24 And Gideon saith unto them, 'Let me ask of you a petition, and give ye to me each the ring of his prey, for they have rings of gold, for they 'are' Ishmaelites.' 25 And they say, 'We certainly give;' and they spread out the garment, and cast thither each the ring of his prey; 26 and the weight of the rings of gold which he asked is a thousand and seven hundred 'shekels' of gold, apart from the round ornaments, and the drops, and the purple garments, which 'are' on the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains which 'are' on the necks of their camels, 27 and Gideon maketh it into an ephod, and setteth it up in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel go a-whoring after it there, and it is to Gideon and to his house for a snare.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 8:24-27
Commentary on Judges 8:22-28
(Read Judges 8:22-28)
Gideon refused the government the people offered him. No good man can be pleased with any honour done to himself, which belongs only to God. Gideon thought to keep up the remembrance of this victory by an ephod, made of the choicest of the spoils. But probably this ephod had, as usual, a teraphim annexed to it, and Gideon intended this for an oracle to be consulted. Many are led into false ways by one false step of a good man. It became a snare to Gideon himself, and it proved the ruin of the family. How soon will ornaments which feed the lust of the eye, and form the pride of life, as well as tend to the indulgences of the flesh, bring shame on those who are fond of them!