It Became a Snare

And he said, I do have one request, that each of you give me an ear-ring from your share of the plunder. (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold ear-rings.) They answered, We'll be glad to give them. So they spread out a garment, and each man threw a ring from his plunder onto it. The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels' necks. Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshipping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. (Judges 8: 24-27)

Sometimes even the best of intentions can lead us astray. I have always heard that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Gideon intended to make something that would be a reminder of what God had accomplished for the Israelites, but in the end, it became a snare to him, his family and the nation of Israel. The word "snare" is defined as a trap or pitfall and a noose for catching birds. All of these definitions carry with them the idea of surprise. What bird intentionally strolls into a noose to be captured? What bear walks into a trap knowingly? Still, the end result is the same.... the animal is caught and their end is near. They become dinner or a wall hanging.

God is telling us that almost anything can become a problem. For a young man, a pretty girl can become a problem. To a young girl, the mirror or the scale can become a problem. To an old man, regret; an old woman, gossip. We don't intend for any of these things to become our god, but we wander into the trap and we are caught. On a personal level, we must be vigilant to be sure that nothing in our lives is elevated to the place that God belongs. Our lives must always be lived out with Him at the helm of the ship. Something that starts out good, can evolve into something bad, if God is not in charge.

As the church, we can allow our traditions and doctrine to become our god. Are traditions important? Sure. Is doctrine important? Sure! But neither of those things are God. When what we do or what we believe is elevated above who we serve, we have allowed them to become our golden ephod and God is not pleased. He calls it prostitution. We are married to Him, yet we are running around with another god. He demands to be the One that we worship and He demands that our focus, our loyalty be towards Him.

Did Gideon do something wrong? No. But what he did became the source of a problem. If we allow something that we do or something that we believe to usurp the place of God, we have fallen in to the snare. We have allowed that thing to trap us, whatever our intent was. When football, Nascar, shopping or .... you fill in the blank, begins to interfere with our time with God.... think of the golden ephod. When your girlfriend or boyfriend keeps you out of church to go.... you fill in the blank, think of the golden ephod. When pretty weather and your boat are a stronger pull than being with your spiritual family or serving those in need, think of the golden ephod. You get the idea.

Gideon had been a powerful warrior for the LORD. God had used him to "save Israel" out of the hands of the Midianites. We all know the stories about Gideon, but few of us knew he did something that led the Israelites into false worship. He never intended that to happen, but it did. We have individual and corporate responsibilities in this matter. We must not allow things in our personal lives to usurp God's place and we must not allow our church leaders to take us places that God has not authorized. Speak up, talk about your concerns or you may find yourself bowing down to a golden ephod one day.