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credit for their deliverance.39 As in 8:7,19, Gideon responds by giving
the "theologically correct" response in 8:23: "I will not rule over you
and my son will not rule over you; God will rule over you. " However, this
reference to God does not seem to have any effect on causing Israel to
remember any better as the damage is done. The focus is no longer on
God, and in a sense Gideon is to blame. Gideon surely had his part in
diverting belief from God to belief in himself. 40
One sees this especially in the fact that Gideon does not deny his own
involvement in the victory. He does not point out that it was God who
had delivered Israel. Gideon thus fails in his role as God's interpreter.
Moreover, Israel's response is partly Gideon's own making since he pre-
sents a mixed message. Although Gideon does mention God's name
(8 :17, 19, 23), he is acting more and more like a king. No longer is
Gideon the doubtful, fearful character we saw earlier in the story. Olson
notes that Gideon has just killed two kings and in some ways resembles
a king himself. 41 It thus seems that Gideon's actions indeed speak louder
than his words-or at least that the people pay more attention to his
acts. This is even more apparent when one notices in 8:27 how Gideon
asks for a different kind of power. He asks for material goods, the spoils
of war, which he melts down to form an ephod. According to Klein, this
action signifies Gideon's self-glorification.42 One also sees that despite
Gideon's reminder of God ruling over Israel, the people are all too eager
to give up their booty, which not only adds to Gideon's self-aggrandize-
ment but also creates an idol which lead Israel even further away from
God. Consequently, the ephod is said to become a snare, a fowler's bait
for both Israel and Gideon's house.

39Webb, Judges, 152.
4opne should admit that there is, from the beginning of the narrative, a fusion between
God and Gideon's actions. For instance, repeatedly Gideon's role in the victory is emphasized
(cf. the emphasis on Gideon's hand in 7:7, 9, 11; Gideon's self assessment in 6:36, 37;
the enemy's assessment in 7:14; the emphasis on Gideon's victory rather than the people
as a whole in God's command in 6:16 [note the 2p sing.]). Nevertheless, it is Gideon's task
to point out God's role in giving the victory (cf. 6:16; 7:2, 7, 14, 22).
4'Olson, "Judges," 808. Cf. also Zebah and Zalmunna's description of Gideon in 8:18,
"
that the men they had killed resembled Gideon, i.e., like "the sons of a king."
42Klein, Judges, 65. ,