God and Earrings – Part 2

As I was reading the book of Judges, I noticed something that immediately took me back to Exodus. It was the same object showing up again - "the golden earrings." In Exodus, the earrings were offered in a moment of confusion and rebellion. But here in Judges, they appear again but this time after victory. It’s unsettling, isn’t it? God delivers His people, works powerfully through them, and yet the same pattern quietly resurfaces. It reveals something uncomfortable—not about God, but about how we often operate, even when God is clearly at work among us.

This story unfolds in the life of Gideon.

When Gideon first appears, he is not a picture of confidence. He is hiding, threshing wheat in a winepress out of fear of the Midianites. Yet the Angel of the Lord meets him there, speaks to him, and calls him to deliver Israel. Gideon wrestles, questions, and even tests God’s word—but eventually, he obeys.

Over time, Gideon tears down the altar of Baal, defeats the Midianites, and witnesses God’s victory firsthand. Even his name changes from Gideon to Jerubbaal, meaning “let Baal contend.” His life becomes a testimony of God’s power overcoming fear.

After all this, Gideon makes one of the most humbling statements in Scripture. When the people ask him to rule over them, he replies,

“I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you.”

It sounds like the perfect ending but if you check out his sons name, its Abimelech which denotes, my father is a king. Maybe we can talk about this another day.

But the story doesn’t stop there.

Soon after, Gideon makes a request. He asks the people to give him the gold earrings taken as plunder from the Ishmaelites. That detail matters. These were not items prescribed by God for worship. They came from another people, another culture—taken as spoil after victory.

Gideon then fashions an ephod and places it in his hometown. It’s not made from what God instructed, not placed where God directed, and not initiated by God Himself. I can understand what Gideon might have been trying to do. Perhaps he wanted the spiritual connection with God to continue. Perhaps it seemed like a way to preserve what God had done.

But sincerity does not equal approval.

Scripture’s verdict is sobering:

“All Israel played the harlot with it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.”

The ephod didn’t just affect Gideon - it influenced the people. What began as something spiritual slowly became something misleading. Worship drifted from God’s instruction into something unauthorized.

What strikes me most is this: Gideon didn’t replace God with Baal. He replaced obedience with imitation. He used what God had not approved to honor the God who had just delivered him.

Exodus shows us earrings surrendered in impatience. Judges shows us earrings surrendered after success. Different moments. Same danger.

Victory does not remove the need for discernment. In fact, it may demand it even more.

This passage leaves me asking a quiet but important question - not just whether God has worked in my life, but what I do with what remains after He has.