"And all the men of Israel said to Gedeon: Rule thou over us, and thy son, and thy son's son: because thou hast delivered us from the hand of Madian" (Judges 8:22).
The people try to make Gideon their king in Judges 8. It's almost like a foreshadowing of the kings that soon will indeed rule over Israel. But at this point in time, God had willed judges to rule the people, and yet the people are not satisfied with that arrangement. They want something more. Just like with the idols they keep turning to, they want an immediate and luxurious power to rule over them -- idols of gold, or a king dressed in gold. Gideon, being a faithful servant of God, knows it would be against His will to become a king, and so he refuses the offer. But it's an interesting moment nonetheless. Gideon kept the Israelites safe by defeating the Madianites, and so the Israelites are willing to give ultimate power to the source of that safety, rather than trust in God's divine plan. Just as today, we are more and more willing to give ultimate power to a government that purports to keep us safe -- we strive to make a king of our president. But though Gideon remains loyal to God, and does not give in to the people's faithless pleas, by the end of the chapter it is clear that lack of faith wins out yet again. The people are corrupted by the gold and jewels and other material goods won from the Madianites. By the end of the chapter it is even written that the people "made a covenant with Baal, that he should be their god" (Judges 8:33). After Gideon's death, the people fall once again. And another judge (i.e., savior) will need to be raised to deliver the people from the evil in which they willingly plunged.
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