and that the "rule" which they wished could not be made hereditary. Each "judge" must be specially called,

and qualified by the influence of the Holy Spirit. Besides, the latter was not, as since the ascension of our

Blessed Savior, a permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a Person, but consisted in certain effects

produced by His agency. The proposal of Israel could therefore only arise from carnal misunderstanding,

and must be refused.

But Gideon himself was not proof against another temptation and mistake. God had called him not only to

temporal, but to spiritual deliverance of Israel. He had thrown down the altar of Baal; he had built up that of

Jehovah, and offered on it accepted sacrifice. Shiloh was deserted, and the high priest seemed set aside.

Ophrah had been made what Shiloh should have been, and Gideon had taken the place of the high priest. All

this had been by express Divine command - and without any reference to the services of the tabernacle.

Moreover, Gideon's office had never been recalled. Should it not now be made permanent, at least, in his

own person? The keeping of Israel's faith had been committed to his strong hand; should he deliver it up to

the feeble grasp of a nominal priesthood which had proved itself incapable of such a trust? It was to this

temptation that Gideon succumbed when he asked of the people the various golden ornaments, taken as

spoil from the enemy.273 The gold so obtained amounted to seventeen thousand shekels - or nearly the

weight of fifty pounds. With this Gideon made an ephod, no doubt with the addition of the high-priestly

breastplate and its precious gems, and of the Urim and Thummim. Here, then, was the commencement of a

spurious worship. Presently, Israel went to Ophrah, "a whoring after it," while to Gideon himself and to his

house this "thing became a snare."  274

In truth, the same spiritual misunderstanding which culminated in Gideon's arrogating to himself high-

priestly functions, had appeared almost immediately after that night-victory of Jehovah over Midian. Even

his reply to the jealous wrangling of Ephraim does not sound like the straightforward language of one who

had dismissed the thousands of Israel to go to battle with only three hundred. Again, there is what at least

looks like petty revenge about his dealings with Succoth and Penuel; while it is difficult to understand upon

what principle, other than that of personal retaliation, he had made the lives of Zebah and Zalmunna wholly

dependent upon their conduct towards his own family. And the brief remarks of Scripture about the family -

life of Gideon, after he had made the ephod, only tend to confirm our impressions. But, meantime, for "forty

years in the days of Gideon," "the country was in quietness," and, however imperfect in its character, the

service of Jehovah seems to have been, at least outwardly, the only one professed. Matters changed

immediately upon his death. Presently the worship of Baalim becomes again common, and especially that of

the "Covenant-Baal" (Baal-berith). There is a sad lesson here. If Gideon had made a spurious ephod, his

people now chose a false "covenant-god." And, having first forsaken the Covenant-Jehovah, they next

turned in ingratitude from their earthly deliverer, "neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal."

Thus sin ever brings its own punishment.

Not far from Ophrah, but in the territory of Ephraim, was the ancient Shechem, connected with so much that

was most solemn in the history of Israel. We know the long-standing tribal jealousy of Ephraim and their

desire for leadership. Moreover, as we learn from Judges 9:28, Shechem seems to have retained among its

inhabitants the lineal representatives of Hamor, the original "prince" and founder of Shechem in the days of

Jacob (Genesis 33:19; 34:2; comp. Joshua 24:32). These would represent, so as speak, the ancient feudal

heathen aristocracy of the place, and, of cours e, the original worshippers of Baal. As perhaps the most

ancient city in that part of the country, and as the seat of the descendants of Hamor, Shechem seems to

have become the center of Baal worship. Accordingly we find there the temple of the "Covenant-Baal"

(Judges 9:4). Possibly the latter may have been intended to express and perpetuate the union of the original

heathen with the more modern Israelitish, or "Shechem" part of the population. Here then were sufficient

elements of mischief ready: tribal je alousy; envy of the great and ancient Shechem towards little Ophrah;

hatred of the rule of the house of Gideon; but, above all, the opposition of heathenism. It is very

characteristic of this last, as the chief motive at work, that throughout all the intrigues against the house of

Gideon, he is never designated by his own name, but always as Jerubbaal - he that contended against Baal.

Contending against Baal had been the origin of Gideon's power; and to the heathen mind it seemed still

embodied in that Jehovah-Ephod in the possession of Gideon's sons at Ophrah. The present rising would in