Verse 24 Follows Verse 23: When the Symbol Replaces the Savior

We skipped the good part of Gideon's story, the 300 men with their pots and torches. You probably learned it in Sunday school. We're jumping to the end, where Gideon goes back to living as if God doesn't exist. It reveals something about human nature: we can cling to the victory God gives us and not cling to the God who gave it.

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian." But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you." (Judges 8:22–23)

Catch how quickly, right after the battle, Israel starts giving the credit to Gideon instead of God. But Gideon gets it right. He nails it. "The LORD shall rule over you."

You know what verse follows 23? Twenty-four.

Then Gideon said to them, "I would like to make a request of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from his plunder." (Judges 8:24)

"You don't have to pay me for leading you into battle. You don't have to give me the credit. Just give me a little memento. A little token."

Your week's not over

If the chapter had ended at verse 23, it would have been amazing. But sometimes the chapter's not done. You did good. You came to church. The week's not over. You can still mess this up. How's your week going? "Great! I started it going to church. I ended it yelling at my kids." The test isn't whether you say the right thing. It's whether you do the right thing.

We want something we can hold

We go for a walk on the beach and see a magnificent sunset. A sunset isn't tangible, so we pick up a seashell to remind us of the day. We go to a concert and we're moved by the music, the crowd, and the energy, and we pin the ticket stub to our corkboard. We so want something tangible.

That's the kind of Christian atheism that doesn't shout. It's a shade, a lean. A God beyond our understanding is too much to carry around, so we carve a small version and place Him all over our houses and workplaces. Would you like a young Buddha or an old one? Standing or seated? We want a God we can control and put in our pockets.

The symbol becomes a snare

Gideon took the gold and made an ephod, a priestly garment. Something meant for worship. And where did he put it?

Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house. (Judges 8:27)

His hometown. Where do you hang your trophies? It looked spiritual, but he set it up at home for everyone to see his great victory. Maybe it was convenient too. You don't have to go all the way to the tabernacle or take time off work to make the pilgrimage. You can see what God did right there in the town square.

We do this with church buildings and with our favorite ministries. We can keep a Bible verse on the wall and never open our Bible again. Maybe God did something amazing in your life back in 1980, or in 2014, and you're hanging your hat on that hook. God says, "Yeah, that was that. But I want to do something now."

It's easy to do and hard to fix. This week, let's ask where verse 24 is showing up in our lives.