Single lesson
Gideon's Later Choices
Judges 8:1–35
This lesson traces Gideon’s actions after victory and asks older students to observe carefully how words, choices and outcomes develop across the passage. Students will sequence the account, compare key moments, and reflect on what the text says about God’s rule and human response.
Before you teach
Judges 8:1–35 records several linked scenes: Ephraim confronts Gideon, Gideon continues pursuing Midian’s kings while weary, Succoth and Penuel refuse help, Gideon later returns to them, Israel asks Gideon to rule, Gideon refuses kingship but asks for gold and makes an ephod, and the chapter ends with rest, Gideon’s death, and Israel turning again from Yahweh.
Students will be able to order the main events of Judges 8:1–35 and identify at least three choices in the passage with their stated outcomes.
Welcome: Prepare to trace choices and outcomes
5 minExplain that this passage contains difficult violence and should be read soberly. Introduce the task: students will follow the account in order, mark important choices, and note what happens next in the text. Begin by asking students to listen for moments where speech changes a situation, such as Ephraim’s complaint and Gideon’s reply.
Judges 8:1, Judges 8:2, Judges 8:3
Read and explain: Complaint, pursuit, and refusal
10 minRead Judges 8:1–12 aloud. Observe that Ephraim rebukes Gideon sharply, and Gideon answers by comparing Ephraim’s part favourably with his own and saying God had delivered Oreb and Zeeb into their hand. Their anger abates. Then Gideon and the three hundred are faint yet pursuing, while Succoth and Penuel refuse bread and Gideon continues after Zebah and Zalmunna.
Judges 8:1, Judges 8:2, Judges 8:3, Judges 8:4, Judges 8:5, Judges 8:6, Judges 8:8, Judges 8:9, Judges 8:12
Discuss: Gideon’s return to Succoth and Penuel, and the two kings
8 minRead Judges 8:13–21. Ask students to distinguish report from approval. The text says Gideon returned to Succoth and Penuel and carried out what he had said. It also records his words about his brothers at Tabor and his killing of Zebah and Zalmunna after Jether did not act. Students should note what happens, who speaks, and the immediate outcomes named in the passage.
Judges 8:15, Judges 8:16, Judges 8:17, Judges 8:18, Judges 8:19, Judges 8:20, Judges 8:21
Respond with analysis: Words about God’s rule and the ephod’s outcome
9 minRead Judges 8:22–28. Note Israel’s request that Gideon and his family rule, and Gideon’s answer: ‘Yahweh shall rule over you.’ Then trace the next development. Gideon requests gold, receives it, and makes an ephod in Ophrah. The text states that all Israel played the prostitute with it there, and that it became a snare to Gideon and his house.
Judges 8:22, Judges 8:23, Judges 8:24, Judges 8:25, Judges 8:26, Judges 8:27, Judges 8:28
Closing: Endings, memory, and forgetting
8 minRead Judges 8:29–35. Summarise the final notes: Gideon lived in his house, had many sons, died in old age, and was buried. After his death, Israel turned again to the Baals, did not remember Yahweh who had delivered them, and did not show kindness to Gideon’s house. Ask students to state one repeated human pattern they can support from the text.
Judges 8:29, Judges 8:30, Judges 8:31, Judges 8:32, Judges 8:33, Judges 8:34, Judges 8:35
Questions to explore
What exactly did Gideon say to Ephraim, and what result followed?
Look for the two parts of his answer: he compared Ephraim’s part favourably with his own and said God had delivered Oreb and Zeeb into their hand, then the text says their anger abated.
Judges 8:2, Judges 8:3
How does the passage place Gideon’s statement about rule beside what happened with the ephod?
Read Gideon’s words that Yahweh shall rule, then compare them with the later statement that the ephod became a snare to Gideon and to his house.
Judges 8:23, Judges 8:27
What does the chapter say Israel did after Gideon died, and what had they failed to remember?
Use the closing verses to identify both actions: they turned again to the Baals, and they did not remember Yahweh their God who had delivered them.
Judges 8:33, Judges 8:34, Judges 8:35
Make, think or respond
Choices and Outcomes Text Map
What you’ll need
- Paper or card
- Pens or pencils
- Bible
- Ruler or highlighters
Try it together
- Draw a three-column chart labelled Event, Choice or Statement, and Outcome.
- Fill in at least six rows from Judges 8:1–35, keeping each entry tied to a verse. Include examples from Ephraim’s complaint, the refusal of bread, Gideon’s words about Yahweh’s rule, the ephod, and Israel after Gideon’s death.
- Mark one row that shows a peaceful result, one row that shows Gideon’s actions against Succoth or Penuel, and one row that shows a later spiritual consequence.
- Share findings with a partner and compare whether the outcomes are immediate or appear later in the chapter.
This activity helps students analyse the sequence of Judges 8:1–35 and connect specific choices or statements with the outcomes the passage names, including the ephod becoming a snare and Israel later forgetting Yahweh.
Adapt for your group
- For students who need support, provide four starter references to place in the chart first: Judges 8:3, Judges 8:12, Judges 8:23, and Judges 8:33.
- For more advanced students, ask them to add a note on whether each row highlights speech, action, or consequence, using only the wording of the passage.
An optional closing prayer
Lord God, help us read this passage honestly, remember that you are ruler, and pay attention to the outcomes your word records.
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Judges 8
1 The men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you treated us this way, that you didn’t call us when you went to fight with Midian?” They rebuked him sharply.
2 He said to them, “What have I now done in comparison with you? Isn’t the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
3 God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb! What was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that.
4 Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing.
5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me; for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
6 The princes of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?”
7 Gideon said, “Therefore when Yahweh has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.”
8 He went up there to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way; and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.
9 He spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.”
10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the children of the east; for there fell one hundred twenty thousand men who drew sword.
11 Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck the army; for the army felt secure.
12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled and he pursued them. He took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and confused all the army.
13 Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres.
14 He caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him; and he described for him the princes of Succoth, and its elders, seventy-seven men.
15 He came to the men of Succoth, and said, “See Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?’ ”
16 He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.
17 He broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city.
18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “They were like you. They all resembled the children of a king.”
19 He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.”
20 He said to Jether his firstborn, “Get up and kill them!” But the youth didn’t draw his sword; for he was afraid, because he was yet a youth.
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You rise and fall on us; for as the man is, so is his strength.” Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels’ necks.
22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you, your son, and your son’s son also; for you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.”
23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. Yahweh shall rule over you.”
24 Gideon said to them, “I do have a request: that you would each give me the earrings of his plunder.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25 They answered, “We will willingly give them.” They spread a garment, and every man threw the earrings of his plunder into it.
26 The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, in addition to the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple clothing that was on the kings of Midian, and in addition to the chains that were about their camels’ necks.
27 Gideon made an ephod out of it, and put it in Ophrah, his city. Then all Israel played the prostitute with it there; and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.
28 So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. The land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
29 Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.
30 Gideon had seventy sons conceived from his body, for he had many wives.
31 His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
32 Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 As soon as Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned again and played the prostitute following the Baals, and made Baal Berith their god.
34 The children of Israel didn’t remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side;
35 neither did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown to Israel.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.