Who gets the credit, you or your God?

Judges 8: Israelites give credit to Gideon but Gideon wants to credit the LORD.

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Judges 8

I’m reading Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Gideon becomes a successful commander and subdues the Midianites, but when asked to rule the Israelites he said “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.”

Gideon, however, didn’t exactly deny himself the blessings of the spoils of war, fathering 70 sons by many wives and presumably had the means to provide. And he had made a golden ephod (see examples of what it may have looked like).

The ephod took on a life of its own, apparently symbolizing Gideon’s achievements instead of the LORD’s: “all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it…