yet Gideon makes a golden ephod from the plunder that had been taken from the Midianites. This ephod is usually something worn by the priest. Another definition of the word ephod is image. This ephod or image was placed in Gideon's town and all Israel worshiped the golden ephod. Now this sounds as if Gideon wanted a lasting monument to himself, and not something to honor God. And look what happened with the people.

Jdg 8:27b
All Israel chased after it there as though it were a prostitute. It became a trap for Gideon and his family.

Even though Gideon sinned God allowed the land peace for 40 years during Gideon's lifetime and he died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father. What a merciful God we have!

It gets a little confusing with the two different names, Gideon and Jerub-Baal. Can you believe he had seventy sons??? And even more astounding that one of those sons, the son of a concubine, would kill all seventy of them, save for Jotham. Was Jotham another son of the concubine? Seems like the math doesn't work here with the seventy.

Lots of lessons to be learned from Gideon. As we are faithful to God, He will give us more responsibility. God expands and uses the abilities He has already built into us. God uses us in spite of our limitations and failures. We can easily fall into sin if we are not consistently following God.

Great lessons for us today, wouldn't you say???